MSI Press Blog

  Transformative Language Learning and Teaching (TLLT) has taken root primarily in government and defense language programs, university-level language departments, and research-based adult education initiatives. The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC) has integrated TLLT principles into advanced proficiency training, emphasizing learner autonomy, intercultural competence, and reflective practice. The American Councils for International Education and affiliated programs have used TLLT frameworks to accelerate adult proficiency gains, particularly in critical languages. Academic institutions influenced by the Cambridge University Press volume Transformative Language Learning and Teaching (Leaver, Davidson, Campbell, 2021) have begun pilot applications in multilingual education and teacher development. These implementations show that TLLT is not theoretical—it is being practiced where high-level outcomes are required, such as government language training and a...

      Available for download, article from JDLS 8: " Road Maps to Distinguished Speaking Proficiency"  (Dr. Jack Franke, Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center) Abstract: Although study abroad is viewed in the United States as sine qua non , the study abroad experience is not a panacea to achieve distinguished foreign language speaking proficiency.  This study attempts to uncover how persistence, study abroad, motivation, and learner autonomy play into the pursuit of distinguished speaking proficiency.  Using the theoretical framework of complexity theory and phenomenological design, the study utilizes interviews of four educators at an institute in the western United States as the primary instrument of data collection.  This study investigates the roadmaps which successful foreign language educators have utilized to achieve distinguished speaking proficiency through interviews and documentary research. Data analysis of interviews with the ...