Elevating world language teacher leaders: Participant perspectives of the Leadership Initiative for Language Learning (LILL)

This study investigates the participant experiences and perceived impacts of the Language Initiative for Language Learning (LILL). By exploring the voices of 11 LILL participants through a qualitative case study design, the findings highlight how world language teacher leaders participated in and experienced LILL as a space for leadership growth and perceived the program as having a transformational impact on their leadership identity, mindset, and skill development. While the findings situate LILL as an effective and impactful program, we discuss the need for deeper understandings of world language (WL) teacher leadership in discipline-specific ways and conclude with suggestions for proactive approaches for WL teacher leadership programming. There exists a critical need for cultivating world language teacher leadership to address opportunities and challenges in the world language teaching profession. What is the Leadership Initiative for Language Learning (LILL) and what has been its impact on participants' leadership development? What does it mean to be a world language teacher leader?