Dear Applied Linguistics Interest Section Members,

It is my pleasure to be writing to you for the first time as your incoming interest section (IS) chair. This IS has a broad and diverse membership interested in a wealth of ideas and issues in applied linguistics. I’d like to introduce myself, explain some of the areas in which I do my own scholarly work, and discuss some of my hopes for our community.

I began my own career in this field with a bachelor’s degree in linguistics from the University of Oregon, which included strong applied linguistics and language teaching components. From there I went on to teach English to speakers of other languages both in the United States and internationally for a number of years. I received a master’s in TESL/applied linguistics and a PhD in applied linguistics at UCLA. After receiving my PhD, I served as assistant professor of education in the Educational Linguistics Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, where I also served as director of the Intercultural Communication Master’s Program. I am currently associate professor of education at California State University, San Bernardino, where I am the incoming chair of the Department of Teacher Education in the College of Education.

My research focuses on young, multilingual children’s language socialization at home, at school, and in their peer groups as they make the transition from home life to early schooling. My ethnographic, discourse analytic research investigates their process of language development, the sociocultural underpinnings of this language development, the ways in which language ideologies impact this process, and how the process is intertwined with how they inhabit specific roles, relationships, and identities. I have conducted long-term research in northern Thailand and in Spanish-speaking communities in the United States, and my current research examines adult refugee women’s acquisition of English in community settings.

I’m thrilled to have this opportunity to serve as the incoming chair of the Applied Linguistics IS. During my time as chair, I look forward to exploring with you both the depth and breadth of our field: What are the common themes that we explore? What are the common questions that we address? What are the issues that we hope to resolve? How do our distinct epistemologies, methods, and analytic frameworks illuminate these themes and questions in distinct ways? How can we work across our interdisciplinary distinctions to arrive at broader understandings of language, language use, language acquisition, language teaching, and teacher education? As a beginning to this exploration, I have organized an academic panel for TESOL 2018 that will examine the unique and central contributions of critical approaches to these common questions and themes in our field. Scholars who take a critical approach to applied linguistics will discuss the implications of this approach for our conceptions of language, language development, research, and teacher education. We hope that this panel will foster important dialogue between researchers, teachers, and teacher educators who take a range of different approaches to their work.

We are hoping to continue to improve the ways in which our IS communicates with members and fosters communication among members both at the conference and beyond. For example, we hope to set up webinars, blogs, and more active list exchanges. Furthermore, we look forward to having a more active social media presence, such as the Facebook page, which we recently created.

Your ideas and suggestions for these endeavors and IS future projects are welcome, and we also welcome those of you who may wish to get more involved. Please feel free to contact me at any time with your ideas and suggestions. I’m looking forward to hearing from you and meeting you at the upcoming conferences or online. Wishing you a successful start to the academic year!

Sincerely,

Kathy