University of Maryland School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Home
Welcome to the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland, College Park.
We invite you to learn more about our languages and programs, our undergraduate and graduate degrees and our special programs like the Language House Living-Learning Program, the Language Partner Program, the Persian Flagship Program, Project GO and the Summer Language Institutes.
About Us
Undergraduate Programs
Undergraduate Programs
The School is a transdisciplinary teaching and research unit. Our students, faculty, and staff investigate and engage with the linguistic, cultural, cinematic, and literary worlds of speakers of Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish, as well as Cinema and Media Studies and Global Culture and Thought.
Graduate Programs
Graduate Programs
The School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures offers three Ph.D. programs, four M.A. programs and an advanced graduate certificate in Second Language Acquisition. Our students pursue successful careers in academia, the government, secondary education and the private sector.
Graduate ProgramsFaculty and Staff
Alumni
Alumni
Stay connected with SLLC as an alum by sharing news of your accomplishments, joining our newsletter, attending events and giving back.
See SLLC in Action
Upcoming Events View All Events
SLLC Orientation & Professional Development, Fall 2026
SLLC Orientation & Professional Development, Fall 2026
SLLC Orientation & Professional Development, Fall 2026
SLLC Orientation & Professional Development, Fall 2026
SLLC Summit 5.0 2026
North American Language and Culture Assistants Program NALCAP - Informative session
Poetry Event: Shared Humanity, Words of Connection
Language Careers Exploration & Networking Night | Fall 2026
News and Announcements View All News
Go Beyond the Classroom
Recent Research ActivitiesResearch and Innovation
Discourse Markers in Persian Talk-in-Interaction: Actions and Practices
Provides the first book-length work on the subject of discourse markers in Persian
Author/Lead: Ali Reza Abasi
This book describes five ubiquitous discourse markers in Persian talk-in-interaction. It begins with a critical overview of literature on discourse markers and discusses why (neo)Gricean approaches have failed to provide descriptions that are grounded in and demonstrably relevant to how speakers actually use them in interaction, thus limiting their pedagogical value for teaching second language interactional competence.
Advocating the adoption of Conversation Analytic methodology (CA) to ground descriptions in empirical data, the book discusses the key fundamental structures of conversation implicated in the use of these markers. It then proceeds to describe in detail the interactional work of the five markers in separate chapters.
The book further addresses the challenging task of teaching discourse markers to second language learners. Uniquely, it offers a comprehensive pedagogical model informed by current knowledge about second language acquisition as well as CA descriptions, which can guide teachers and materials developers across all languages. It will be of interest to teachers and language learners (especially of Persian) worldwide, as well as academics and students in the field of Applied Linguistics.
Read More about Discourse Markers in Persian Talk-in-Interaction: Actions and Practices
Imágenes refractadas. Las Islas Canarias a través de la lente del Nuevo Mundo.
Merediz repositions the Canary Islands as a critical yet overlooked hub in the early modern Atlantic, revealing how they shaped the ideological exchanges at the heart of colonial networks.
Author/Lead: Eyda M. MeredizNon-ARHU Contributor(s): Edited by Paula Fernández Hernández. Translated byXiomara Ñúñez Rodríguez
Merediz conducts a meticulous analysis of key texts from the early modern period, focusing on their ideological dimension through a rarely considered lens: the Canary Islands as a central node around which a series of back-and-forth negotiations within the colonial Atlantic network pivot.
Read More about Imágenes refractadas. Las Islas Canarias a través de la lente del Nuevo Mundo.
Surface Derangement: Preliminary Notes for an Inquiry into Trumpian Imagery
A critical examination of Trumpian visual culture.
Author/Lead: Luka Arsenjuk, Mauro ResminiArsenjuk and Resmini’s contribution examines Trumpian imagery as the visual form of a politically disarticulated reactionary coalition. It argues that Trumpism achieves unity through spectacle: a proliferating and serial image regime that compensates for the loss of political articulation. Drawing on Benjamin, Jesi, Jameson, and Wajcman, the essay shows how contemporary Trumpian visual culture, especially in its AI-generated forms, is structured by seriality, discontinuity, and hypercrisis rather than by the dialectical temporality of historical fascism. Trumpian imagery thus appears as an unstable attempt to produce myth under conditions that render myth impossible. The article proposes seriality as a key category for understanding the historical specificity of Trumpist spectacle.
Read More about Surface Derangement: Preliminary Notes for an Inquiry into Trumpian Imagery
Land Acknowledgement
Every community owes its existence and strength to the generations before them, around the world, who contributed their hopes, dreams, and energy into making the history that led to this moment.
Truth and acknowledgement are critical in building mutual respect and connections across all barriers of heritage and difference.
So, we acknowledge the truth that is often buried: We are on the ancestral lands of the Piscataway People, who are the ancestral stewards of this sacred land. It is their historical responsibility to advocate for the four-legged, the winged, those that crawl and those that swim. They remind us that clean air and pristine waterways are essential to all life.
This Land Acknowledgement is a vocal reminder for each of us as two-leggeds to ensure our physical environment is in better condition than what we inherited, for the health and prosperity of future generations.
Office of Diversity and Inclusion