Dr. Robert Lado (May 31, 1915,

Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

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– December 11, 1995,

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

) was an American linguist.

Early life

His parents were

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

immigrants who relocated to Spain before he had a chance to learn English. He returned to the

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at the age of 21 and began to learn English as an adult. This allowed him to develop an understanding of and sensitivity to the challenges confronting

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

and speakers of other languages learning English as a second language.

Education

Lado received his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

from

Rollins College Rollins College is a Liberal arts college, private liberal arts college in Winter Park, Florida. It was founded in November 1885 and has about 30 undergraduate majors and several master's programs. Florida's fourth oldest post-secondary institut ...

Winter Park, Florida Winter Park is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 29,795 according to the 2020 census. It is part of the Greater Orlando, Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Winter Park was foun ...

and his

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

. He received his doctorate from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

Professor

He later became a Professor of English and the Director of the University of Michigan's English Language Institute. After several years at the University of Michigan, he joined the staff of

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

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At Georgetown, he served as dean of the Institute of Languages (later renamed the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics) for 13 years. Dr. Lado obtained a Ford-Fulbright Foundation grant to establish English departments at five universities in Spain and cooperated with universities in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

. He traveled extensively throughout the world lecturing on linguistics and has received worldwide recognition and honors including honorary doctorates from Georgetown and

Sophia University Sophia University (Japanese language, Japanese: 上智大学, ''Jōchi Daigaku''; Latin: ''Universitas Sedis Sapientiae'') is a private List of Jesuit educational institutions, Jesuit research university in Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1913 by ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Contrastive linguistics

Lado is considered one of the founders of modern

contrastive linguistics Contrastive linguistics is a practice-oriented linguistic approach that seeks to describe the differences and similarities between a pair of languages (hence it is occasionally called "''differential'' linguistics"). History While traditional ...

, which, as a subdiscipline of

applied linguistics Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field which identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, psychology, Communication stu ...

, served the purpose of improving language teaching materials. His most influential book is ''Linguistics across cultures: Applied linguistics for language teachers,'' in which he states that "in the comparison between native and foreign language lies the key to ease or difficulty in foreign language learning." The book outlines methods for comparing two systems of sound,

grammar In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...

vocabulary A vocabulary (also known as a lexicon) is a set of words, typically the set in a language or the set known to an individual. The word ''vocabulary'' originated from the Latin , meaning "a word, name". It forms an essential component of languag ...

, writing, and

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

. Lado and Charles Carpenter Fries were both associated with the strong version of the ''contrastive hypothesis'', the belief that difficulties in learning a language can be predicted on the basis of a systematic comparison of the system of the learner's first language (its grammar, phonology, and lexicon) with the system of a second language.

Lado International Institute

He later founded and served as president of the Lado International College, a successful language instruction institution based on an academically rigorous English education program for speakers of other languages. The school had three campuses in the

Washington Metropolitan Area The Washington metropolitan area, also referred to as the National Capital Region, Greater Washington, or locally as the DMV (short for Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia), is the metropolitan area comprising Washing ...

(Washington, D.C.,

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...

and

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially Unincorporated area, unincorporated, it is an edge city with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ...

). After COVID-19 pandemic, the school closed its campuses in Silver Spring and Washington DC. Currently, Lado International College is located in Vienna, Virginia.

Language testing

In recognition of Lado's ground-breaking contributions to the field of language testing (Lado, 1961), the International Language Testing Association (ILTA) created the prestigious ''Robert Lado Memorial Award'' for Outstanding Student Paper presented annually at the Language Testing Research Colloquium (LTRC).

Other activities

During his life, he was member of the Spanish Catholic Center in Washington. He also received the medal of honor from the

Daughters of the American Revolution The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (often abbreviated as DAR or NSDAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a patriot of the American Revolutionary War. A non-p ...

of the District of Columbia. He was one of the co-founders of ''Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages'' ( TESOL), a professional association with a mission of teaching English to foreign students.

Notes

References

* Lado, R. (1957). ''Linguistics across cultures: Applied linguistics for language teachers''. University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor. * Lado, R. (1964). ''Language Testing: The construction and use of foreign language tests''. McGraw-Hill * Lado, R. (1964). "Language Teaching: A Scientific Approach." McGraw-Hill

External links

Georgetown University memorial page
*
Biography from Lado International College website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lado, Robert Applied linguists 1915 births 1995 deaths Rollins College alumni Georgia State University faculty Georgetown University faculty University of Michigan alumni University of Michigan faculty 20th-century American linguists