The Texas Language Summit

In February of 2007, The University of Texas at Austin was selected by the federal government as one of three institutions nationwide to participate in the 2007 U.S. Language Summits: Roadmap to Language Excellence, supported by the Departments of Commerce, Defense, and Labor and coordinated by the National Security Education Program through its Language Flagship program. The goal of the projects was to initiate state-centric action plans to identify and address the need for foreign language skills in the workforce.

The Texas Language Roadmap

The summit has developed a Texas Language Roadmap for the state that outlines the respective roles of business, government, and education in meeting the demand for a multilingual and culturally competent workforce and offers practical and feasible recommendations on making the acquisition of foreign languages and cross-cultural competence a centerpiece of learning in schools and universities.

Supporting Remarks

The Texas Language Roadmap was introduced to the public at a reception on October 19, 2007, at the Blanton Museum of the University of Texas at Austin. The comments of our distinguished guest speakers were recorded and are available below: