The Leadership in
World Language Education
Project
The Leadership in World Language Education (LWLE) Project is an independent mixed-methods research project initiated to better understand the motivations and experiences of the professionals serving in leadership positions within the world language education field in the U.S., specifically languages other than English.
In 2020, Cal Jordan Powers and Dr. Kathleen M. Bailey started the LWLE Project thanks to research funding from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) in Monterey, California. Though not funded by Professionall, this project had a significant impact on the development of the company, as Cal began both projects around the same time.
Authors
A vast amount of quantitative and qualitative data were collected in this project and much of these data have yet to be analyzed. Explore the publications below to learn more about this project.
Our Publications
Our Inspiration
In early 2020, Cal Jordan Powers was an MA candidate at MIIS working as a graduate research assistant to the Chair of the TESOL/TFL Program, Dr. Kathi Bailey. They created a virtual alumni panel series to invite successful alumni of the program to encourage current or prospective students with advice and to model the diversity of career pathways available to graduates of the program.
Around this time, Cal and Kathi were preparing materials for the curriculum of a new course at MIIS on leadership in language education. In September 2020, just as the first ideations of Professionall were beginning to assemble in Cal’s mind, Kathi approached her graduate assistant with an intriguing realization: The vast majority of literature on leadership in our field was written for or about teachers of English as a second language.
To fill this niche, Cal and Kathi sought to create a research project to gather both quantitative and qualitative data from leaders working in language education, but specifically excluding teachers of English as a second language.
Thus began a journey detailing the various and intriguing paths of leaders in world language education. Each time we analyzed the questionnaire responses or heard the interviewees’ insightful replies, our passion for teaching was reignited and our current woes were no longer top of mind. This brief yet powerful reinvigoration drove Cal to create the Professionall Pathways Podcast to recreate this experience for all educators to benefit from.