"In our quest for quality English language teaching worldwide, research must come first."

James Alatis, TIRF Trustee

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Why I Give to TIRF > James Alatis

Why I Give to TIRF

James Alatis

Dr. Jim Alatis was one of the founding members of TIRF and served as its first President. Here he explains why he and his wife, Penny Alatis, continue to support TIRF.

As a result of Sputnik, the U.S. government launched a massive program in support of math, science, and the foreign languages. I was fortunate enough to have been appointed chief of the language research section in the U.S. Office of Education's National Defense Education program (NDEA). Unfortunately, the NDEA did not include funding for that most widely taught foreign language in the world -- English. As a result, there has never been any U.S. government support for research in English as a second or foreign language.

Upon the initiative of such selfless leaders in English language education as Russell N. Campbell, G. Richard Tucker, and Joan Morley, I was asked to join the original Board of Directors of TIRF. The original scope that we had in mind included basic research, language policy, and teacher education. Classroom research and dissemination were considered central to the entire endeavor.

I was elected Founding President, and served as a volunteer, choosing to use the small amount of funding available to the new organization to pay for the salary of one of my former Georgetown University graduate students as TIRF’s administrative assistant, and for office rental at the TESOL central office headquarters. In the third year of operation, I moved the office to space provided, at no cost, on the Georgetown University campus. This saved TIRF the total amount of annual rental funds. The office was later moved to the University of Maryland, Baltimore Campus at the initiative of yet another volunteer and highly dedicated professional, Dr. Jodi Crandall. Central office operations have since been moved to Prime Management – the same small, family-owned, private management agency that provides administrative services for the American Association for Applied Linguistics.

I should like to emphasize that, like all the other members of the TIRF Board, I was an uncompensated volunteer. In addition to the "in kind" contribution, my good wife Penny (herself an acknowledged leader and highly qualified professional in the field of English language education) and I have pledged and contributed personal funds towards the accomplishment of TIRF's worthy mission.

To this day, TIRF is the only international foundation in the field of language education dedicated to funding research, and disseminating the results of that research, toward the improvement of English language teaching throughout the world. There is no question that English is now a world language. While professionals in the field are committed to the effective and efficient teaching and learning of English, they do so in full recognition of other languages and cultures. The profession has never been guilty of linguistic imperialism or cultural aggressiveness. It is dedicated to the concept of international educational exchange, cross-cultural communication, social justice, and world peace. TIRF has made, and continues to make invaluable contributions to its announced mission and should be supported at every level of the educational spectrum. This is why my good wife Penny and I continue to support the worthwhile activities of this noble organization.