Supposedly, the month of May is named for the goddess Maia, a figure in Greek mythology. She was supposedly the goddess of growth and increase, which makes sense since May is springtime in the northern hemisphere. There is also a saying that April showers bring May flowers. Taken literally, it

In case you missed TIRF’s session at the 2018 TESOL Convention in Chicago, Illinois, USA in March, you now have the opportunity to watch the TIRF panel presentation. The talk was entitled “TIRF-sponsored Research on Language Education Policies: Contexts and Realities” and is now available as a slidecast (the PowerPoint

We are pleased to announce that for the next four months, Mr. Wyatt Boykin will be working for the Foundation as TIRF’s first volunteer intern. Wyatt is a graduate student in the International Education Management (IEM) program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS). The IEM degree

Editor’s note: Dr. Ching-Ni Hsieh is a 2010 recipient of a TIRF Doctoral Dissertation Grant. She works at Educational Testing Services (ETS) in Princeton, New Jersey as a Senior Research Project Manager. In this piece, TIRF interviews Dr. Hsieh about ETS’ TOEFL® English-language Researcher/Practitioner Grant Program.   TIRF: Dr. Hsieh,

Earlier this month, representatives of the Foundation were in Chongqing, China for TIRF development purposes. After a series of meetings, TIRF signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with leaders from the Chongqing Education Association for International Exchange (CQEAIE). TIRF Vice President Jun Liu, on behalf of TIRF, signed the MOU

Educational Testing Service (ETS), a long-time TIRF partner, currently has several types of grant opportunities available. These grants are of interest to researchers and graduate students. Although the deadline for letters of intent for two of the available grants is rapidly approaching, the other grant program’s deadline is not until

We are pleased to announce the opening of the competition for the 2019 TIRF James E. Alatis Prize for Research in Language Policy and Planning in Educational Contexts. This is the fourth year we are offering TIRF’s Alatis Prize competition. A prize of $500 will be awarded for an article

The Foundation’s 2018 DDG competition nomination window closed just last week. With the help of our partners and colleagues around the world, we are pleased to report that we had another successful year, in terms of the number of proposals we received. Here is a quick glance at some of

The IELTS partners (British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia, and Cambridge Assessment English) are pleased to invite applications for funding to undertake research in relation to the IELTS. Research projects will be funded to a maximum of £45,000/AUS$70,000 and can last between one and two years, as appropriate to the scope

According to Dictionary.com, a milestone was originally “a stone set up beside a road to mark the distance in miles to a particular place.” But the figurative meaning of the term is “an action or event marking a significant change or stage in development.” This past month I became 70

Just this past week, the Foundation held its biannual Board meeting in Chicago, Illinois, during the International TESOL Convention and English Language Expo. As is customary at TIRF’s Board meetings, Trustees reviewed the work of the Foundation over the last six months, as well as prepared for its activities in

Borrowing from the Hawaiian tradition of “Aloha,” as being used for both greetings and leave-takings, the TIRF Board welcomed Barry O’Sullivan and Andy Curtis as new Trustees and bid a very fond farewell to John Knagg. The paper leis they are wearing are made of outdated, recycled TIRF bookmarks. According

We are pleased to announce that the new British Council representative to TIRF’s Board of Trustees will be Professor Barry O’Sullivan, the Head of Assessment Research and Development at the British Council. He has undertaken research across a range of areas in language testing and assessment and its history, and

This past week, language teachers, researchers, program administrators, and educators from around the world convened in Chicago for the 2018 AAAL Conference and the 2018 TESOL Convention. TIRF supporters had a visible presence at both conferences. At the first conference, TIRF Trustees convened a panel consisting of four Doctoral Dissertation