155. Larry Paska, ED of ACTFL, on Advocacy, Standards, Assessments that Fund the Mission, and AI as a Classroom Ally
Update: 2025-09-11
Description
If instant translation is in everyone’s pocket, why learn another language? How do associations continue to provide value in the face of thriving social networks, AI,and challenges to traditional membership programs?
In this episode of Associations Thrive, host Joanna Pineda interviews Larry Paska, Executive Director of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages or ACTFL. Larry discusses:
- ACTFL as the “original social network” for world language educators.
- A field-wide focus on quality and proficiency: standards, teacher-prep guidance (via accreditation partnerships), and research that maps what languages are taught and where.
- Language proficiency assessments developed by ACTFL and administered via an exclusive licensee that drives important revenue for the association.
- The Language Connects Foundation’s scholarships for teachers and students, micro-grants for research, and initiatives that raise the profile of language learning.
- How AI in language learning isn’t a replacement for teachers, but a tool to support personalization and deepen learning.
- Dual-language immersion as a compelling model because it builds true proficiency and deepens cultural understanding.
- How ACTFL has maintained DEI as a strategic pillar because you can’t have multilingual and multicultural without DEI.
- How employers need staff who can communicate across languages.
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