Alatis, James E. (1926-)

Born in Weirton, West Virginia, on July 13, 1926, James Efstathios Alatis enjoyed a distinguished and influential career in linguistics, fostering the study of foreign languages and promoting bilingual education and the teaching of English as a second language (ESL). His career has extended for over five decades. The child of Greek immigrants, Alatis has become internationally known and honored for his work with the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Education, Georgetown University, and the organization known as Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). His latest appointments were as Distinguished Professor of Linguistics and Modern Greek at Georgetown University; codirector of the National Capitol Area Language Resource Center; and dean emeritus, School of Languages and Linguistics, Georgetown University. He is also senior adviser to the dean of the Georgetown College for International Language Programs and Research and executive director emeritus of TESOL. He has also served as interim president of TESOL's International Research Foundation.

After serving in the Navy during World War II, Alatis earned a BA in political science and English from West Virginia University and an MA and PhD in [Page 24]English linguistics from The Ohio State University. Raised as bilingual in English and Greek, he began his language career in 1955 as a Fulbright lecturer in linguistics and English at the University of Athens, where he also taught modern Greek to Americans and conducted field research in northern Greece. Shortly thereafter, he joined the U.S. State Department as an English Teaching and Testing Specialist. During this time, he helped in the design of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). He would later serve as an adviser for the Educational Testing Service's TOEFL unit. With passage of the National Defense Education Act in 1958 (NDEA), Alatis moved to the U.S. Office of Education as a specialist for language research and eventually became chief of the Language Research Section, at a time when foreign languages were a national priority.

In 1966, Alatis moved to Georgetown University to become an associate professor and associate dean of the School of Languages and Linguistics, the country's oldest and largest such school. Widely known as “the Father of TESOL,” that same year, Alatis was instrumental in founding this organization and became its first executive secretary (director), a position in which he served for the next 21 years. During his stewardship, TESOL grew from an initial 337 members to an organization of over 12,000 members. Traveling with great frequency, he helped to develop over 60 affiliates in the United States and abroad. Under his watch, the TESOL Newsletter and TESOL Quarterly were created as informational and scholarly publications, and TESOL's annual convention grew to be one of the language profession's largest and most comprehensive meetings. Today, two key components of the annual convention are the James E. Alatis Plenary Session and the presentation of the Alatis Award. Not only did he write the book about TESOL's history, Quest for Quality: The First 21 Years of TESOL, Alatis led the association in defining the very nature of the profession.

...