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"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

TIRF News

Tucker Named Carnegie Mellon Qatar's Interim Dean

4 March 2010
Dr. G. Richard Tucker, a member of the TIRF Board of Trustees, has been named interim dean for the Qatar campus of Carnegie Mellon University, effective August 1.

Currently, Professor Tucker serves as associate vice provost for education for the Carnegie Mellon Qatar campus. In this position, he works with various university department heads to make sure the academic and student life experiences at the Qatar campus remain an extension of the high quality programs in Pittsburgh.

After joining the Carnegie Mellon faculty in 1992, Dick became head of the Modern Languages Department in 1995 and held that post for 12 years. In 2003, he was named the Paul Mellon Professor of Applied Linguistics and in 2006 he was named a University Professor, the highest distinction a faculty member can achieve at Carnegie Mellon. Dick also received the university's Doherty Award for Sustained Contributions to Excellence in Education in 2007, as well as the James Alatis Award for Service to TESOL in 1998.

2010 TIRF Doctoral Dissertation Grant Competition Announced

TIRF at TESOL 2010

TIRF Fellowship Recipient Receives Two Awards

From left: Dr. Blair Bateman, Chairman of the ACTFL Awards Committee; Dr. Muhammad Abdel Latif; Dr. Leo van Lier, Editor of Modern Language Journal.

Dr. Muhammad Abdel Latif, one of the three 200 TIRF Sheikh Nahayan Fellowship recipients, has received two prestigious awards. He received the 2009 Canadian Modern Language Review Best Graduate Student Paper: "Toward a New Process-Based Indicator for Measuring Writing Fluency: Evidence from L2 Writers' Think-Aloud Protocols." He was also selected by ACTFL (the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages) as the winner of the 2009 ACTFL-MLJ Emma Marie Birkmaier Award for Doctoral Dissertation Research in Foreign Language Education.

Michael Carrier Elected to TIRF Board

TIRF is pleased to announce the election of Mr. Michael Carrier to the Board of Trustees. Mr. Carrier is the Head of English Language Innovation for The British Council, based in London. For more information, please click here.

TIRF Issues Report on Plurilingualism in Corporations

TIRF is developing a series of reports that addresses key, unanswered questions regarding policies and practices in English language education worldwide. TIRF is proud to announce the first of these reports, "The Impact of English and Plurilingualism in Global Corporations". To see a summary of this report, please click here. The full version of the report will be available on the website soon.

Good News for Doctoral Students

Thanks to generous support from Cambridge ESOL, TIRF is pleased to announce increased funding for TIRF DDG Awards for 2009. Priority funding will be given to doctoral proposals that address TIRF's research priority on assessment (see TIRF Research Priorities); however, all DDG proposals will be considered for this funding (see DDG 2009 Call for Proposals).

TIRF Turns Ten!

TIRF (The International Research Foundation for English Language Education) turns 10 years old in June. TIRF was voted into existence by the TESOL Board of Directors in June 1998. TESOL provided the startup money for the foundation. To date, TIRF has awarded monies to fund 29 research projects involving 49 researchers for a total of $376,450 USD and has hosted dissemination and information gathering activities in Washington D.C. in the USA, Brazil, and the United Arab Emirates. Congratulations to TIRF! Happy 10th Anniversary!

To explore more about TIRF, here are some things you can do: Learn more about TIRF's Mission. See information about research funded by TIRF. Read G. Richard Tucker's words about giving to TIRF. Check out TIRF's new online donation options.