Editor’s note: In this piece, Trustee Joe Lo Bianco reports on TIRF’s endorsement of two important international language policy statements.      As part of TIRF’s role to encourage language policies which promote best practices in English teaching and research around the world, the Board of Trustees monitors developments that have the potential to shape the [...]

The British Council has released a new study regarding the role of intercultural skills in the workplace. The paper, entitled Culture at Work: The Value of Intercultural Skills in the Workplace, can be downloaded for free by clicking here. To provide a preview, the report’s executive summary is included below: The modern workplace is increasingly [...]

The 2013 TESOL Convention is just around the corner. The Convention will be held at the Dallas Convention Center in Dallas, Texas, USA. At this year’s TIRF session, Dr. Denise Murray, Professor Emeritus at Macquarie University and San José State University in California, and TIRF Trustee Dr. MaryAnn Christison will co-present on TIRF’s most recent [...]

The following piece was taken from TIRF’s December issue of TIRF Today, the Foundation’s monthly newsletter. In her piece, Kathi Bailey, President of TIRF, reflects on “Every December,” and encourages readers to read TIRF’s year-end report, which can be viewed by clicking here. Monday, December 17, 2012 As another year comes to a close, I [...]

Marti Estell is the US State Department’s new representative to the TIRF Board of Trustees. We welcomed her to our recent Board meeting in White Plains, New York, via Skype. She provided the Trustees a report on a new initiative between the US State Department and the TESOL International Association. Marti began her post as [...]

Earlier this month on Wednesday, July 12th in São Paulo, Brazil, thanks to Trustee Lorraine de Matos and her wonderful team at the Cultura Inglesa there, we hosted our second “TIRF Event” in Brazil. (The first was in 2005, and you can read about it by scrolling down further on this page.) The event was [...]

We are pleased to announce that TIRF’s commissioned research paper, English at Work: An Analysis of Case Reports about English Language Training for the 21st-century Workforce, by Tony Fitzpatrick and Robert O’Dowd, is now available to download. The executive summary of the paper will continue to be available on TIRF’s website as well. The edited [...]

For any individual who missed TIRF’s presentation last month at the TESOL Convention, you may now watch the slidecast from the event. (In general, a slidecast features a PPT presentation with the speaker’s recorded voice to accompany the slides.) The entire presentation, which includes a question-and-answer session at the end of the talk, can be [...]

At its board meeting in Philadelphia on March 28th, the TIRF Board elected three new Trustees. Here is some information about them. 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 [...]

At the TESOL Convention in Philadelphia this past week, TIRF launched its latest commissioned study, English at Work: An Analysis of Case Reports about English Language Training for the 21st-century Workforce. After a brief “meet and greet,” the study was summarized by co-author Tony Fitzpatrick, who noted several high points of the analysis of twenty [...]