22 May Important Advocacy News from ACTFL
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
I am happy to share with you an important update from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and Lead with Languages, ACTFL’s public awareness campaign that strives to create a new generation of Americans competent in other languages and cultures and fully equipped to compete and succeed in a global economy.
This week, ACTFL and Lead with Languages, with support from Pearson and Language Testing International (LTI), have published Making Languages Our Business: Addressing Foreign Language Demand Among U.S. Employers, a comprehensive report that shares the findings of a survey of 1,200 U.S. employers conducted by Ipsos
Public Affairs. The report demonstrates an urgent and rising demand for language skills in the U.S. workplace and presents actionable recommendations for U.S. businesses to follow to fully leverage their employees’ language assets and to contribute to fostering a robust future multilingual workforce. Top-line data points include:
- 9 out of 10 U.S. employers rely on employees with language skills other than English.
- 1 out of 3 language-dependent U.S. employers report a language skills gap.
- 1 out of 4 U.S employers lost business due to a lack of language skills.
- 56% say their language demand will increase in the next five years.
Both the Executive Summary and the Full Report are now available to read and download at: www.leadwithlanguages.org/
Thank you for your continuing support of language education.
Kind regards,
Howie Berman, MA, CAE
ACTFL Executive Director
1001 N. FAIRFAX ST, STE 200
ALEXANDRIA, VA 22314
703.894.2900
Need to update your membership information? Go to our online membership portal, email us, or call us at 703.894.2900.
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