Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: As I compose my final president's message for Foreign Language Annals, I am reminded of the many ways that I have connected with the ACTFL membership throughout the year.This has included attending each of the five in-person regional conferences (Central States, Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Pacific Northwest Council for Languages, Southern Conference on Language Teaching, and Southwest Conference on Language Teaching); presiding over the "Language as Liberation" virtual town hall series; and connecting in various other ways (both in person and virtually).Although there were moments of exhaustion, connecting with so many of ACTFL's members across the nation has been the source of much joy, inspiration, admiration, and rejuvenation.Serving as ACTFL President has been the honor of a lifetime, and I look forward to our continued work together during the remainder of my term in 2024 and my role as Past President in 2025.Throughout my presidency, I have used the theme of "Language as Liberation" to apply a lens of hope, optimism, resistance, empowerment, and joy not only to language teaching and programming but also to how we imagine professional engagement.Here, I use "professional engagement" to include how we bring people into the profession (recruitment), how we keep them in the profession (retention), and how we consistently provide opportunities for sustained engagement and growth (professional development).
Source: Foreign Language Annals
DOI: 10.1111/flan.12778
Author: L. J. Randolph
Institution: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4402320295