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

James Alatis, TIRF Trustee

The International Research
Foundation
for English Language Education

Why I Give to TIRF > Kathleen Bailey

Why I Give to TIRF

Kathleen Bailey

TIRF is a grass-roots foundation that was started through the vision of TESOL leaders in the late 1990's. Here Kathi Bailey shares her recollections of the grass-roots movement that led to TIRF's inception and gives three reasons why she gives to TIRF.

TIRF - now The International Research Foundation for English Language Education - was originally the TESOL International Research Foundation. I give to TIRF primarily for three reasons: its history, its value, and its stewardship.

1. I know TIRF's history as a fledgling foundation.

TIRF was officially launched by a vote of the TESOL Board of Directors in June 1998, but the work to establish this foundation began long before that. TESOL President Joy Reid appointed a group of senior leaders in our field, the Association Advancement Committee, to explore the possibility of setting up a foundation to promote the work of our professional association -- TESOL - Teachers of English to Speakers of Other languages, Inc. That group consisted of Jim Alatis, Ed Anthony, Russ Campbell, Jodi Crandall, Rick Jenks, Joan Morley, and Dick Tucker - people who knew both the profession and the TESOL association well.

After months of work the Association Advancement Committee concluded that a foundation to support research in our field was both needed and possible. A major, haunting question hung in the air, however: Where would the money come from? ESL and EFL teachers are by no means are among the highest paid professionals. Would the foundation be able to raise sufficient funds to sustain an organized, long-term research program to address the critical international needs related to English language education?

In June, 1998, after careful consideration and debate, the TESOL Board of Directors voted to provide the foundation with the "seed money" to get started. Upon hearing of this vote, former TESOL President Joan Morley contributed an additional $50,000 to help get the foundation started.

2. I know TIRF's potential value to researchers around the world.

Currently TIRF makes Priority Research Grants to international teams of established scholars. The foundation also awards Doctoral Dissertation Grants to PhD students who have advanced to candidacy. Researchers need not be TESOL members or US citizens to apply for this funding.

I remember quite well the struggle of trying to finish my PhD while working -- first part-time as a teaching assistant and research assistant at UCLA, and then later as a lecturer at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. I was very grateful for these employment opportunities, of course, but what a blessing a research scholarship would have been! As I read the proposals for research funding submitted to TIRF, I am always re-convinced that the foundation's resources are being put to excellent use. And if only there were more money to give! Each year deserving proposals go unfunded because TIRF's monetary resources are not as bountiful as I would wish.

3. I know how TIRF is run and how its stewards work to promote its goals.

TIRF is a foundation which consists largely of an all-volunteer Board of Trustees. For the first several years of its history, TIRF existed in very economical quarters - first at TESOL's Central Office, then at Georgetown University, and finally at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The paid staff consisted of part-time graduate assistants. Recently TIRF contracted with Prime Management Services in Birmingham, Alabama, to handle TIRF's financial records and its website. (Prime Management Services is a family-run business, managing several academic based organizations, including the American Association for Applied Linguistics.) For about the same price as the former staffing with graduate assistants, TIRF has become one of many small organizations that use Prime Management Services to staff its "virtual office".

The Board of Trustees currently includes language teachers, teacher educators, and applied linguists from various countries as well as leaders in business and industry. (At the time of this writing, Board members represent such international entities as IBM, the Disney Corporation, the Investment Group of Santa Barbara, Pearson Education, and International Thomson. All of these trustees volunteer their time and energy, and all of them donate to TIRF. There is no "fat" in the foundation's budget and the trustees are all committed to raising money to promote research and influence educational policy in our field.

These are the main reasons why I give to TIRF.

I hope you will join me in contributing to this important endeavor.