Policy and Strategy

The NFLC's approach to policy and strategy uses a model developed by former director Richard Brecht and the late Deputy Director of the NFLC, Ronald Walton in National Strategic Planning in the Less Commonly Taught Languages, NFLC Occasional Papers, 1993. This model, represented in the diagram below, assumes that need for languages other than English is not always well recognized or understood and therefore does not always translate into demand such as job opportunities for language-proficient individuals. Similarly, language capacity may be present in the population or in institutions that can develop language experts without being available upon demand: in other words, capacity does not always generate supply, especially when need is not expressed as demand.

This model was developed in the early years of the NFLC and continues to have value in the U.S. because the U.S. is a nation that has historically undervalued the teaching, learning, and use of languages other than English. In the wake of 9/11, recognition of language needs related to defense and national security has prompted significant new federal investment in foreign language programs. A number of the NFLC's long-standing recommendations gained support in a National Language Conference hosted at the University of Maryland in 2004 which led to the publication of a White Paper (pdf) . These include development of the language capabilities of U.S. heritage speakers, teaching languages to higher levels, development of improved K-12 programming in critical languages and articulation among K-12 programs, higher education programs, study abroad, and the world of work.

In a favorable environment for development of greater language capacity and a greater supply of language-proficient people, the NFLC is currently extending its use of the Need/Capacity/Demand/Supply model by identifying and proposing strategies that offer the greatest potential to meet these needs and to build long-term viable infrastructures that may outlast the current emphasis on this issue. The NFLC recognizes that attention to language needs has historically been episodic and ephemeral and therefore puts great emphasis in its strategic proposals on long-term sustainability.