Professional networks
(in alphabetical order of countries)
Albania
ELTA: English Language Teacher Association
Website in English: http://eltaal.org
Since 2002, the association works for the professional development of English teachers in Albania, including the yearly conference and other teacher training activities. Teachers can be members regardless whether they teach in private or in public schools.
Austria
AG Germanistik: Working group of German teachers at academic secondary schools (Gymnasien)
Contact via AG Germanistik in Vienna:
Martina Haunschmidt (martina.haunschmidt@gmail.com) and
Maria-Rita Helten-Pacher (maria-rita.helten-pacher@univie.ac.at).
Interest group of German teachers mainly focused on organising in-service training for secondary school teachers at teacher training colleges.
ÖDaF: Österreichischer Verband für Deutsch als Fremd- und Zweitsprache
Website in German: www.oedaf.at
Association of teachers of German as a foreign or second language in all areas of education (schools, adult education, private tuition...).
Croatia
Association of Teachers of Croatian
Website in Croatian: www.dphj.hr
The Association promotes general and specific aims and interests of the Croatian language as a majority language of instruction,a language of profession,a school subject and a language of science.Its activities include:
organization and practising scientific and professional meetings, expert-methodological seminars, outreach seminars, study tours, organizing or working on various forms of discussions, lectures, cultural activities, round tables, etc.
maintaining social and multilateral relationships with other professional, scientific, educational, cultural and academic institutions and associations,
publishing scientific and professional journals and other publications, according to the law.
Cyprus
Cyprus Pedagogical Institute
Website in Greek: www.pi.ac.cy
Finland
Äidinkielen opettajain liitto (ÄOL): The Association of Finnish Mother Tongue Teachers
Website in Finnish: www.aidinkielenopettajainliitto.fi
The Association of Teachers of Finnish as a Second Language
Website in Finnish: http://s2opettajat.yhdistysavain.fi/
Opetusalan Ammattijärjestö OAJ: Finnish Trade Union of Teachers
Website in Finnisch, Swedish and English: www.oaj.fi
The union represents teachers at various school levels and institutes of learning, ranging from day-care center teachers to lecturers in universities and vocational school teachers. We also work together with the Finnish Teacher Student Association SOOL and veteran teachers. In Finland over 95 percent of the teachers are OAJ members.
The OAJ is in charge of the safeguarding of teachers' interests in Finland. It is the only trade union which conducts negotiations on the terms of the teachers' employment contracts. Salaries and working hours are determined in the collective agreement.
France
CIEP: Centre internationale d'études pédagogiques
Website in French, English, German and other languages: www.ciep.fr
The CIEP has three main missions: educational cooperation in the education and training sector; public service as a provider; and influence, as a laboratory for ideas.The two areas of activity are: education (general, higher and vocational education, qualifications recognition); and languages (French language, languages and mobility, evaluation and certifications).
AIRDF: Association Internationale pour la Recherche en Didactique du Français
Website in French: www.airdf.org
This association works in the field of the research of didactics in French (including plurilinguality) with regard to all the francophone countries. To access the whole site registration is needed.
EDiLiC:Education et Diversité Linguistique et Culturelle
Website in French and English: www.edilic.org
EDiLiC international association was created in 2001 by partners of the Evlang program. It is open to anyone wishing to contribute to the promotion of the awakening to languages. This includes an integrated curriculum, involving other plural approaches of languages and cultures.
Germany
DGFF: German society for foreign language research (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Fremdsprachenforschung)
Website in German, English, French and Spanish: www.dgff.de
"The DGFF wants to bring together researchers who are active in one or more of the following field: (1) teaching and learning of foreign languages; (2) acquisition and use of second languages; (3) multilingualism; (4) intercultural learning."
GAL e.V.: Gesellschaft für Angewandte Linguistik
Website in German: www.gal-ev.de
The GAL is a member of AILA and has at the moment about 1000 members. They conduct research and search for improvements in the field of written and oral communication in diverse field of working and daily activities. Once a year there is the annual conferences, and GAL gives out two regular publications: the journal Zeitschrift für Angewandte Linguistik (ZfAL) and the book series forum Angewandte Linguistik (fAL).
FaDaF: Fachverband für Deutsch als Fremdsprache
Website in German: www.fadaf.de
The FaDaF wants to foster the learning of German and thereby intercultural contacts and understanding. Furthermore it wants to assist the language learning of foreign students. It is an association working for everyone in the field of German as a Foreign Language, including teaching personal and students. In order to inform about didactical and research positions and the policy on higher education, the FaDaF organizes an annual conference and two symposia.
Netzwerk Mehrsprachigkeit e.V. (Network for Multilingualism)
Website in German: www.netzwerk-mehrsprachigkeit.de
The aim of the network is to support people and institutions who work with multilingualism and foreign/second language acquisition (especially with regards to children and their parents). They organize expert conferences, seminars and trainings and try to be present on compatible fairs. The core of their work is the interdisciplinary connection of theory and practice.
Greece
Greek Applied Linguistics Association
Website in Greek and English: www.enl.auth.gr/gala/
"GALA promotes scientific research carried out within the framework of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, and facilitates distribution and exchange of information. It also encourages and supports cooperation, at both a national and an international level, in everything related to linguistic research and its applications, with particular regard to education and civilization. "
Iceland
The Icelandic Teachers' Union
Website in Icelandic, English and Danish: www.ki.is
The Icelandic Teachers' Union was founded on 1 January 2000. It is a joint organization for all teachers, headteachers, deputy headteachers, and student counsellors, in preschools, primary schools, secondary schools, and music schools – with the exception of headtechers in secondary schools. The Icelandic Teachers' Union is a member of EI (Education International), and is an active participant in the NLS (Nordic Teachers' Council, www.n-l-s.org), a cooperative forum for teachers' associations in the Nordic countries.
The Association of Foreign Language Teachers in Iceland (STIL)
Website in Icelandic and English: http://stil-is.weebly.com/
The Association of Foreign Language Teachers in Iceland is an umbrella organization of teachers of Danish, English, French, German, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish in Iceland. With a membership of 600, its role is to provide language teachers with support and assistance in their professional development. STIL cooperates with various educational bodies both in Iceland and abroad.
STIL is a member of UNESCO and the Nordic Baltic Region of FIPLV (The International Federation of Language Teachers Associations)
The Association of Mother Language (Icelandic)Teachers in Iceland (SM)
Website in Icelandic: www.ki.is/sm
The Association of Mother Language Teachers in Iceland is an organization of teachers of all school levels. Its role is to provide language teachers with support and assistance in their professional development. SM cooperates with various educational bodies both in Iceland and abroad.
Ísbrú (Icebridge)
Website in Icelandic: www.isbru.is
Icebridge is the Association of Language Teachers teaching Icelandic as a second language in Iceland. It is an organization of teachers of all school levels. Its role is to provide the teachers with support and assistance in their professional development. Icebridge cooperates with various educational bodies.
Ireland
ELSTA: English Language Support Teacher's Association
Website in English: http://elstaireland.co.cc
Contact person: Mary Ryan (maryyran@elsta.ie)
The (quite young) association shall give teachers the opportunity to prepare for the growing challenges in the teaching of English as a second or other language. Some information is only accessible after registration.
Lithuania
Language Teachers' Association of Lithuania: Lietuvos kalbų pedagogų asociacija ( LKPA)
Website in Lithuanien, English and Russian: www.lkpa.uki.vu.lt
The Association of Language Teachers of Lithuania was founded in December 2006 to build bridges between the existing associations of teachers of English, Lithuanian and some other languages as well as between professionals who work for universities, schools and language centres. The association operates on territorial , interest group and association (already operating language teachers' associations) basis.
At present, there are 7 institutional and over one hundred individual members . They are teachers of the most popular languages taught in Lithuania: English, German, French, Italian, Russian, Lithuanian and some others.
The association became a member of FIPLV in 2008 and is currently member of the REAL 2 consortium.
Malta
MUT: Malta Union of Teachers
Website in English: www.mut.org.mt
The MUT was founded in 1919 and is nowadays the teacher's trade union. They have an office in Valetta and publish the magazine "The Teacher".
Slovenia
National Education Insitute
Website in Slovenian, English, Hungarian and Italian: www.zrss.si
"We creatively link achievements in the sciences, arts, economics and humanities with experiences from teaching practices as well as prepare solutions for improving the quality of education and training."
SIAE: The Slovenian Institute for Adult Education
Website in Slovenian and English: www.siae.si
"In cooperation with and in support to networks comprising of about 300 adult education public and private institutions as well as NGOs, SIAE has been working on the development of non-formal education and learning, adult literacy programmes and access to education and learning for marginalised target groups, adult education information and guidance, quality in adult education, training and professional development of adult educators, promotion of lifelong learning (Lifelong Learning Week) and many other areas."
PEI/ERI: The Educational Research Institute
Website in Slovenian and English: www.pei.si
"The Educational Research Institute (ERI) is the central research institution in Slovenia for research in education undertaking basic research, development and applied projects on issues of current interest in all sectors of education and related areas."
United Kingdom
The Association for Language Awareness
Website in English: www.languageawareness.org
The Association for Language Awareness aims at supporting and promoting activities across the whole breadth of Language Awareness. These are conducted in different fields of Language Awareness (e.g. mother tongue learning, foreign language learning, teacher education, language use in professional settings), at a variety of levels (e.g. primary, secondary and tertiary education, professional training and practice), and with objectives in a range of domains (e.g. effects on language performance, on attitudes to language etc).
The ALA pursues this goal in a variety of ways: for example, by collecting and disseminating information on Language Awareness initiatives, by promoting research into Language Awareness, by supporting initiatives undertaken by organisations with overlapping interests (e.g AILA), and by arranging conferences and meetings for practitioners and theorists in all spheres of teaching and learning, as well as for others with interests in Language Awareness.
National Association for Language Development in the Curriculum (NALDIC)
Website in English: www.naldic.org.uk
The National Association for Language Development in the Curriculum (NALDIC) is the UK professional body for all those interested in raising the achievement of bilingual pupils with English as an Additional Language. NALDIC was inaugurated in 1993 and since its formation has acted as the voice of the profession. It provides a professional forum for:
- Teaching and learning of English as an Additional Language
- Supporting bilingualism
- Raising the achievement of ethnic minority learners
- The development and understanding of this field of education
The website contains comprehensive information, including case studies, about the range of research projects and resources which have NALDIC involvement. They have long lobbied for improved status for teachers of EAL and also for mainstream support of first languages in order to support plurilingualism. They also promote themed activities such as the use of ICT to promote plurilingualism.
National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE)
Website in English: www.nate.org.uk
Professional subject association for those working with English in education in any capacity. Promotes innovation in classrooms and teacher's professional development through research, publications and conferences.
International
AILA: Association Internationale de Linguistique Appliquée / International Association of Applied Linguistics.
Website in English: www.aila.info
"AILA is the international federation of national or regional associations of Applied Linguistics. Through its member associations, AILA currently has a membership of more than 8.000 individuals worldwide who as researchers, policy makers or practitioners are active in the field of Applied Linguistics.
Applied Linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of research and practice dealing with practical problems of language and communication that can be identified, analysed or solved by applying available theories, methods and results of Linguistics or by developing new theoretical and methodological frameworks in Linguistics to work on these problems. Applied Linguistics differs from Linguistics in general mainly with respect to its explicit orientation towards practical, everyday problems related to language and communication."
EUROSLA: European Second Language Association
Website in English: http://eurosla.org
EUROSLA is a society for people with a research interest in Second Language Acquisition.They run an annual conference for our members, and a number of specialised seminar meetings. Some of this work is published in our annual publication. The society welcomes new members whatever their nationality, geographical location or theoretical and methodological preferences. The conferences take place in Europe, but the EUROSLA network extends throughout the world.
EDiLiC:Education et Diversité Linguistique et Culturelle
Website in French and English: www.edilic.org
EDiLiC international association was created in 2001 by partners of the Evlang program. It is open to anyone wishing to contribute to the promotion of the awakening to languages. This includes an integrated curriculum, involving other plural approaches of languages and cultures.
Last update: 2010-08-09