There are, to date, relatively few programs that teach students who are at the Superior level (ILR-3/3+), with the objective of helping them to reach the Distinguished (or "near-native") level (ILR-4/4+). Some exceptions are listed/described below for those who would like see examples of programs in action or being planned.

Center for the Advancement of Distinguished Language Proficiency, San Diego State University.
The ADLP Center was established at San Deigo State University in May 2002, with Betty Lou Leaver as director. It is dedicated to research, faculty development, and teaching at and to the nativelike level of foreign language proficiency.

Mo-Link program for US-Russia Hot Line translators.
This description of the Mo-Link program, written by Dr. Stephen Soudakoff, was published in the ACTR Letter, Fall 2001.

Leaver, Betty Lou and Boris Shekhtman, editors. Developing Professional Level Language Proficiency. Cambridge University Press, 2002.This book describes a number of programs at the Superior/Distinguished (SD) level. These include:

  1. Foreign Service Institute, Russian and French, Beyond Three Program. Described by Madeline Ehrman.
  2. Specialized Language Training Center's Russian Program. Described by Boris Shekhtman.
  3. Georgetown University German Program. Described by Heidi Byrnes.
  4. Monterey Institute of International Studies's French and Spanish Translation and Interpretation Programs. Described by Claudia Angelelli and Christian Degueldre.
  5. University of Aarhus's English Program. Described by Tim Caudery.
  6. More than a dozen Chinese programs in China. Described by Cornelius Kubler.
  7. The Arabic Program at CASA in Egypt. Described by Elsaid Badawi.
  8. On-line programs in Arabic, Hindi, Russian, and Spanish that form part of the LangNet offerings. Described by Catherine Ingold.
  9. Summer teacher programs in Russian at Bryn Mawr College. Described by Zita Dabars and Olga Kagan.
  10. Heritage programs in Spanish at Stanford University and in Russian at University of California at Los Angeles. Described by Claudia Angelelli and Olga Kagan.