An informal Language Issues Group has met annually to discuss language issues in international and comparative contexts since CIES 1999 in Washington DC. At our recent CIES conference at Stanford in March, a representative group of over 30 CIES members voted to create a formal Language Issues SIG. The individuals elected to be the 2005-2006 governing body for the SIG drafted the following Mission Statement based on the recommendations shared during our March meeting

Mission statement for CIES Language Issues - SIG

The Language issues- SIG mission is:
To disseminate information and promote awareness of language issues in education
To provide a critical platform for knowledge-exchange and networking
To advocate for acknowledgement and research in a range of language related issues in various educational settings
To identify areas of relevance in language in education research
To initiate and collaborate on language in education projects
To support publications on language issues in educational journals
To identify, coordinate and promote language issue themes for CIES conferences and publications
To mentor and support the work of students and new scholars in the area of language and education research presentation and publication

We invite all CIES members interested in sharing the above Mission to contact our SIG Secretary, Barbara Nykiel Herbert: nykielherbert@yahoo.com