JNCL-NCLIS represents over 100 national, regional and state organizations encompassing virtually all areas of the language field: the major and less-commonly taught languages, including English and English as a second language, bilingual education, the classics, linguistics, exchanges, research, technology, and translation. In 1972, the Joint National Committee for Languages (JNCL) began as an informal coalition of eight national language teaching associations, and now has grown to over 100 members, including national, regional, and state organizations. JNCL is an entirely member-funded nonprofit education policy association, and it represents more than 300,000 professionals under its three-tiered governance.