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The Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (NECTFL) owes its existence to the curiosity of a young mother in the 1940's who discovered that each of her children's French teachers had adopted a different instructional approach. Since this young mother happened also to be the president of Barnard College, Millicent McIntosh, she was in a position to organize the first of several "Yale-Barnard French Conferences" intended to investigate whether a single, effective method for teaching the language could be devised. By 1954, those involved in this project realized that (1) it should include languages other than French, and (2) it should include educators at all levels of instruction, but especially teachers of elementary school foreign language classes.

The first meeting of the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages took place at Brown University in 1954. It has been held each year since then, usually in New York City or in Washington DC, and attracts about 2,500 educators, administrators and exhibitors. The organization has expanded its outreach, professional development and advocacy efforts through publications, workshops, research projects and other initiatives. Its prestige has been reflected in its singular ability to bring conference attendees from around the country and the world; to engage chapter authors such as Claire Gaudiani, Noam Chomsky, Ofelia García, and Jeff Munks for its yearly volume; and to attract award recipients and keynote speakers from fields as diverse as politics, college football, entertainment, business, and academia: Deborah Tannen, Jimmy Carter, Sesame Street, Senator Paul Simon, and Condoleeza Rice, to name only a few.