CHINESE LANGUAGE FIELD INITIATIVE

The Chinese Language Field Initiative (CLFI)

CLTA is pleased to announce that the Henry Luce Foundation has made an award to the National Council of Organizations of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL) to fund a field-wide research and development program to strengthen Chinese language instruction in the US. The Luce Foundation grant, totalling $360,000, is a three-year grant for 2001 to 2004.

The project, designated The Chinese Language Field Initiative, is being led by the Chinese Language Teachers Association (CLTA) and the Chinese Language Association of Secondary-Elementary Schools (CLASS), with administrative support provided by NCOLCTL, and with consultative expertise from the National Foreign Language Center (NFLC). There is also significant representation of the two national Chinese heritage school associations, the National Council of Associations of Chinese Language Schools (NCACLS) and the Chinese School Association in the United States (CSAUS). Taken together, these four groups represent the teachers of almost 200,000 students enrolled in Chinese language instruction in K-12, collegiate and community school settings, with the great majority enrolled in either primary and secondary (22,000) or Chinese heritage (140,000) schools.

On August 3-5, 2001, the inaugural meeting of the National Chinese Language Commission, which will serve as the overseeing body for the Initiative, was held in Washington, D.C.. During the course of the three-day meeting, the participants commenced work on the two foci of the first year of the grant: (1) a preliminary plan for strategic development of the Chinese language field in the United States; and (2) a national survey to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the Chinese language field in the United States. A working group called the Chinese Language Task Force, composed of six members of the Commission, will be responsible for drafting those two documents, under the overall direction of the Commission and with the logistical support of NCOLCTL and NFLC. The Commission will be co-chaired by Professor Neil Kubler of Williams College and Professor Tao-chung Yao of the University of Hawai'i. The other members of the Commission and Task Force are:

Richard Brecht, NFLC
Marjorie K.M. Chan, The Ohio State University & President, CLTA
Theresa Chao, NCACLS
Madeline Chu, Kalamazoo College
Michael Everson, University of Iowa
Mei-Ju Hwang, Springfield (MA) H.S. of Science & Technology (Task Force member)
Hong Gang Jin, Hamilton College (Task Force member)
Chuanren Ke, University of Iowa (Task Force member)
Claire Kotenbeutel, Madison (WI) Public Schools (Task Force member)
Lucy Lee, Livingston (NJ) High School & President, CLASS
Yu-Lan Lin, Boston (MA) Public Schools
Scott McGinnis, NCOLCTL/NFLC
Hal Nicholas, CLASS (Task Force member)
Robert Smitheram, CaliforniaDream.com (Task Force member)
Galal Walker, The Ohio State University
Lianggen Zheng, CSAUS

Questions about the Initiative may be directed to Principal Investigator, Scott McGinnis, at <smcginnis@nflc.org>.