Current Priorities
ESF's priorities for the future center around four strategic initiatives that include (a) facilitating scholarship and public discourse on Esperanto and interlingual communication, (b) supporting the teaching and learning of Esperanto in North America and abroad, (c) building a global, intellectual community of researchers who are interested in issues concerning Esperanto, interlinguistics and language policy and planning, and (d) expanding the operational capacity of the foundation itself.Strategic Area 1: Scholarship and public discourse, especially in North America, on Esperanto and interlingual communication
PRIORITIES:
Commission and support research: Models of world language system and multilingual regimes; interlingualism and trends in interlingual practice; transnational literature and communication; multidisciplinary perspectives on Esperanto.Strengthen existing journals and series: LPLP: sponsored issues, review articles, and colloquia; Benjamins publication series (studies in world language problems): commissioned volumes.
Improve research tools and collections: Develop plans to maintain and preserve the Hector Hodler Library; North American collections; text and speech corpora; computational tools; bibliographies and databases.
Improve the visibility of interlingual research: sponsored awards; external conferences (AERA, AAAL, ACTFL, MLA, etc); collaboration with research institutes and networks; encourage research dissemination, policy formulation, and public debate on interlingual policy issues.
Strategic Area 2: Teaching and learning Esperanto, especially in North America
PRIORITIES: Create demand; create opportunities; raise standards; conduct research.
Create demand: Teachers (elementary – introduction to Esperanto language learning; foreign language teachers – add Esperanto to their repertoire; High School social studies – develop frameworks for global studies using Esperanto as a bridge language); introduce Esperanto to undergraduates looking for language requirement or travel opportunities; introduce Esperanto and/or interlinguistics to graduate students as a valid field of research.
Create opportunities: Facilitate overseas experience coupled with Esperanto study (e.g. in SIT International), internships, research seminars at SIT and other institutions, self-study culminating in face-to-face intersession, teaching seminars targeted to particular teacher groups, courses or sequences of courses within programs in intercultural or global education, comparative and international literature, global communication studies, or similar fields; websites for language teaching and learning.
Raise standards: more materials, better materials, ACTFL Standards, oral proficiency.
Conduct research: propaedeutic effects, longitudinal studies (e.g. with NASK populations), oral proficiency standards, contact hours required for proficiency.
Strategic Area 3: Building an intellectual community
PRIORITIES: activate Advisory Board; develop research network; strengthen ties to other organizations.
Activate Advisory Board: improve communication; involve with project planning and evaluation; recruit new members.
Develop research network: identify scholars and students interested in Esperanto and interlinguistics; organize colloquia, joint publications and research projects, etc.
Strengthen ties to other organizations: identify potential partners; open communication; develop joint projects.
Strategic Area 4: Expanding operational capacity
PRIORITIES: strengthen and activate Board of Directors; secure web project team; improve planning and administration.
Strengthen and activate Board of Directors: recruit financial expert; develop plans for each director; provide necessary support.
Secure web project team: budget ongoing commitment; plan priorities; increase external funding.
Improve planning and administration: financial strategy; operational strategy; administrative support.