Two years ago, in the September 2014 issue of the TESOL Affiliate Newsletter, I wrote an article titled ‘A Brief History of the TESOL Affiliates’. In that article, I looked back at how the TESOL affiliates have grown over the last 47 years, since 1969. As it still says on the TESOL website today:

“Affiliates have been a part of the organizational structure of TESOL since 1969, when nine associations applied for and were granted affiliate status. TESOL is affiliated with more than 100 independent associations with total membership of more than 47,000 professionals”

Following that article, I wrote a piece that appeared in the December 2015 issue of the TESOL Affiliate Newsletter, reporting on the work of the newly-struck TESOL Affiliate Task Force (ATF), which started its work in June 2015, and concluded with a submission of a report to TESOL’s Board of Directors in April 2016. The ATF was chaired by Richmond Stroupe, from JALT, with TESOL Past President Brock Brady as one its members, Misty Adoniou as the TESOL Board Liaison, and Valerie Borchelt Novick as the TESOL Staff Liaison. (Please see here for more information about the AFT.)

The ATF was charged with: “conducting research on forms and functions of affiliation programs in contemporary associations, and presenting options to the Board of Directors. As part of their work, the task force should include input from TESOL affiliates, and identify strategies to foster strong communication and knowledge-sharing between TESOL and its affiliates.”

The TESOL website also explained that the goal of the Board of Directors was to create an affiliation program that:

• “supports a mutually beneficial and collaborative relationship between TESOL International Association and its affiliates
• advances TESOL International Association’s goals, strategic direction, and growth
• assists TESOL International Association in cultivating knowledge and information about the field and the profession around the world
• provides for forms and activities relevant to the needs of different groups (i.e. not a “one-size-fits-all” model).
• aligns with, and advances, the association’s strategic plan”
  

In terms of the ‘deliverables’ at the end of the process, the ATF presented to TESOL’s Board of Directors:

•  “a summary of their research into different models and structures for similar types of programs in contemporary associations, including a list of pros and cons for each
• a summary of input collected from affiliates about the relationship with TESOL International Association
• alternative models and structures that might be applied to TESOL’s affiliation program
• processes for communication and knowledge-sharing between affiliates and TESOL, including any possible roles or functions as they might relate to TESOL governance” 

The ATF report is nearly 120 pages long, which is an indication of how much work the ATF did. The main part of the report is about 40 pages long, with the rest of the report being made up of 10 appendices, which include details of web research on professional associations, professional associations interview questions, responses to an affiliate survey, and affiliate interview questions. The scale and scope of the research carried out and the work done by the ATF make this the most through and in-depth study of TESOL’s affiliates ever carried out.

After the ATF report was released, and made available on TESOL’s website, members were invited to give feedback on the report. In addition, a special Virtual Town Hall was held on July 26, to give members the opportunity to talk about affiliate relations with members of TESOL’s Board of Directors, who studied and discussed the ATF report in great detail.


The Findings of the TESOL Affiliate Task Force

I will not attempt to condense such a detailed document into the relatively brief space we have here, and I would encourage anyone interested in the growth and development of TESOL affiliate relations to read the main sections of the ATF report. The first few pages of the report are a clear and concise executive summary (pp.2-5), which highlight a number of important points. For example:

“When considering the common lead association/component model, a number of important characteristics emerged that may still be relevant to the TESOL/affiliate relationship:

• The purpose of the partnership must be clearly defined
• A common vision or plan is necessary, yet the lead association and the independent groups may have competing interests
• Defining the level of service the lead association and component associations offer to the members is important
• Service from each association should complement each other, so as to use resources efficiently and not put the lead association and component in direct competition
• As a lead association, services may focus on leadership training as components play a vital role in developing new leaders for the lead association” (p.2)
  

In the points above, the TESOL International Association is the ‘lead ‘association’ and affiliates are the ‘independent groups’. And as those points show, the emphasis is on commonality of goals, and mutuality of benefits. Also, in relation to the last point above, about leadership development, a working group of the Board of Directors has been formed to look into developing the Association’s leadership pathways and processes.

On page 38 of the ATF report, eight conclusions are listed

• “Benefits should be mutual to both TESOL and the affiliate association.
• Strengths and resources of affiliate associations should be recognized and respected
• Affiliate associations are independent, organizationally and financially, and this will limit their partnership with/obligation to TESOL, and vice versa.
• No associations need to be affiliated with TESOL, and for all associations, the focus should be on the mutual benefit of affiliation.
• Affiliation should be framed as collaborative partnerships where each association contributes based on their needs and strengths.
• Interests, needs, and strengths will be different for each affiliate association, depending on whether they are domestically or internationally based, their membership numbers, how long the association has been established, and their individual organization strength, among other variables.
• Competition between TESOL and affiliate associations should be avoided, particularly when the competition could negatively impact the revenue generation or organizational strength of affiliates (e.g., in terms of fee-based professional development activities, local or international association membership, or recruiting leaders).
• Emphasis should not be based heavily on convention activities alone, but more collaborative/interactive activities between TESOL and affiliate associations should be regularly scheduled (online meetings, webinars, consultation, regional activities).”
  

Again, as we can see, the end of the main body of the ATF report reiterates the point made in the executive summary about the benefits being mutual. The points above also allude to some of the challenges of the diversity of characteristics, wants and needs of the more-than 100 independent groups that make up the TESOL affiliate family. One of those challenges, as mentioned in the penultimate point above, relates to avoiding the Association and the affiliates being in competition with each other. That could happen if, for example, an affiliate country’s national, annual conference were to be taking place around the same time as, for example, a TESOL symposium was planned in that same place. That is one reason why the TESOL staff work closely with local affiliates to ensure that, in the example given, if the two events were happening at around the same time, near or in the same place, then the two events could be combined.

Combining events in that way is exactly what the Association did last year. Immediately following the first TESOL International Association Symposium held in Mexico, on 4 November 2015, in Canún, Quintana Roo, the 42nd MEXTESOL International Convention took place, in the same place, over the following 4 days, from the 5th to the 8th of November.

I wanted to conclude by thanking again Richmond and all the members of the ATF for all their good and hard work, to help the TESOL International Association and its affiliates go beyond quantity, in terms of the number of affiliates, to quality, so that we can develop the most meaningful and mutually beneficial relationships possible.

From 2015 to 2016, Andy served as the 50th President of the TESOL International Association, and he is currently serving as the immediate Past President (2016-2017). He is is based in Ontario, Canada, from where he works as an independent consultant for language teaching organizations worldwide.