James E. Alatis

Linguistics, language acquisition, and language variation : current trends and future prospects

This volume examines linguistics, language acquisition, and language variation, emphasizing their implications for teacher education and language education. A majority of the essays consider issues in second language acquisition, dealing specifically with learners and instructors, or concentrating on the larger social and societal context in which learning and acquisition occur. Topics highlighted include the current and often controversial debate over bilingual education, language variation, and the past, present, and future role of linguistics in language pedagogy.

The Growth of Professionalism in TESOL: Challenges and Prospects for the Future

Stephen Gaies, TESOL Quarterly Editor, has invited me to start off the 21st volume with a contribution “on the growth of TESOL during its first 20 years and on the challenges and prospects which we face in the years ahead.”

Kachru's circles and the growth of professionalism in TESOL

[The text of a plenary paper presented as Distinguished Speaker at the conference Globalization and World Englishes: Identity and Creativity , convened by the International Association of World Englishes (IAWE) at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, USA, 16–18 July 2004.] I MUST START with two disclaimers: First, my name is not James E. Alatis. It is Demetrious Efstathiou Alatis . In the early days of the 20th century, when many Greeks emigrated to the United States, the immigration authorities were troubled with the polysyllabic Greek names. They proceeded therefore to shorten them or otherwise change them to fit the American assimilationist mold. This was done either by transliteration, phonetic respelling, translation, or shortening: that is to say, initial, medial, or final clipping. The Greeks, of course, had a word for each of these processes: procope, syncope , and apocope . Thus, Papatriandaphilopoulos , became Papas or Poulos or Triandaphilos or Triandos or even just Tree . I knew a man whose name was Constantinous Papatriandaphilopoulos who had his name changed to Gus Rose . My own name, Demetrious , was shortened to Dim , and the closest thing to Dim was Jim . Most Demetriouses in those days became Jims .

The psychic rewards of teaching

A interview conducted by William P. Ancker. The interview took place at the Intercultural Center at Georgetown University in Washington DC, 9 October 2003, and appeared in the April 2004 issue of the journal English Teaching Forum (edited by Max Koller and published by the U.S. Department of State, for teachers of English world-wide). We reproduce it here with thanks.

The Past as Prologue

The privilege of writing this article was earned, not by distinguished scholarship, but by my serving you as Executive Secretary-Treasurer for nine and one-half busy years. A TESOL Executive Secretary has two chief duties: first, to implement the policies set forth by the membership through its representatives on the Executive Committee; and second, to act as historian for the organization. It is in this latter capacity, as your corporate memory, that I address you now.

ISSUES OF MAJOR CONCERN IN FOREIGN-LANGUAGE LEARNING AND FOREIGN-LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

This discussion of current issues of major concern in foreign-language learning and foreign-language acquisition takes the point of view of language educators both in exploring the implications of the results of firstand second-language acquisition studies for programs of instruction in a second or foreign language, and in suggesting possible directions for future psycholinguistic research. The review of the research is restricted to recent studies in Canada and the United States that bear most directly on the issues proposed for discussion. The issues are grouped under two general headings: ( 1 ) the question of bilingual-education programs and (2) the general problem of foreignlanguage instruction. The latter is an issue of long-standing importance, and one recently reevaluated by the President’s Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies; the former is at once an old and a new issue, and one recently focused upon by the hearings on the Department of Education’s proposed regulations describing the responsibilities of United States public schools to serve students whose primary language is not English, the so-called Lau guidelines. To put it simply, one might say that there are two major issues to contend with: (1) How do we teach English to speakers of other languages? and (2) How do we teach foreign languages to native English speakers? The first issue could be subdivided further, again in very general terms, into (a) adult learners at the university level, whose purposes in learning English are primarily instrumental, and (b) other learners, children and adults, whose purposes in learning English are primarily integrative. For the purposes of this paper, however, attention will be directed primarily to that segment of the population whose needs are addressed by the Department of Education regulations, that is, school-aged children of limited or no English proficiency. The 1979 report of the President’s Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies offers a suitable starting point for discussion of the two issues. The commission’s report, a “critique of U.S. capability,” decried “Americans’ incompetence in foreign languages” and offered a series of recommendations designed to correct this fault. The report revealed little new to members of the language-education profession; in fact, many professionals were disappointed that the report said so little about foreign-language studies vis-A-vis international studies in

Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics 1978: International Dimensions of Bilingual Education

Reports of the success of bilingual education models in one area have often led educators in other areas to adopt these same models. Before importing a bilingual education model from another area it would seem wise to find out the extent to which both areas are comparable linguistically, ethnically, socially, economically, and in some cases, politically. It seems also important to understand the history and development of the model in the area in which it was developed. This im^ plies a knowledge of the. population for whom the model was intended, and not only of what people did with the model but why they did it, not only of the fact that the model was successful, but why it was successful, or why it failed. In order to obtain this information educators must have access to case studies of bilingual education. Because of the number and complexity of variables it would seem that the case-study approach to the training of educators in bilingual education would be the wisest. The theoretical framework in which the cases are studied with a view to selecting the right model for a given community might indeed be an ecological one. This Georgetown University Round Table is part of a long tradition of meetings on bilingual education which have been taking place with increasing frequency since the turn of the century (Mackey and Andersson:Introduction). Indeed, the tradition goes back for more than a century and has included hundreds of meetings—national, international, and regional in all parts of the globe (Mackey 1978c). The literature on language contact, which totals well over the 20,000 titles listed in the two volumes of the international bibliography, shows a proportionately larger and larger number of studies devoted to the social and educational aspects of bilingualism as opposed to the linguistic and

The Role of Esl in Bilingual Education

The controversy over ESL and bilingual education in the U.S. may be seen as the result of confusion of terms. An examination of accepted definitions of both ESL and bilingual education reveals that both disciplines recognize the need to teach: 1) the students’ dominant language as a first language; 2) the content matter through the dominant language; 3) the history and cultural heritage of both linguistic groups; 4) English as a second language. Successful language instruction must be carefully planned and implemented by qualified teachers. Furthermore, if bilingual education is to become a permanent feature of American education, it is essential that teachers, administrators and community leaders unite behind the common cause. As a result of efforts by bilingual education and ESL professionals, the President’s Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies publicly recognized the relevance of ESL and bilingual education to its concerns. The need for professional cooperation cannot be overstress...