Center for Applied Linguistics, most often called simply "CAL", is a private, nonprofit organization that has been involved in applying research and information about language and culture to educational, cultural, and social concerns since 1959.

Strictly speaking, the United States has never had a language policy, consciously planned and national in scope. It has had language policies, ad hoc responses to immediate needs or political pressures, often contradictory and inadequate to cope with changing times.