In response to a bipartisan request from members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives, the Academy created a national commission to examine the current state of language education, project what the nation’s education needs will be in the future, and offer recommendations for ways to meet those needs.
The Commission on Language Learning is composed of national leaders in education, scientific and humanistic research, business, and government. Their primary task is to suggest a range of options for improving—and making more widely available—a set of educational approaches, services, and technological innovations. The commission works with scholarly and professional organizations to gather available research about the benefits of language instruction at every educational level, and will help to initiate a nationwide conversation about the need for greater investment in languages and international education.
Support for the Commission was provided by a $220,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, a grant from the Luce Foundation, and resources from the Academy’s New Initiatives Fund.
Resources from the American Academy of Arts & Science:
- Language and the Fulfillment of the Potential of All Americans
Terrence Wiley, Ph.D., with Beatriz Arias, Ph.D., Jennifer Renn, Ph.D., and Shereen Bhalla, Ph.D., Center for Applied Linguistics - America’s Languages: Challenges and Promise
Richard D. Brecht
American Councils for International Education - The Contributions of Language to the Economic Interests of the United States
Prepared by the Joint National Committee for Languages - Language and Productivity for all Americans
Judith F. Kroll and
Paola E. Dussias
Center for Language Science
The Pennsylvania State University
