A Brief History

In 2004, The Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) celebrated its 30th annual international conference in Nara. Here is a brief history of an organization which began when a group of teachers got together to exchange ideas and became one of Japan's largest and most effective cooperatives for professional development in language education.

The idea for an association of language teachers started at a language conference at The Language Institute of Japan in Odawara in 1974 when a group of teachers got together to discuss teaching methodologies. This is considered to be the first JALT conference even though no official organization had been formed at the time.

Tom Pendergast was the first president of JALT when the organization started the following year as a group of about 50 teachers in the Kansai Region and was originally called the Kansai Association of Language Teachers (KALT). For the next two years, more members would join and what started as a collective of teachers would cyrstalize into an organization with a solid structure, purpose and goal.

Charles Adamson, the first recording secretary of JALT, explained that two members (David Bycina and Doug Tomlinson) set up a second group called the Kanto Association of Language Teachers in Tokyo. Around the same time, Adamson started the Tokai Association of Language Teachers in Nagoya. In 1977, leaders from all three groups got together to form a national annual conference and a constitution with by-laws establishing JALT as a volunteer, non-profit organization consisting of three chapters. JALT also became a TESOL affiliate at the same time. Since so much had gone into the planning and groundwork, the organization recognized 1974 as its beginning year. The next chapter joined in 1978 and was the Chugoku Chapter, which was started by Marie Tsuruda who had been a member of KALT since 1975. At this time there were about 1,000 members in the organization nation-wide.

In 1979, major revisions were made as JALT realized its potential for growth and the opening of new chapters in other areas. The JALT Newsletter became a monthly publication. It was around this time a prominent Japanese educator suggested that JALT be for foreigners and that the Japanese set up their own organization. (The suggestion was based on the idea that communication would be easier if there were two organizations, one working in English and the other working in Japanese, working together instead of one.) JALT decided to continue its policy that the organization was open to all teachers, professionals and students interested in language education no matter what their nationality, where they were teaching, working, studying or what language they were teaching.

In 1983, The JALT Newsletter appointed a Japanese editor which led to an increase in articles in Japanese. Also The JALT Newsletter changed its title to The Language Teacher in 1984, but still remained a monthly publication. Of all major language teaching organizations such as TESOL, IATEFL, etc.; JALT is the only organization which produces a monthly publication as well as annual and semi-annual publications.

Japanese involvement in JALT grew and the first time a Japanese person chaired JALT's annual international conference took place in 1985. National Special Interest Groups (N-SIGs) started forming with the first two being Bilingualism and a Multilingual N-SIG. Other N-SIGs which formed in the 80's were the Video N-SIG and Global Issues. JALT expanded to more than 30 chapters throughout Japan, became a branch of IATEFL, and developed relationships with TESOL in the US and other ESL organizations. The JALT Central Office took over many of the routine operations and developed the procedures which are still in use today.

In 1989, JALT held its first annual conference outside of the Kanto, Kansai and Tokai regions. The conference was held at Notre Dame Seishin University in Okayama. By this time, conference banquets and One-Can Drink parties had become social highlights of the conference.

The nineties brought more changes to JALT. The current office supervisor, Junko Fujio, was hired in 1992. At one point, the monetary reserves for the organization totaled more than 44 million yen. With the bursting of the bubble economy, JALT faced financial hardships like everyone else. Some of the problems were increased costs of publications, the annual conference had become so large that they now needed to be held at commercial sites which ran up costs, textbook companies merged and fewer advertisements were sold. Complicated by inadequate accounting procedures and many teachers losing their jobs which meant they left the country, JALT used most of its reserve funds and faced a serious financial crisis. Larry Cisar took over as National Treasurer and with the help of the financial steering committee brought expenses under control. As JALT enters the new millennium, it promises to have a balanced budget and to start operating in the black again. JALT changed the system of its finances in 2001 by asking an outside accounting firm to support the financial operations of JALT in order to reduce the burden on the Director of Treasury.

Furthermore, JALT led the way in developing the Pan Asia Conferences, which started in 1997 in Bangkok, Thailand, and continued with the second one in Seoul, Korea in October of 1999, a third in Kitakyushu in 2001, the fourth in Taipei, Taiwan in 2003 and the fifth in Vladivostok, Russia, 2004. JALT also started an Asian Scholar Exchange Program where teachers from other Asian countries are brought to Japan to meet with teachers here and give presentations at the annual international conference.

JALT was granted NPO status in 1999 and has been a non-profit organization registered with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government under the new NPO Law passed in 1998, a law specifically designed to encourage the development of public interest groups. Under the NPO Constitution and Bylaws, JALT holds two Ordinary General Meetings and three Executive Board Meetings in a year.

The question now is what does the future hold for JALT. With finances coming under control, the organization is looking for ways to better serve it members and increase membership. JALT also looks to improve its international ties with other Asian countries through the Pan Asia Conferences and exchange programs. Most importantly, JALT is committed to providing the best service possible for its many members for years to come.