American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages

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American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
AbbreviationACTFL
Formation1967;58 years ago (1967)
Website www.actfl.org OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) is an organization aiming to improve and expand the teaching and learning of all languages at all levels of instruction. ACTFL is an individual membership organization of more than 10,000 language educators and administrators from elementary through graduate education, as well as in government and industry. [1]

Contents

Founded in 1967 as a small offshoot of the Modern Language Association (MLA), ACTFL quickly became both a resource and a haven for language educators. Since then, the organization has set industry standards, established proficiency guidelines, advocated for language education funding, and connected colleagues at the ACTFL Annual Convention. [2]

Presidents

[4]

Teacher of the Year

Each year the organization names the ACTFL National Language Teacher of the Year. The Teacher of the Year becomes a spokesperson for the language profession to increase the visibility of the importance of learning languages and cultures to the general public. [5]

The Language Educator

The Language Educator (TLE) magazine is ACTFL's membership publication. TLE is published quarterly with issues available to members in print and for digital download and via a mobile app. [15]

ACTFL language proficiency guidelines

The ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines provide a means of assessing the proficiency of a foreign language speaker. It is widely used in schools and universities in the United States [16] and the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview is the most widely used oral proficiency test in North America. [17]

The guidelines are broken up into different proficiency levels:

These proficiency levels are defined separately for ability to listen, speak, read and write. Thus, in those American programs that emphasize written language over spoken, students may reach the advanced level in reading and writing while remaining at a lower level in listening and speaking.

The ACTFL Performance Descriptors are defined in three different subsets of communications skills with their own more generalized grading scales in terms of domains, functions, contexts/ content, text type, language control, vocabulary, communication strategies, cultural awareness in all of the following modes of communication: [18]

[19]

See also

References

  1. "About ACTFL | ACTFL". www.actfl.org.
  2. "History of ACTFL | ACTFL". www.actfl.org.
  3. "Jessica Haxhi | ACTFL". www.actfl.org.
  4. "Past Presidents | ACTFL". www.actfl.org. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  5. "Teacher of the Year Program | ACTFL". www.actfl.org.
  6. "ACTFL | 2025 ACTFL National Language Teacher of the Year Named". ACTFL.
  7. "ACTFL | 2024 Hall of Fame". ACTFL. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  8. "ACTFL | 2023 Hall of Fame". ACTFL. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  9. "2022 ACTFL National Language Teacher of the Year Announced". actfl.org. 19 November 2021.
  10. "ACTFL Names 2021 National Language Teacher of the Year | ACTFL". www.actfl.org. 17 November 2023.
  11. Kobin, Billy. "Louisville educator receives National Language Teacher of the Year award". The Courier-Journal.
  12. "Eastern High School Teacher named 2021 National Language Teacher of the Year | JCPS". www.jefferson.kyschools.us.
  13. "ACTFL Names 2021 National Language Teacher of the Year". www.prnewswire.com (Press release).
  14. "ACTFL Names 2020 National Language Teacher of the Year | ACTFL". www.actfl.org. 17 November 2023.
  15. "The Language Educator | ACTFL". www.actfl.org.
  16. Theresa Ulrich (28 December 2020). The Influence of the Foreign Service Institute on US Language Education: Critical Analysis of Historical Documentation. Taylor & Francis. p. 115. ISBN   978-1-00-033057-1. The ACTFL scale and descriptors are still one of the most widely used foreign language proficiency assessment frameworks in public schools, colleges, and universities nationwide
  17. Anne Lazaraton; University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (18 July 2002). A Qualitative Approach to the Validation of Oral Language Tests. Cambridge University Press. pp. 6–. ISBN   978-0-521-00267-7.
  18. "ACTFL Performance Descriptors for Language Learners | ACTFL".
  19. Performance Descriptors for Language Learners (PDF). ACTFL. 2012. ISBN   978-1-942544-06-7.