News

Spring has nearly sprung in the northern hemisphere, which means that the 2025 TESOL Convention & Expo is nearly upon us! In this piece, we highlight our activities at the upcoming Convention taking place in Long Beach, California, USA. TIRF will host its spring Board meeting on Tuesday, March 18th.

Dear TIRF Board Members and Supporters, Last week, I had the privilege of attending the University President’s Forum on Nurturing Talent and Talent Mobility in Asia, held in Tokyo, Japan. Approximately 30 university presidents from across Asia gathered to share best practices and generate ideas on this critical topic. One

Editor’s note: In this piece, we share details about an international symposium TIRF is co-hosting with United International College, its partner in Zhuhai, China. The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping various sectors, with education being one of the most profoundly impacted. As AI technologies advance, they offer

Editor’s note: In this Partner Update, we inform TIRF supporters about several awards from Educational Testing Service (ETS). The copy below has been adapted from ETS’ announcements for the purposes of TIRF communications. Ockey & Chapelle TOEFL Language Assessment Research Award The TOEFL program at ETS and the Language Assessment

We are pleased to announce that the entire collection of scholarly citations posted to TIRF’s Reference Lists webpage has been updated with citations through 2024. In addition, eight new reference lists have been added recently, bringing the total number to 259. The new topics are (1) Artificial Intelligence in Language

The application window for TIRF’s 2025 Doctoral Dissertation Grants (DDG) program is now open. The Foundation’s flagship program is designed to provide awards for doctoral students nearing the completion of their studies. There are three different types of DDGs offered from TIRF and its partners this year. Once again, we

We are pleased to share information about our new TIRF Research & Development Intern, Vinita Abichandani! As an intern at TIRF, her role involves supporting the TIRF Talks initiative, which connects professional speakers with global organizations involved in English language education. Her key responsibilities include collecting and organizing speaker profiles,

TIRF is pleased to announce the re-election of Dr. JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall and Mr. Michael Carrier, as well as the election of Dr. Joyce Kling, to its Board of Trustees. Jodi and Michael will each continue their service with an additional three-year term, while Joyce returns to the Board after

Editor’s note: In this piece, we share details about an international symposium TIRF is co-hosting with United International College, its partner in Zhuhai, China. The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping various sectors, with education being one of the most profoundly impacted. As AI technologies advance, they offer

Late last month, with just four days remaining before our year-end fundraiser was drawing to an end, we reported that we were $11,000 short of our goal. The outlook for reaching our annual campaign’s target was bleak. It seemed we were going to fall short of fully matching TIRF’s Trustees’

The application window for TIRF’s 2025 Doctoral Dissertation Grants (DDG) program is now open. The Foundation’s flagship program is designed to provide awards for doctoral students nearing the completion of their studies. There are three different types of DDGs offered from TIRF and its partners this year. Once again, we

We are pleased to announce the recipient of the 2025 TIRF James E. Alatis Prize for Research on Language Planning and Policy in Educational Contexts. Dr. Crissa Stephens, Independent Scholar, has been selected as this year’s recipient of TIRF’s Alatis Prize. Her article is entitled “Invisible Policy Brokers: The Political

Editor’s note: In this piece, we offer a ChatGPT-generated summary of TIRF’s newly approved Strategic Plan. The text has undergone revisions by a TIRF staff member and is shared with our supporters below. Just last month, TIRF’s Board of Trustees approved a new Strategic Plan for TIRF – an activity