We would like to thank Ms. Meredith Morgan, who is responsible for the expert layout and design of both the executive summary and complete version of the paper. We would also like to extend our appreciation to Ms. Hadley Chatel at National Geographic Learning for her careful coordination of the production stages of the manuscript. And a great many thanks are due to National Geographic Learning and Trustee Dennis Hogan for their sponsorship of the production of the paper.

Andrew B. Sugerman is Senior Vice President and General Manager of Disney English in Shanghai, China. He received a Master of Business Administration with High Honors from The University of Chicago, Booth Graduate School of Business. Mr. Sugerman has eighteen years of general management and operations experience in both start-up and Fortune 100 companies. His expertise has helped build global learning-based retail and digital consumer businesses, and has consistently grown revenue, profit, and equity value in the companies for which he has worked. He has a strong track record of developing products and services that meet consumer needs in the global marketplace. In 2009, he was appointed as a Consultant Research Fellow of Shanghai Normal University and a Consultant Professor of Shanghai Institute of Tourism.   

Richard A. Boyum works for the US State Department as the University Partnership and Grants Evaluation Coordinator for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He received a Master of Education in Bilingual Education and English as a Foreign Language from Georgetown University. Throughout his State Department career, Mr. Boyum has gained extensive international experience in program management, grants administration, training, facilitation, and leadership development. He is proficient in French, Portuguese, and Spanish, and is conversant in Arabic, Thai, and German. In 2005, Mr. Boyum received TESOL’s James Alatis Award for his outstanding contributions to the field in 2005. He was honored with the Royal Thai Achievement Award for his innovative satellite educational programming in 2004. He also served on TESOL’s Board of Directors (1996- 1999).

Michael Legutke is professor emeritus of TEFL at the Justus Liebig University of Giessen in Germany. He has worked at the Department of Research at the Goethe Institute – Munich, as a German Language Consultant to the Pacific Northwest of the United States, and as a language teacher in Germany. Dr. Legutke has served as a member of the editorial board of TESOL Quarterly, as a member of the Research Standing Committee of TESOL, and as president of the German Association of Foreign and Second Language Research. He is an advisory board member of the Zeitschrift für Fremdsprachenforschung (ZFF – Journal of German Association for Foreign Language Research). He is currently working on a state-funded research project, which is investigating the teaching of English in primary schools in the multilingual urban context of Frankfurt/Main, Germany.

“I am delighted with the election of these new trustees,” said Dr. Kathi Bailey, Chair of the TIRF Board. “They bring a wealth of international experience and will provide the Board with a range of views on the issues facing language educators and researchers today.”

The executive summary of the study is now available on TIRF’s website, and can be downloaded for free by clicking here. The full version of the paper will soon be posted to the TIRF site as well.

MaryAnn Christion, TIRF Trustee, Receives TESOL James Alatis Award

TIRF Trustee MaryAnn Christison, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Utah, was recently honored with the James Alatis award “in recognition of outstanding and extended service to TESOL.” In making the award, TESOL President Dr. Christine Coombe sited MaryAnn’s seven-year term of service on the TESOL Board of Directors, including being President from 1997-1998, as well as her many major responsibilities for chairing the organization’s Conventions over the years. MaryAnn was also recognized for her numerous publications and intellectual contributions to the field. Dr. Coombe also noted MaryAnn’s current role as the Chair of TIRF’s Research Advisory Committee.

Upon receiving the award, MaryAnn had this to say: “I have known Jim and Penny Alatis for years and am honored to have them as dear friends. It is wonderful for TESOL to recognize service to name the award after Jim Alatis as his commitment to TESOL is legendary.”

Dick Tucker, TIRF Trustee

Tony Fitzpatrick, Co-author of TIRF's Forthcoming Publication

You are cordially invited to attend the TIRF presentation at the TESOL Convention in Philadelphia. The main presenter will be Tony Fitzpatrick, one of the authors of TIRF’s new monograph, English at Work: An Analysis of Case Reports of English Language Training for the 21st-century Workforce. He will summarize the literature review, explain the research design, and report on the findings of the study. TIRF Trustee Dick Tucker will serve as the discussant. 

The presentation will be held in room 203-A of the Convention Center from 10:00 to 11:45 AM on Thursday, March 29, 2012. We are planning to offer a coffee and tea service before the presentation begins, as an opportunity for attendees to network with TIRF’s Board members, some of our grant recipients, and other professionals who are concerned about the effective uses of English in business, industry, and the professions.

TIRF Board members, Jun Liu (left), Kathi Bailey (center), and David Nunan at TIRF's 2011 panel presentation

At the 2011 TESOL Convention held in New Orleans this past March, several TIRF Board members participated in a panel presentation entitled, “Regional Perspectives on English: Current Status and Future Trends.” The panelists addressed the current status of English and predicted future trends in various parts of Asia, Europe, Africa, and Latin America. Issues included promoting research and best practices to improve the use of English in the global knowledge economy.

At this time, you may visit TIRF’s SlideShare channel to view the Power Point presentations the Board members gave at TESOL. TIRF’s SlideShare channel can be found online by clicking here. The three Board members’ slidecasts can be found by clicking on the links next to their names below.

• Ana Sylvia Ramirez – “Current Status of ELT: An Overview of Two Countries“
• Jun Liu – “The Impact of English in China: An Insider’s Perspective from Outside”
• Michael Carrier – “Regional Perspectives: Europe“

Furthermore, in global companies where managers don’t possess deep language skills, we believe there will be severe negative economic impacts. Research shows that language barriers cost companies more than the money required to pay interpreters or translate documents. The real cost of the language barrier is that it “distorts and damages relationships,” according to a 2003 article by A.J. Feely and A.W. Harzing in Cross Cultural Management. Miscommunication can cause companies to lose potential clients or fail to deliver products and services.

Other experts also cite the impact of language skills in the workplace. “Addressing business issues from multiple perspectives has become a critical mandate in business education,” says Yuwei Shi, Dean of the Graduate School of International Policy and Management at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California. “Language is essential to cross-cultural and cross-sector understanding.”

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