Founded in 1883, the Modern Language Association of America provides opportunities for its members to share their scholarly findings and teaching experiences with colleagues and to discuss trends in the academy. MLA members host an annual convention and other meetings, work with related organizations, and sustain one of the finest publishing programs in the humanities. For more than a century, members have worked to strengthen the study and teaching of language and literature. Learn more about the MLA's mission.
The Modern Language Association promotes the study and teaching of languages and literatures through its programs, publications, annual convention, and advocacy work. The MLA exists to support the intellectual and professional lives of its members; it provides opportunities for members to share their scholarly work and teaching experiences with colleagues, discuss trends in the academy, and advocate humanities education and workplace equity. The association aims to advance the many areas of the humanities in which its members currently work, including literature, language, writing studies, screen arts, digital humanities, pedagogy, and library studies. The MLA facilitates scholarly inquiry in and across periods, geographic sites, genres, languages, and disciplines in higher education that focus on communication, aesthetic production and reception, translation, and interpretation. Through the Association of Departments of English and the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages, the MLA also supports the work of department chairs and directors of graduate studies.
Founded in 1883, the Modern Language Association of America is one of the world’s largest scholarly associations; it has over 24,000 members in 100 countries. MLA members host an annual convention and other meetings and sustain a wide-ranging print and electronic publishing program that includes books, journals, style guides, and an international bibliography. Drawing on studies and reports produced by the MLA staff and MLA committees and collaborating with related organizations, MLA members engage in a variety of advocacy projects that pertain to the association’s mission. Members pursue advocacy projects and scholarly initiatives by communicating with their elected officers (president, first vice president, second vice president); with their elected representatives on the Executive Council and their regional elected representatives; with colleagues who have been elected to the field-based executive committees; and with the MLA executive director and the staff liaisons to the MLA’s committees.
