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National Council of Organizations of Less Commonly Taught Languages

Seventh Annual Conference

April 29-May 2nd, 2004

Madison, WI

The 7th Annual International conference of the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL) took place in Madison, Wisconsin on April 29th - May 2nd 2004 at the Howard Johnson Plaza-Hotel. The theme of the conference was "Identifying Individual and National Needs in Less Commonly Taught Languages". The conference drew more than 150 participants from various countries such as USA, Singapore, China, Tajikistan and France. Some of these attendees were sponsored by the National African Language Resource Center, the conference organizer. The conference hosted a pre-conference workshop, 6 plenary sessions, 36 paper presentations, 7 colloquia sessions and 14 poster & demonstration sessions besides hosting 4 exhibition booths.

The pre-conference workshop on April 29th was conducted by Dr. Andrew Cohen on Multiple Approaches to Language Assessment. Participants were engaged in paired and group discussion, and took part in a brief test construction activity in a small working group. The reception held on the same day featured six dances from various cultures across the world such as African, Chinese, Indian, Korean and Middle-Eastern regions. There was also a Yoruba poetry reading session.

The Welcome session on the 30th of April was addressed by Gilead Morahg, Magdalena Hauner, Sally Magnan, Alwiya Omar and Antonia Schleicher. There were six plenary sessions in the conference with eminent speakers from the LCTL field such as Gilles Bousquet, Richard Brecht, Fredrick Jackson, Anne Manganaro, Ann Copland, Heidi Byrnes, Keith Cothrun and J. D. Brown. These sessions focused on topics like like Language Learning & Global Professionals, Congressional attention to needs of LCTLs, Power of Language Learning, Advanced L2 Discourse Capacities, National Standards of Learning and Language Curriculum Development.

Papers were presented in the fields of Research, Material, Curriculum, Teacher Development, Testing and Technology. The delegate assembly meeting was held on the 30th of April and it was attended by delegates from the constituent organizations of NCOLCTL as well as the NCOLCTL executive board members. A luncheon was held to honor Professor Laurel Rodd with the Ronald. A. Walton Award in recognition of a career of Distinguished Service by the NCOLCTL.

A round table on the status and future of NCOLCTL was chaired by Michael Everson on the 1st of May. Participants included Richard Brecht, Fredrick Jackson, Gilead Morahg, Eyamba Bokamba, Teresita Ramos and Antonia Schleicher. It was announced that the next year's NCOLCTL conference will be held in Madison, Wisconsin. The incoming president is Dr. Michael Everson.

The conference was a wonderful forum for the participants to share and communicate ideas on the common cause of promoting the Less Commonly Taught Languages and identifying the individual needs in this field.