At 8 months, Babies Already Know Their Grammar

Even before uttering their first words, babies master the grammar basics of their mother tongue. Thus eight-month-old French infants can distinguish function words, or functors—e.g. articles (the), personal pronouns (she), or prepositions (on)—from content words—e.g. nouns (rainbow), verbs (to drive), or adjectives (green).

Functors are frequently encountered because there are fewer of them, and they are placed before content words in languages such as English and French. In contrast, there is a much greater diversity of content words, which are also longer. Experiments conducted by three researchers from the Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center (CNRS/Université de Paris) with 175 eight-month-old babies, using a simple artificial language, demonstrated that these infants understood functors were more frequent and came before content words in their mother tongue (French).

The young participants quickly adapted to new content words but showed little interest for newly introduced v—as though already aware there were only a limited number of prepositions, determiners, and other words in this category.
Babies’ preferences were evaluated by observing how long they looked at visual displays associated with the grammar words. This study appears in Current Biology, 12 March 2020.

SEE: Babytalk Translates Best

Babies listened to a four-minute recording—in a simple artificial language—in which frequent words, imitating functors, alternated with rarer ones, imitating content words. Then they heard short sentences in the language, half of which adopted French word order (frequent-word-initial). During this part of the experiment, a longer gaze was interpreted as a sign of the infant’s preference. Image © Caterina Marino / CNRS / INCC

http://www.cnrs.fr/en/8-months-babies-already-know-their-grammar

August Preview: Reflections of War Initiative (ROW)

Look out for Julian McBride’s article outlining the African influences on our very own Latin alphabet in our upcoming August issue!

Julian is the founder and director of the Reflections of War Initiative (ROW), an anthropological NGO which aims to tell the stories of the victims of war through art therapy. As a former Marine himself, he uses this technique not only to help heal PTSD, but also to share people’s stories through art, which conveys “the message of the brutality of war better than most news organizations.” 

https://www.rowinitiative.org/

Reading Mastery

Oakland University

MAT in Reading and Language Arts
Format: Fully Online
Length: 2 years
Credit hours: 32
• Get experiential training through our reading/writing clinics
• Learn from nationally renowned faculty
• Engage in research opportunities
• Develop practices for educational equity and justice
Apply now: https://gradapply.oakland.edu/apply/
Get more information: https://oakland.edu/rla/academic-programs/MAT/
Questions? Contact [email protected]

PhD in Literacy, Culture, and Language
Format: Hybrid
Length: Flexible
Credit hours: 60
• Enjoy a small ratio of doctoral students to faculty
• Learn from nationally renowned faculty
• Conduct and evaluate research
• Choose from two dissertation formats: traditional or manu script-style dissertation
Apply now: https://gradapply.oakland.edu/apply/
Get more information: https://oakland.edu/rla/academic-programs/phd-in-literacy-culture-and-language/
Questions? Contact [email protected]


Saint Leo University

Master of Education in Reading
Format: Online
Length: 18-24 months
Credit hours: 30
Designed for certified teachers who want to develop advanced skills in literacy instruction. Completers earn K-12 reading certification in this state approved program.
https://www.saintleo.edu/online-masters-degree-in-reading-education


CSU San Marcos

Master of Arts in Reading, Language, and Literacy
Format: Fully online
Length: 16 months
Credit hours: 36 units
With CSUSM’s MA in reading, language, and literacy online program, learners will develop the strategies and best practices to transform K–12 literacy education across disciplines. Designed for working educators, this program fits learners’ schedules as they learn new ways to maximize their students’ learning potential with critical literacy skills.
https://www.csusm.edu/el/programs/education/maliteracy/index.html


Boise State University

MA in Education, Language, Literacy, and Culture
Format: Online
Length: Approximately two years
Credit hours: 33–36
The MA in education, language, literacy, and culture is designed to develop students’ understanding of the field of literacy and language development so they can serve all K–12 learners. They can also pursue an area of expertise by simultaneously earning a graduate certificate in TESOL, bilingual education, or literacy instruction.
www.boisestate.edu/education-llc


East Tennessee State University

Master of Education in Reading
Format: Online
Length: 18 months
Credit hours: 36 credit hours
The Master of Education in Reading prepares individuals to perform the duties of a Reading Specialist and Literacy Coach. Candidates choose coursework aligned with English as a Second Language or Special Education Interventionist K-8 and 9-12. The program is aligned to professional standards set forth by the International Literacy Association.
https://www.etsu.edu/coe/cuai/graduate/reading/

Reading Resources

World of Reading
For over 30 years, World of Reading has offered hundreds of readers in a variety of languages—from Albanian to Vietnamese—from publishers worldwide. They have readers for preschool- and elementary school–aged children, middle school, high school, college, and even modern and classic adult fiction.

They offer bilingual readers as well as readers only in the target language in both affordable paperback and durable hardback editions. Some of the readers include glossaries and/or activities for vocabulary, reading comprehension, and even extension activities. Other readers offer workbooks for additional activities and/or teacher guides. Some series offer graded levels of readers, with increasing vocabulary and complexity in the higher levels. Many readers offer downloadable audio, so students can hear the books read aloud. Some may cover certain themes or topics related to science, math, or technology, great for immersion programs.
Whether you are looking for readers for a beginner level, intermediate, or advanced, translations or authentic literature, World of Reading has you covered. You want engaging readers that will motivate your students. Let World of Reading help you find the best readers for YOUR needs.
www.wor.com/collections/foreign-language-and-esl-books-and-games

Crabtree Publishing
New Reading Collections for Every Stage of Development

Crabtree Publishing has been a trusted source for pre-K–9+ curriculum books and resources for over 44 years. Each resource blends accuracy, immediacy, and eye-catching illustration with the goal of inspiring nothing less than a lifelong interest in reading and learning in children.

Beautifully illustrated books and educational resources on curriculum subjects including animals, cultures, life and physical sciences, geography, history, mathematics, digital technology, social–emotional learning, and biographies highlight Crabtree’s extensive collections. Colorful and entertaining fiction has also become a strong part of Crabtree’s product line for young readers.

Eight new imprint lines feature early and emergent reading titles to support the pre-K–3 curriculum. Leveled fiction, first chapter books, and high-interest reading are among Crabtree’s new collections that support classroom and independent reading. The Sunshine Picture Books, Blossoms Beginning Readers, and Leaves Chapter Books imprints feature new illustrated fiction to help build reading skills and support comprehension at each stage of development. Each entertaining series in these collections engages young students with colorful illustrations and relatable characters. Simple text helps readers build confidence while they practice their reading skills. Included in every book is a page for caregivers and teachers that suggests reading and writing prompts to help aid in reading comprehension. Books are also available in Spanish as well as e-book and read-along formats.

To learn more about Crabtree’s new reading imprints, visit www.crabtreebooks.com/products/imprints.

Fathom Reads
Fathom Reads is an interactive read-along platform designed to supplement and support core learning in a variety of languages with differentiated instruction. The assistive reading technology helps beginning and struggling readers in English as well as English learners and world language learners. 

The books flip back and forth between up to ten languages with a click. Each language has native narration (no computer voices). Students may read just in English, go back and forth between English and another language, or use a bilingual feature to select a primary language with assistive technology and a static secondary language visible on the same page. The read-along can be slowed down or sped up. Highlighting options include none, word, fragment, fragment and word, sentence, and sentence and word. Individual words may be clicked to hear pronunciation.

Content from award-winning publishers supports core-subject learning for K–8. Subjects include science, social studies, math, language arts, and high interest. Books may be selected from the library by filtering by language, grade, and subject matter or by keywords.
Subscription plans meet your needs and budget: family, classroom, school, and multischool licenses are available. Select the books you need and the length of time. Take a test drive today.
https://www.fathomreads.com

Scholastic Magazines+
Scholastic Magazines+ provides content-rich curriculum resources with real-world content that reflects students’ diverse experiences, identities, and abilities. Magazines+ delivers fresh, high-interest content to pre-K–12 classrooms throughout the school year—in print, online, or both. Digital resources, Spanish articles, and instruction support multilingual learners and Spanish speakers across the grades. Also available are Scholastic World Language Magazines—designed to immerse students in the language and cultures of Spanish- and French-speaking countries, building vocabulary and comprehension skills with high-interest articles on pop culture, traditions, and teen life abroad. Robust digital resources include a Language Lab, videos, and audio that allow students to watch and listen to native speakers modeling conversations. Full transcripts and activities are provided.
https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com
 
Scholastic Digital Solutions
Scholastic’s digital solutions put all students on a trajectory of success—in school and beyond—by offering equitable instruction available anytime, anywhere, on any device. With award-winning personalized learning programs designed to build foundational reading and vocabulary skills, promote voluminous reading, and provide classroom management support, teachers are provided robust data to inform and differentiate instruction by skill, level, and interest. Choice-driven programs support independent and instructional reading across the content areas for all children, transforming the way students learn to read and love to read.
scholastic.com/edtech


Scholastic Modes in Focus
Leading writing experts Ruth Culham and Libby Jachles provide literature and lessons for narrative, informational, and opinion writing. Modes in Focus is designed to support educators and students in grades K–6 with ready-to-use lessons, mentor texts, teaching tools, and more. Each grade-level kit includes six mentor texts and is supported by its own teaching guide tailored to the needs, abilities, and interests of students. Culham and Jachles take the next step in writing instruction by linking mentor texts to the modes of writing and providing model lessons that get students writing immediately and enthusiastically. 
https://shop.scholastic.com/teachers-ecommerce/teacher/shops/modes-in-focus.html

Tools4Reading
Since its founding in 2010, Tools4Reading has focused on developing practical tools and training opportunities to bridge the gap between the science of reading and classroom practice. The company’s resources are grounded in research and easy to implement and improve literacy instruction. 

Known internationally for its Sound Wall Solutions™, created to help bridge the gap between understanding sound walls and practically implementing them in the classroom, Tools4Reading offers a variety of classroom resources that help teachers quickly implement sound walls into daily classroom reading instruction.

One of those resources is Kid Lips™, a helpful tool for teaching phonetics: how sounds are produced, how they are perceived, and their physical aspects. Picture cards of children’s mouths are used to teach and show the correct placement of the tongue, teeth, and lips when producing the target phoneme.

Kid Lips is included in the Sound Walls Starter Pack, which includes:
A 100-page instructional guide with 41 user-friendly lessons. Each lesson is about ten minutes in length and includes tips for instruction.
A 47-card set of phoneme/grapheme cards. Card fronts show the most common patterns for reading and spelling; backs are blank.
Free shipping on all orders shipped within the contiguous US.
www.tools4reading.com/products-services

Okapi Educational Publishing
Okapi Educational Publishing™ provides flexible literacy solutions built on best-practice instructions for grades K–5. Currently in use nationwide in a range of programs and a variety of instructional settings, their engaging materials empower each student to take responsibility for their literacy and language growth, producing powerful results. Okapi’s stellar lineup of programs includes the award-winning Flying Start to Literacy™ and Despegando hacia la lectura™. Paired texts—one fiction and one informational—are linked by their common use of content vocabulary and the same big idea. WorldWise: Content-Based Learning™ and ExploraMundos™ provide engaging content that is fully aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards and C3 Social Studies Outcomes for each grade.
Okapi’s four flagship programs provide title-for-title equity in English and Spanish, making them ideal for dual-language instruction. All four programs are included in Okapi Digital Literacy™, a digital platform with over 1,100 books offering digital access and teacher support for every title.

Channel the latest research into a dynamic instructional tool for emerging bilinguals with Biliteracy para todos™, a standards-based, uniquely designed program carefully crafted for English–Spanish instruction targeting language, content, and translanguaging practices. Give students a purpose for their reading and inspire further inquiry.
https://myokapi.com

Heinemann Publishing
The Fountas & Pinnell Classroom™ Guided Reading Collection
Proudly published by Heinemann

Engage readers in small-group discussion that emphasizes deep thinking about books with the Fountas & Pinnell Classroom™ Guided Reading Collection.

During guided reading, students in a small-group setting individually read a text that you have selected. You provide teaching across the lesson to support students in building strategic actions for processing increasingly challenging texts with fluency and comprehension.
At the heart of the guided reading collection are the highest-quality leveled books that will captivate the hearts and minds of readers. The collection includes 1,300 original titles (six copies of each) that span text levels A through Z, with an accompanying lesson folder for each title. Each book has been written by a diverse group of talented authors to match the text characteristics underlying the F&P Text Level Gradient™.

Choose the Fountas & Pinnell Classroom™ Guided Reading Collection that fits your school/classroom and budgetary needs. Purchase an entire bookroom for school-wide access; purchase books for a classroom encompassing the levels for that grade; or build your collection incrementally with ten-title sets preconfigured by text level. Digital subscriptions now offer print customers access to the same components in a student-facing platform.
www.fountasandpinnell.com/fpc/guidedreading

Waterford Reading Academy
Waterford Reading Academy is a supplemental early learning program uniquely designed to engage pre-K–2 learners. Students experience explicit and systematic instruction in reading, math, and science. The program is built on the science of reading and research-based learning.Because of the program’s adaptive learning paths, learners progress toward mastery at their own pace. This makes it appropriate and effective for all students, including children in special education programs. Additional support is built in for Spanish speakers.

All learners see themselves positively represented in the program’s books and activities. The content is infused with mindset skills, including self-awareness, social awareness, citizenship, and executive function. Families receive progress updates in English or Spanish. They also get suggestions for learning activities and access to over 1,300 resources, in English and Spanish, to support at-home learning.

Educators are equipped with a library of over 500 companion resources and digital playlists that allow them to differentiate instruction for whole groups, small groups, or individuals based on program data. Waterford Reading Academy is supported by ESSA efficacy evidence. Research has shown positive impact across all demographics, and longitudinal studies support the long-term benefits students reap with Waterford.
www.waterford.org/reading-academy

Plan to Promote French Across Canada


The government of Québec is proposing the celebration of an annual Francophonie Day as part of a three-year plan to reinforce French across the country. The province’s Treasury Board chair Sonia LeBel said she is suggesting that March 22 be designated as Francophonie Day at the National Assembly, creating the opportunity for Québecers to learn about other francophone communities.

The proposal was part of an 80-point plan unveiled at a news conference last month where she outlined the role Québec could play in supporting other French-speaking communities. “We are a minority in Canada. I think we have a responsibility to get to know each other better, to support each other better,” said LeBel, while claiming that supporting French speakers would not diminish English communities but would serve as a reminder that there are two official languages.

The government also pledged additional CAN$8 million in funding over three years toward the promotion of the French language across Canada, making a total of CAN$24.5 million.

There are more than 10 million francophones in Canada, of which 2.7 million live outside of Québec.

On the International Day of La Francophonie, (March 20), Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, issued the following statement

“Today, on the 35th International Day of La Francophonie, we join Francophones and Francophiles in Canada and around the world in celebrating the richness of the French language – a cornerstone of our country’s history, identity, and heritage. This day also invites us to highlight the diversity of Francophone cultures and communities around the world.

“French is one of Canada’s two official languages – and the first official language of nearly a quarter of Canadians. French-speaking communities across the country are at the heart of our history and, through their many contributions, they continue to make Canada a more inclusive, prosperous, and vibrant country.

“Through the French language, our country maintains strong ties with Francophone communities around the world. As an active member of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), Canada works closely with its Francophone partners all over the world to promote the French language and the diversity of Francophone cultures, including in the digital sphere. Together, we also work to protect our shared values of democracy, peace, human rights, and solidarity.

“The Government of Canada recognizes the importance of promoting French and strengthening the vitality of Francophone communities across the country. That is why, this month, we introduced an enhanced bill to ensure the substantive equality of status of English and French in Canada. This vision of our linguistic duality and our bilingualism, which includes setting targets for Francophone immigration outside Quebec, is part of our commitment to modernize the Official Languages Act.

“We will continue to work to modernize Canada’s linguistic regime, to adapt it to today’s realities and to establish a new linguistic balance in the country. Our proposal to strengthen the Act is an important step in our efforts to help protect the French language, promote our two official languages, and revitalize minority communities and bilingualism across the country.

“This year’s International Day of La Francophonie is also an opportunity for us to express our support and solidarity with Ukraine, which has OIF observer status, as its people try to secure their future in the face of Russia’s unjustifiable invasion of their territory.

“On behalf of the Government of Canada, I wish all Francophones and Francophiles in Canada and around the world a happy International Day of La Francophonie. I encourage you to learn more about Canada and La Francophonie, to share the hashtags #Francophoniedelavenir and #mon20mars on social media, and to take part in activities in your community to celebrate this important day.”

 
The University of Ottawa marked the day by announcing that it will be investing $5 million into the Francophonie on campus over the next five years to fund the hiring of new French-speaking professors and the development of new programs in French. The investment is being to “provide an exceptional learning environment for Francophone students.” 

South Africa Moves to Mother Tongue Education

South African basic education minister Angie Motshekga announced last month that the country will now be moving toward teaching children in their mother tongue in all provinces, because, according to Motshekga, children are performing poorly in school because they are being taught in English—a language that is foreign to them. Speaking during a parliamentary Q&A, Motshekga explained, “They [students] are no longer being tested on their cognitive development or understanding. You are now testing their language abilities, which is a problem.
Government has begun the process of changing this and the next step is to assess them in the language they are taught—so that we are able to assess performance and not language proficiency. The bottom line is that we need to adopt mother-tongue instruction in South Africa.”

The minister added that mother-tongue pilot projects in the Eastern Cape had proved successful, leading the way for projects across the country. BusinessTech reports that 2,015 schools in the Eastern Cape are using isiXhosa and Sesotho as the languages of learning and teaching (LoLT) beyond elementary level. Students in these schools are taught subjects such as mathematics, natural science, and technology in their home languages of isiXhosa and Sesotho.

However, Motshekga noted that it would be impossible to transition to a purely mother-tongue-based system, and that the government will use technology and other systems to effectively translate complicated scientific and mathematical concepts into languages that do not necessarily have the same terminology.

Huge Spanish Streaming Service Launches Vix

On the last day of March, TelevisaUnivision launched Vix and Vix Plus—a two-tier, macro-scale Spanish-language streaming service with more than 50,000 hours of content across all genres for users in the US, Mexico, and Latin America, marking the first big move since the two media giants merged.

As the latest Spanish-only streaming service, Vix joins Pantaya and a slew of streamers that offer considerable Spanish-language content, meeting the growing demand for Spanish-language programming across the Americas. The launch follows Telemundo’s introduction of Tplus, a bilingual content hub on Peacock, earlier this year.

Vix will offer exclusive soccer programming, 100 channels with an electronic programming guide, and access to Televisa’s library of 300,000 hours of content, as well as a prolific production engine and an extensive portfolio of intellectual property.
In announcing the beta launch, TelevisaUnivision CEO Wade Davis claimed that “there is nothing like this in the marketplace, and only the combined power of TelevisaUnivision can deliver Vix and Vix Plus.”

The full platform, debuting later in the year, will incorporate the company’s existing streaming options and curate 40,000 hours of content.
TelevisaUnivision has deals in the works to produce feature films with Salma Hayek Pinault’s Ventanarosa and with Eugenio Derbez, Ben Odell’s 3Pas Studios, María Dueñas, Mario Vargas Llosa, Santiago Limón, and Propagate’s Ben Silverman, as well as an original docuseries produced by Selena Gomez.

Pierluigi Gazzolo, president and chief transformation officer of TelevisaUnivision, said in a statement: “There is no question to me that Vix will become the essential streaming service for Spanish-speaking viewers and the brands that want to reach them.”

Anglophone Quebecers Object to French Policy

Only about 10% of Quebecers use English as their primary language.

Many of them argue that recent proposals for language policy in the province—Bill 96, for example—are further consigning Anglophone Quebecers to the margins of Québécois society.

According to a recent report in the Montreal Gazette, a group of Anglophone Quebecers has been floating around the idea of forming a provincial political party to advocate for the rights of linguistic minorities in the province, including speakers of English and Indigenous languages throughout Québec. The group has formed an exploratory committee and will determine whether or not it will form a political party before the upcoming general elections in October.

“We are exploring the prospect of a new political party to speak on behalf of people orphaned by the political process: English speakers, allophones, French speakers, and Indigenous peoples,” the group writes on its website.

Since the 1970s, the number of individuals in Québec who speak English as their primary language has declined significantly. At the height of this decline, more than 100,000 Anglophone Quebecers migrated to other Canadian provinces. This coincided with the 1977 adoption of Bill 101, which aimed to increase the status of French in the province. From 1971 to 2001, nearly 300,000 Anglophone Quebecers left the province to move to other parts of the country.

Bill 96, which was proposed last summer, is an extensive amendment to Bill 101, which some English speakers have claimed persecutes individuals who don’t speak French. Meanwhile, Premier François Legault has tried to assure the province’s Anglophone community that the bill is “nothing against Anglophones.”

Still, there’s a clear socioeconomic disparity between Anglophone and Francophone Quebecers. In a 2022 report on employment rates in the province, the Provincial Employment Roundtable (PERT) found that English-speaking Quebecers have a higher unemployment rate than French speakers. English speakers throughout the province have an average unemployment rate of around 9%; however, this rises up to 25% in the administrative region of Côte-Nord. French speakers across the province have an unemployment rate of just 7%.
“Once considered to be a homogeneous elite, Québec’s English-speaking community has undergone considerable changes over the past four decades,” PERT’s report reads, noting that the current Anglophone community in Québec includes a diverse group of people, about a quarter of whom identify as some other ethnic minority.

“For English-speaking Quebecers, language and linguistic identity can function as a barrier to accessing and retaining employment in a French-language labor market,” the organization continues.

The activists argue that Bill 96 may well exacerbate such inequality, citing a recent amendment to the bill that would require Anglophone students enrolled in a CÉGEP college program to take at least three French-language courses on subjects other than the language itself. For some Anglophone students who don’t speak French, this could lower their overall marks or even prevent them from graduating.
AW

What Increased Teen Media Use Means for Literacy Rates

Could increased media use be affecting literacy rates? A new research report from Common Sense Media reveals that media use by eight- to 18-year-olds has grown faster during the two years of the pandemic than it had over the four years before the pandemic began. The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens, 2021 compares screen use before and during the pandemic. The latest data shows that from 2015 to 2019, entertainment screen use, excluding media and tech use for school or homework, grew only 3% for tweens and 11% for teens. But from 2019–2021 alone, after the start of the pandemic, screen use grew by 17% for both age groups. In the past two years, average daily screen use jumped to 5:33 (hr:min) from 4:44 among tweens and up to 8:39 from 7:22 among teens.

The report also looks at how kids are spending their time online and how much they enjoy various media activities. While social media is popular among teens and growing more popular with tweens, not all of them are enjoying the experience. About 84% of teens surveyed say they use social media, but only 34% say they enjoy using social media “a lot,” which is much lower than the 62% who say they enjoy watching online videos that much.

The survey found that social media use is increasing for eight- to twelve-year-olds, an age group that is technically not allowed to have access to the main social media platforms. Among respondents surveyed in this age group, 38% say that they use some form of social media, up from 31% in 2019.

“The aging down of social media is something we should be concerned about, as social media platforms are not designed with children in mind,” says Michael Robb, senior director of research at Common Sense Media.

The report also addresses differences in gender, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic background when it comes to media use. While screen time has risen across the board, boys use more screen media than girls, Black and Hispanic youth use more screen media than White youth, and tweens and teens in lower-income households engage with substantially more screen media than their peers in higher-income households. Kids in lower-income households also read more (42 minutes vs. 34 minutes a day).

Download the full report at www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/report/8-18-census-integrated-report-final-web_0.pdf.

House Passes Biliteracy Education Seal and Teaching Act

vbi

This week, the House of Representatives approved an amendment to the FY23 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that authorizes the Biliteracy Education and Seal Teaching (BEST) Act  – HR 1731 – which would provide support for states to establish, improve and implement Seal of Biliteracy programs across the country.

This bill directs the Department of Education to award renewable two-year grants to states to establish or improve, and carry out, Seal of Biliteracy programs to recognize student proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing in both English and a second language.

Further, these programs must allow speakers of any official Native American language to use equivalent proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing in such language in lieu of proficiency in English.

Seal of Biliteracy programs have already been adopted in 49 states and thousands of students have earned seals on their diplomas or transcripts denoting their proficiency in one world language in addition to English. To support this progress, JNCL-NCLIS has worked closely with Representative Brownley (D-CA) to ensure the BEST Act provides appropriate support for the resources needed to implement and expand these programs and provide equitable opportunities for all students to earn their seals. The Senate will take up this annual defense authorization bill in September.

The bill has been applauded by the Joint National Committee for Languages (JNCL) and the National Council for Languages and International Studies (NCLIS). The JNCL-NCLIS unites a national network of leading organizations and businesses comprised of over 300,000 language professionals to advocate for equitable language learning opportunities. Our mission is to ensure that Americans have the opportunity to learn English and at least one other language. “We urge the Senate to follow the House’s lead and support inclusion of the BEST Act in its version of the FY23 NDAA,” said JNCL-NCLIS President, Amanda Seewald.

Language Magazine