Statement of Purpose

TESOL's Social Responsibility Interest Section (SRIS) supports members who are actively engaged in integrating language teaching with social responsibility, world citizenship, and an awareness of global issues such as peace, human rights, and the environment. The Interest Section aims to promote social responsibility within the TESOL profession and to advance social equity, respect for differences, and multicultural understanding through education.

Goals

• Represent the interests of those incorporating social responsibility methodologies into their teaching of English to speakers of other languages

• Promote the development of professional standards for social responsibility

• Develop instructional strategies which promote tolerance, global awareness, international understanding, and social responsibility among teachers and learners

• Research language teaching content, methods, and approaches that can help students become active global citizens in their local cultures

• Help teachers and learners around the world better understand the causes and solutions for global issues that affect the human family

• Work to overcome national stereotypes and negative images held by ESOL professionals and learners that hinder peace, cooperation, and trust

• Disseminate ideas in the form of publications, research, and ready-to-use classroom materials

• Arrange teacher training courses and workshops that introduce TESOL professionals to such fields as global education, peace education, environmental education, and HIV/AIDS education

• Provide teaching resources to help teachers teach about global issues and social responsibility

• Further the profession by making language teaching more relevant to world realities

• Provide a forum for TESOL professionals to share experiences so as to more effectively promote global awareness and social responsibility through content-based approaches to English language teaching

• Link TESOL members, affiliate groups, like-minded associations and governmental organizations worldwide working with global issues, peace education, and social responsibility