JNCL-NCLIS Affiliation

Joint National Committee for Languages -- National Council for Languages & International Studies http://www.languagepolicy.org

CLTA is a dues-paying member of JNCL-NCLIS since 1982, with voting representation at JNCL-NCLIS' annual Delegate Assembly Meeting. While JNCL and NCLIS are officially two separate organizations, they are both headquartered in Washington, DC, and have the same constituent members, totalling over 60 member organizations from all areas of the language profession. NCLIS is a registered lobbying organization that serves as the 'action arm' for the language and international education communities, and JNCL is a non-profit, member-funded organization.

To learn more about the importance of CLTA's participation in JNCL-NCLIS, below is an informative report by Prof. Claudia Ross (CLTA Vice-President, 2001) on her representation of CLTA in Spring 2001 at the JNCL-NCLIS Delegate Assembly Meeting. Included in the report, published in the September 2001 issue of the CLTA Newsletter, are other relevant, field-related activities.

In May of this year I represented CLTA at the annual meeting of JNCL (The Joint National Committee for Languages) and its lobbying arm, NCLIS (National Council for Languages & International Studies) and the "New Visions in Foreign Language Education" conference organized by the National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center at Iowa State University and ACTFL.

CLTA is a member of JNCL-NCLIS and our dues support the important work that these related organizations do for us. JNCL-NCLIS provide a national forum for the discussion and promotion of language policies including funding for foreign language study and language and area studies programs. At this meeting, delegates from member organizations like myself were briefed on pending legislation which will provide funding for language study and went to Capitol Hill to speak directly with our senators and representatives about the importance of funding for foreign language study. The education bill on the Congressional agenda this year will affect funding at the K-12 level. Next year, Congress will focus on funding for higher education. These bills affect all of us, by providing funding for foreign language programs at the K-12 level, by providing scholarships and other incentives for students to study languages like Chinese, and by providing funding for language and area studies programs at the college and university level.

What did I learn at these meetings? First, I learned that we as individual members of CLTA, need to take a more active role in promoting foreign language study at the state and national level. Lobbying for Chinese language programs is not new to us. We work hard to promote Chinese language study within our home institutions. But the attitudes of our administrators, colleagues, and students are often influenced by the dialogue at the national level, and we can influence that dialogue by adding our voices. Our senators and representatives on Capital Hill told us that our voices, the voice of the people "in the field", played a significant role in their support for issues. On a concrete level, here is how we can use our voices. We can regularly access the JNCL-NCLIS website to receive updates on upcoming foreign language issues in Congress. That address is www.languagepolicy.org. We can write our representatives in Congress expressing our support for foreign language funding. While we are in Washington next fall for the CLTA annual meeting, we can meet with our representatives to explain in person the importance of foreign language study, especially Chinese language study, in the education of American students. And of course, we can continue to support the efforts of JNCL-NCLIS on our behalf through our membership in their organization.

Second, I was reminded about how much we can learn by meeting with other organizations and hearing how they define and address the concerns of their professions. I learned that Japanese language teachers and Russian language teachers had each created umbrella organizations where leaders of the various constituencies (college-level, K-12 level, and heritage level programs) can meet to discuss issues of common concern such as articulation, professional development, and study abroad. NCOLCTL has taken an important first step towards developing this kind of organization for the Chinese language teaching field. This year, it secured a grant from the Luce Foundation to fund a field-wide research and development program to strengthen Chinese language instruction in the United States. The project, The Chinese Language Field Initiative, will be led by CLTA and CLASS, with administrative support provided by NCOLCTL and consultant expertise by the National Foreign Language Center. We should give this project our wholehearted support.

Finally, at the New Visions meeting I reflected on the mission of CLTA. CLTA does not have a "Mission Statement", though its purpose is stated in Section 1.02 of our bylaws:

The purpose of the organization is to advance the teaching and learning of the Chinese language, and to encourage and disseminate study and research in Chinese language pedagogy, Chinese linguistics, and Chinese literature.

This statement of purpose accurately describes what we do now, but as we stand at the gate of the 21st century, a century in which the importance of the Chinese language is likely to increase, we should begin thinking about what we want to do moving forward. I will be recommending to the Board of Directors that it convene a "mission" committee to reflect on the goals of CLTA and draft a mission statement which will define the goals of the organization for the new century.

Sincerely,
Claudia Ross
CLTA Vice-President (2001)