DLCL Focal Groups bring together faculty members and graduate students who share academic interests ranging across and beyond singular languages and national literatures. Our Focal Groups are conceived as portals that open from the Division outward to the wider community of literary and humanities scholars. All Focal Groups include participants from humanities departments outside the DLCL. Each focal group maintains a research workshop at which both faculty and graduate students present and discuss their work. Some Focal Groups offer formal courses, and all groups are responsible for overseeing research-oriented endeavors, including sponsoring conferences, publications, podcasts, and other activities that disseminate the outcomes of their research.

DLCL Research Groups are collaborative groups that receive funding from the DLCL for one to three years. Graduate students from within the DLCL and other Stanford departments can start a research group by submitting a proposal during the Call for Proposals period each year in the spring for the following academic year.

DLCL Reading Groups are smaller, student-run groups, centered around a specific area of literature. Unlike DLCL Focal Groups and Research Groups, Reading Groups do not require a Faculty PI, and typically hold internal meetings and discussions. DLCL Reading Groups are coordinated by DLCL graduate students and include students from within the DLCL and other Stanford departments.