Dr. Richard D. Brecht

America's Languages Working Group Member, Co-Founder of ACIE and Jeenie

Dr. Brecht, Harvard M.A & Ph.D., is University of Maryland Professor Emeritus, co-director of the American Councils Research Center, & Co-Founder of Jeenie.com, a business providing language support and cultural coaching to ordinary people facing everyday communication problems around the world. Involved since its beginning in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences Language Education initiative and having drafted one of its briefing papers (“America’s Languages: Challenges and Promise), he has been an active member of the America’s Languages Working Group since its establishment in 2017 & leads the building of the web-based “Guide to Exemplary Programs & Practices in U.S. Language Education. As an academic entrepreneur, he has been a prime in founding & leading numerous academic organizations, including American Councils for International Education, the Center for Advanced Study of Language, the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages, and the National Foreign Language Center.

The America’s Languages Initiative: An Alternative Approach to a National Language Strategy

US language enrollments have remained consistently low for the last half century due largely to the failure to make language education truly accessible & effective for today’s learners. Now, the economic consequences of COVID threaten program reductions across the humanities & particularly language. Preventing a serious decline in language education, requires more than ever systemic increase in broader access & evidence-based effectiveness. The America’s Languages Initiative & its “Guide to Exemplary Programs & Practices in U.S. Language Education” envisions & implements a national strategy that reenergizes language education through a grass roots effort based on evidence of what actually works in programs around the country.

This presentation will be available for on-demand viewing on December 2nd during Global CRED. Register for Global CRED below, it’s quick easy and free!