What are USIA/USIS English Language Officers?
The Programs Branch of the ELPD is the home of nineteen Foreign Service English Language Officers (ELOs), some based in Washington but the majority of whom are posted outside the U.S. The field ELO is the U.S. government’s front line diplomatic and professional link between the English teaching profession in the U.S. and counterpart ET professionals in other countries. ELOs consult with host-country ministry, university, and teacher training officials, as well as lecture and present workshops on EFL methodology and practices; they stimulate and reinforce academic exchange programs between the United States and other countries to help interpret American life and institutions to the world; and they provide oversight for the English Teaching Programs run directly by USIS in Africa and the Middle East and engage in consultative services for Binational Centers and English Teaching Programs affiliated with USIS offices throughout the world. ELOs who cover several countries, i.e., a region, a
