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Bahiyyih Hardacre
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Polina Vinogradova
| Dear members of the Applied Linguistics Interest Section,
Greetings from Bahiyyih Hardacre and Polina Vinogradova, your ALIS co-chairs-elect!
First of all, we would like to wish you a happy and healthy New
Year! While we are looking optimistically into the new decade, we know
we have a lot of work to do as language educators and researchers to
support our field of TESOL, our students, and our colleagues. And we are
thrilled that we can do this work together with you.
We would also like to take a moment to tell you a little about ourselves.
Bahiyyih: I’m an applied linguist
and work as an assistant professor in the MA in TESOL program at
California State University Los Angeles. Because our program is part of
Cal State LA’s Charter College of Education, I also get to teach outside
of my program; this has given me the opportunity to teach graduate and
undergraduate students pursuing various teaching degrees, certificates,
and credentials. But before working at Cal State LA, I taught EFL in
Brazil for about 15 years, and then I moved to Los Angeles, where I
taught ESL for another 12 years! I have always loved teaching, and I am
thrilled that now I get to guide and supervise future educators! I have
also served as college and university level chair and in the board of
directors for CATESOL (the California TESOL organization), for two
consecutive terms. Finally, in terms of research, I am very interested
in issues related to second/foreign language anxiety, and in the role of
individual psychophysiological characteristics in learners’
communicative behaviors and classroom performance.
Polina: I have been working in the
field of TESOL for more than 20 years, first as an EFL university
instructor in St. Petersburg, Russia and later as an ESL instructor and
teacher educator in the US. Since 2011, I have been overseeing the TESOL
Program at American University in Washington, DC and teaching Master’s
level courses in TESOL methods, intercultural communication, and CALL.
In this capacity, I get to work with amazing language educators who make
a difference in the lives of English language learners every single
day. This work inspires and informs my research in TESOL advocacy,
postmethod, and digital storytelling. Currently, I am advocacy chair of
WATESOL, Washington, DC TESOL affiliate, and served as WATESOL
vice-president in 2012-2014.
We thank you for your trust in us and look forward to serving
the ALIS currently as chairs-elect and as co-chairs in the upcoming
year. We also look forward to meeting many of you at the upcoming TESOL
International Convention in Denver, CO.
At the convention, ALIS will have several sessions. We would
like to invite you to attend the ALIS academic session titled,
“Multifaceted Teacher Identities: Perspectives on Language, Race, and
Professional Positioning” (April 1, Wednesday, 3:00pm – 4:45pm, location
TBA). It will feature a recent special issue of the TESOL
Journal (December 2019) that evolved around various aspects
of TESOL teacher identities. The invited panelists Quanisha Charles,
Blanca Caldas Chumbes, Ester de Jong and Feifei Fan, Kristen Lindahl,
and Bedrettin Yazan will talk about the need to incorporate teacher
identity work in teacher preparation programs and will present their
research on the effects of teacher identity activities and dialogue on
raising language, race, and professional awareness, as well as providing
cultural enlightenment.
On another note, we are currently working on finding additional
ways to engage and connect our members and to feature current research
in TESOL/Applied Linguistics. So stay tuned!
Looking forward to e-meeting you and seeing you at TESOL 2020!
Best,
Bahiyyih & Polina |
