{"id":218,"date":"2023-04-21T14:14:33","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T14:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ncte\/?page_id=218"},"modified":"2023-04-27T14:45:52","modified_gmt":"2023-04-27T14:45:52","slug":"english-as-a-second-language","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ncte\/exhibits\/english-as-a-second-language\/","title":{"rendered":"English as a Second Language"},"content":{"rendered":"

“During the process of gathering data…it became increasingly evident that…information about the teaching of English to non-native speakers in this country is painfully inadequate and sometimes inaccurate”
\nFrom an NCTE proposal for the funding of a study and conference on teaching English as a second language (c. 1961)<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In 1961, NCTE published\u00a0The National Interest and the Teaching of English<\/em>. According to J.N. Hook in\u00a0A Long Way Together: A Personal View of NCTE’s First Sixty-Seven Years<\/em>, this 140-page book was motivated in response to the National Defense Education Act, which supported the study of science, math, and foreign languages. The Council wanted to demonstrate that English was also vital to national security, sending free copies to Congress members and other government leaders. Accompanying this report soon after was a supplement that would mark the beginning of what would be a very active decade in moving forward on an oft-neglected subfield: the teaching of English as a second language.<\/p>\n

NCTE’s heightened focus on English as a second language was in part due to James R. Squire, the new Executive Director in 1960, who was strongly interested in further advancing this field. Harold Allen and Robert Allen were also significant figures in promoting this subject. Harold Allen served as the senior consultant of the\u00a0English for Today<\/em> series and was heavily involved in the efforts of organizing the first national conference for the Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), while Robert Allen was the chair of NCTE’s Committee on Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages and also involved in the TESOL conference. Squire took a special interest in NTCE’s TESOL committee, encouraging it to consider publishing a journal devoted to the subject, and, alongside Harold Allen and Robert Allen, also aiding in efforts in forming the TESOL conference.<\/p>\n

Organizing the conference was no easy task. While the TESOL conference had challenges that all conferences face, it also faced a unique problem. The conference was a joint effort among NCTE, the Modern Language Association and the National Association for Foreign Student Affairs. The English Section of the National Association for Foreign Student Affairs was particularly concerned that the TESOL conference would become its own organization or a permanent part of NCTE, which could absorb its own members, small in number. Squire and Robert Allen feared that the English Section would withdraw its support as a consequence, suspecting that Harold Allen was seriously considering establishing an organization dedicated to TESOL concerns. The groups, however, reconciled in time and the first conference was held in Tucson, Arizona in 1964, and attended by an estimated 800 teachers. Harold Allen would go on to indeed help found an organization based on the conference,\u00a0Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), which was officially established in 1966.<\/p>\n

To learn more about NCTE’s early involvement in promoting scholarship on the subject of English as a second language, take a look at the featured topics below:<\/p>\n