Dear Readers,

Welcome to AL Forum, newsletter for the TESOL Applied Linguistics Interest Section (ALIS)! For this issue, we are privileged to have a special guest co-editor—Dr. Heather Weger. Heather holds a PhD in applied linguistics from Georgetown University and has most recently joined the Legal English faculty at Georgetown University Law Center. She has more than 15 years of experience in the field as classroom educator, teacher-trainer, and international consultant. Her research focuses on effective teaching strategies as well as the social and co-constructed nature of language learning and language teaching. Thank you, Heather, for lending your expertise for this issue!

Three authors share their fascinating work with the AL Forum readership. First, the 50th president of TESOL, Andy Curtis, defines and promotes peace linguistics as a crucial direction of future research in applied linguistics. In the second article, Angelica Galante highlights the importance of plurilingualism in the classroom, reporting on a study that showed positive effects for plurilingual (as opposed to monolingual) English for academic purposes instruction. Finally, Willem de Goei discusses sociocultural implications behind Japanese EFL students’ use of silence in the classroom and shares suggestions for how Western teachers can approach this phenomenon. The wide range of topics featured in these articles showcases the exciting breadth of current applied linguistic research.

In other content, the joint letter from our Chair, Kathy Howard, and Chair-Elect, Ben White, gives us an overview of ALIS 2018 activities, shares important details about the new submission process, and highlights key sessions organized by ALIS for TESOL 2019. Future developments described by our chairs promise to be very exciting, so please stay tuned for details to be shared in our next newsletter issue and through direct communication from ALIS.

We hope you enjoy the issue and wish you a successful semester!

Best,

Natalia & Heather