The partnership will focus on creating a “multi-sector” consortium to help US companies, universities, publishers and other ELT stakeholders improve their performance in international markets. It will also create networking opportunities for individuals and organisations abroad, and support the efforts of non-American ELT institutions.

Harnessing TESOL’s expertise and contacts with educators will help the Department of State in its educational campaigns abroad – an important strand of the current administration’s soft power approach to foreign policy. The Department of State has long viewed ELT as a means of promoting the understanding of American culture and values, and produces its own programmes and learning materials for this purpose.

The partnership will also help TESOL reach more educators and students worldwide, and follows a rebrand last month to help differentiate it with the generic term TESOL and the release of a new strategy earlier this year.