簡単な歴史

Other founding members, David Bycina and Doug Tomlinson, set up a second group called the Kanto Association of Language Teachers (also called KALT) in Tokyo in 1976. Around the same time, Charles Adamson started the Tokai Association of Language Teachers (TALT) in Nagoya. In 1977, leaders from all three groups got together to plan a national annual conference and form a constitution with bylaws establishing JALT as a volunteer, nonprofit organization consisting of three chapters. JALT also became a TESOL affiliate at the same time. Because so much work had gone into the planning and groundwork, the organization recognized 1975 as its founding year. In 1978 the Chugoku Chapter (Hiroshima) was started by Marie Tsuruda, a member of KALT since 1975. At this time there were about 1,000 members in the organization nationwide. The Nishinippon (Fukuoka) and Shikoku Chapters also began in 1978, followed by:

Tohoku (Sendai) and Hokkaido in 1979
Kyoto and Okinawa in 1980
Nagasaki and Aomori in 1981
Hamamatsu, Kobe, and Okayama in 1983; Matsuyama and Yokohama in 1984
Chiba, Shizuoka, Tokushima, and Yamagata in 1985
Ibaraki, Omiya, and Gunma in 1986
Niigata, Kanazawa, Fukui, Nagano, Toyohashi, Suwa, and West Tokyo in 1987
Kagoshima in 1988
Himeji, Iwate, Nara, and Tochigi in 1989
Yamaguchi in 1990
Akita in 1992
Fukushima in 1994
Kitakyushu, Kochi, and East Hokkaido in 1995
Miyazaki and Kumamoto in 1996
Gifu in 1999
East Shikoku in 2005
Wakayama in 2006
Oita in 2009
Tottori in 2014

創設メンバーの一人デイビッド・バイシナとダグ・トムリンソンは、1976年に東京で「関東語学教師協会（KALT）」を設立しました。同時期に、チャールズ・アダムソンが名古屋で「東海語学教師協会（TALT）」を立ち上げました。1977年には、3団体のリーダーが集まり、全国大会の計画と、JALTをボランティアによる非営利団体として確立するための会則・細則を制定しました。JALTは同時にTESOLの加盟団体にもなりました。こうした準備と基盤づくりの努力を踏まえ、JALTは1975年を設立年と認定しています。1978年には、マリー・ツルダ（1975年以来のKALT会員）が広島で中国支部を設立しました。この時点で会員数は全国で約1,000人に達していました。1978年にはさらに西日本（福岡）支部と四国支部が設立され、その後も以下のように続きました。

1979年：東北（仙台）、北海道
1980年：京都、沖縄
1981年：長崎、青森
1983年：浜松、神戸、岡山
1984年：松山、横浜
1985年：千葉、静岡、徳島、山形
1986年：茨城、大宮、群馬
1987年：新潟、金沢、福井、長野、豊橋、諏訪、西東京
1988年：鹿児島
1989年：姫路、岩手、奈良、栃木
1990年：山口
1992年：秋田
1994年：福島
1995年：北九州、高知、東北海道
1996年：宮崎、熊本
1999年：岐阜
2005年：東四国
2006年：和歌山
2009年：大分
2014年：鳥取

Over the years, some chapters have dissolved and their members have been added to the rolls of surrounding chapters; some have split up (members from Fukuoka Chapter formed Kitakyushu Chapter in 1996); others have changed their names (Suwa and Nagano combined to become Shinshu in 1998 and later reverted to Nagano; Omiya became Saitama in 2014); still others have combined into regional groups (Kagoshima and Miyazaki became Nankyu in 2014 and Nagasaki joined in 2015). (See the current list of JALT chapters.)

その後、一部の支部は解散し会員が周辺の支部に統合されたり、（1996年に福岡支部から北九州支部が分かれたように）新たに分離独立したり、（諏訪と長野が1998年に信州支部となり、後に再び長野支部へ戻った、また2014年に大宮支部が埼玉支部へ名称変更されたなど）名称が変更されたり、（2014年に鹿児島と宮崎が南九支部に統合され、2015年に長崎も合流するなど）地域単位で統合されることもありました。（現在の支部一覧はこちらをご参照ください。）

Starting 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, edited by David Bycina. The JALT Journal started as a semiannual refereed research-oriented publication, with Nancy Nakanishi as its first editor. It was also 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, or studying, or what language they were teaching.

1979年からは、JALTの成長可能性を認識し、さらなる地域への支部展開を進めるため大きな改編が行われました。『JALT Newsletter』はデイビッド・バイシナの編集により月刊化されました。さらに『JALT Journal』も創刊され、査読付きの研究誌として年2回発行され、ナンシー・ナカニシが初代編集長となりました。この頃、ある著名な日本人教育者から「JALTは外国人のために残し、日本人は独自の団体を設立すべきだ」という提案がなされました。（英語と日本語の2団体が協力する方がコミュニケーションが容易であるという考えに基づくものでした。）しかしJALTは、国籍や勤務先、教授言語に関わらず、語学教育に関心のあるすべての教師、専門家、学生に開かれた団体であるという方針を維持しました。

Thailand TESOL
The English Teachers Association of the Republic of China (ETA-ROC)
The Philippines Association of Language Teachers (PALT)
Korea TESOL
The Far Eastern English Language Teachers Association (FEELTA)
Cambodia TESOL
Linguapax Asia
Malaysian English Language Teaching Association (MELTA)
the Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language in Indonesia (TEFLIN)
the Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association (BELTA)
and the Nepal English Language Teachers Association (NELTA).

Domestically, JALT is a board member of UALS (the United Association of Language Studies), and has partnerships with JACET (The Japan Association of College English Teachers), AJET (The Association for Japan Exchange and Teaching), and JASAL (The Japan Association for Self-Access Learning). In 1983, The JALT Newsletter appointed a Japanese editor, Kenji Kitao, which led to an increase in articles in Japanese. In 1984 The JALT Newsletter changed its name to The Language Teacher, but still remained a monthly publication. Of all major language teaching organizations such as TESOL and IATEFL, JALT was the only organization that produced a monthly publication as well as the annual Conference Handbook and PostConference Publication and the semiannual JALT Journal. In 2009, the growing popularity of web publishing convinced the Publications Board that The Language Teacher would work better as a bimonthly publication with faster updates on our website at jalt.org

国内では、JALTは言語系学会連合（UALS）の理事を務め、日本英文学会大学英語教育学会（JACET）、JETプログラム参加者の会（AJET）、日本自律学習学会（JASAL）とも協力関係を築いています。1983年には『JALT Newsletter』に日本人編集者（北尾謙司）が加わり、日本語記事が増加しました。1984年、『JALT Newsletter』は『The Language Teacher』へと改称しましたが、月刊は維持されました。TESOLやIATEFLなどの主要団体の中で、月刊誌に加え、大会ハンドブック、大会後刊行物、査読誌『JALT Journal』を発行していたのはJALTのみでした。2009年にはウェブ出版の普及により、『The Language Teacher』は隔月刊となり、ウェブサイト（jalt.org）での迅速な更新が行われるようになりました。

Over the years, Japanese involvement in JALT grew and the Kyoto conference in 1985 marked the first time a Japanese member, Kazuo Yoshida, co-chaired JALT’s annual international conference. 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. In recent years, the conference venue has rotated mainly between Shizuoka, Tsukuba, and Nagoya, though in the past, we’ve held the conference in a variety of locations (see the list here: https://jalt.org/jalt-international-conference). In November 2020, we had planned to hold it at Tsukuba, but due to the Coronavirus, we held our conference online for the first time. JALT2021 was planned to be a return to the Granship in Shizuoka, but that, too, became an online conference due to the Coronavirus. JALT2022 was our return to in-person conferences, our first time in Fukuoka City and our third time in Fukuoka Prefecture.

JALTへの日本人会員の参加は年々増加し、1985年の京都大会では吉田和夫氏が日本人として初めて国際大会の共同委員長を務めました。1989年には、関東・関西・東海以外で初めて全国大会が開催され、会場は岡山のノートルダム清心女子大学でした。この頃には、懇親会や「ワンカンドリンク」パーティーが大会の大きな社交的ハイライトとなっていました。近年では静岡、つくば、名古屋を中心に大会が開催されていますが、過去にはさまざまな場所で開かれています（一覧はこちら：https://jalt.org/jalt-international-conference/）。2020年11月はつくばで開催予定でしたが、新型コロナウイルスの影響で初のオンライン大会となりました。2021年は静岡グランシップでの開催予定も中止され、再びオンライン大会に。2022年には福岡市で初めて対面大会を再開し、福岡県としては3度目の開催となりました。

In 1988, JALT started an Asian Scholar Program through which teachers from other Asian countries are hosted in Japan, meet with teachers here, and give presentations at the annual international conference as well as at local chapters all over Japan on the Four Corners Tour program. In 2008 the program was renamed the Balsamo Asian Scholar Program in honor of Bill Balsamo, president of the Himeji Chapter and founder of the Teachers Helping Teachers SIG. Over the years, teachers from many countries have visited Japan on this program, including four teachers from China; four from Vietnam; three from the Philippines; two each from Cambodia, Laos, India, and Malaysia; and one each from Russia, Pakistan, Indonesia, South Korea, Bangladesh, and Thailand.

1988年には「アジア・スカラープログラム」が始まり、アジア諸国の教師を日本に招き、年次国際大会や全国の支部で「Four Corners Tour」を通じて交流・発表を行いました。2008年には、姫路支部会長でTeachers Helping Teachers SIG創設者でもあるビル・バルサモ氏を記念し、「バルサモ・アジア・スカラープログラム」と改称されました。これまでに中国、ベトナム、フィリピン、カンボジア、ラオス、インド、マレーシア、ロシア、パキスタン、インドネシア、韓国、バングラデシュ、タイなど多くの国から教師が参加しました。

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. The National Treasurer, with the help of the financial steering committee, brought expenses under control. As JALT entered the new millennium, it promised 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.

1990年代にはさらに変化が訪れました。1992年には藤尾順子氏がオフィス・スーパーバイザーとして採用され、JALT中央事務局が東京に設立されました。最盛期には準備金が4,400万円を超えていましたが、バブル経済崩壊に伴い財政難に直面しました。出版費用の高騰、大規模化した大会運営費の増加、教科書会社の合併、広告収入の減少、会計手続きの不備、教員の失職・国外退去などが重なり、JALTは多くの準備金を失い深刻な財政危機を迎えました。しかし会計委員会の努力により支出が管理され、2000年代には黒字運営へ回復することを約束しました。2001年には外部の会計事務所に委託し、財務管理体制を改善しました。

National Special Interest Groups (N-SIGs) started forming in 1990 with the first two being Bilingualism and Video N-SIG. Other SIGs quickly began to form, covering a wide range of areas from Japanese as a Second Language to Testing and Evaluation. Over the years, as interests have changed and developed, some SIGs have dissolved and others have combined. See this page for a full list of current SIGs. The SIGs started holding an annual PanSIG Conference in the spring of 2002, each year in a different city and co-hosted by a different chapter (though in recent years, the extent to which the local chapter is involved or not has been a local decision). The PanSIG Conference produces another major publication each year, now called the PanSIG Journal.

JALT was granted NPO status in 1999 and has since then been a nonprofit organization registered with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government under the NPO Law passed in 1998, a law specifically designed to encourage the development of public interest groups. Under its NPO Constitution and Bylaws, JALT holds one Ordinary General Meeting and three Executive Board Meetings each year. In 2013, the Executive Board approved a JALT mission statement to guide JALT in future planning and development: JALT promotes excellence in language learning, teaching, and research by providing opportunities for those involved in language education to meet, share, and collaborate.

What does the future hold for JALT? The organization is looking for ways to better serve our members and the wider community of language teaching professionals. JALT is also trying to improve our international ties with other Asian countries through the Pan Asia Conferences and exchange programs, and to improve our ties with domestic organizations through partnerships and UALS. Most importantly, JALT is committed to fulfilling our mission by serving our members, partners, and the wider community for years to come.

NPO The Japan Association for Language Teaching

JALT2026 International Conference

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