TEFLIN started from a half-day joint-seminar of English lecturers first held in 1972. It was the idea of and supervised by Dr. Supomo Pudjosudarmo, lecturer of Sanata Dharma Institute of Teachers Training and Education (IKIP). It took place in the classroom, adjacent to the library reading room of the second floor, Mrican. Three or four people acted as the organizing committee. The keynote speaker was Mr. George Quinn of Satya Wacana University Salatiga, with a small audience of about twenty people from Yogyakarta and Central Java.
The second seminar was held at IKIP (Negeri) Yogyakarta, then was still in Sayidan Campus. The audience was still the same, around twenty participants. Among them were Dr. Supomo of IKIP Sanata Dharma, and Mr. Gerry Meister, Pak Harun, and Pak MJU Sukardi of IKIP Negeri (Yogyakarta). Thenceforth the seminars were held in different locations: Gajah Mada University (Pak Gondo, Pak Wirono, Pak Steve Jawanai, Pak Alex Rambadeta, Ibu Djuhertati, Pak Sunaryo), UNS Surakarta (Pak Tarjana, Ibu Samiati, Pak Rs. Sunaryo), UKSW (Pak Made Markus, Pak Sugino) IKIP Semarang (Dr. Retmono, Prof. Ramelan), Universitas Diponegoro, Universitas Tujuh Belas Agustus, and SarjanawiyataTamansiswa.
It is worth noting that in the 1970’s lecturers’ pay was very low. Then, it was beyond imagination that they were capable of paying seminar fees themselves. It was therefore, always the institution which was held financially responsible for the whole event. This was the reason, when becoming a formal organization, it was Asosiasi Jurusan Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris: AJBSI-TEFLIN. It was the Association of English Language and Literature Departments, Indonesia.
Around 1982 to 1983 the organization was made formal. It was signed by representatives of nine institutions: IKIP Yogyakarta, IKIP Sanata Dharma, Universitas Gajah Mada, Universitas Sarjanawiyata Tamansiswa, Universitas Sebela sMaret, Universitas Kristen SatyaWacana Salatiga, IKIP Semarang, Universitas Diponegoro, and Universitas Tujuh Belas Agustus (Untag) Semarang.
