Hello ALIS family!

Once again, it is my pleasure to welcome you all to ALIS and thank you for your support. Like everyone else, I am excited about our annual convention to be held on 5–8 April 2016 (Tuesday through Friday), in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. I look forward to all the fascinating talks, discussions, and meetings.

As many of you have personally experienced last year in Toronto, ALIS had a very well-attended academic session with world-renown scholars, including Zoltán Dörnyei, on the trending topic of L2 self-concept and directed motivational currents (DMC). We also had a wonderful InterSection session by another group of renowned scholars, including Elaine Horwitz, on the thought-provoking subject of the teaching and learning of foreign languages and L2 teacher education in the USA.

I know our chair-elect, David Olsher, has put together a great academic session for TESOL 2016. We will learn more about it in our February newsletter. With the Teacher Education Interest Section, I have put together an InterSection session promising to be one of the highlights of ALIS sessions at the 2016 convention. The panel, which is going to tackle a highly contentious area of research in the field, is titled: “The Age Factor in SLA: Research and Pedagogical Implications.” I am most pleased to announce that the panelists include some of the best scholars who are on the forefront of cutting-edge research on this topic: David Singleton, David Birdsong, Alene Moyer, and Emanuel Bylund. I truly hope that you all will join us at this and other wonderful sessions!

Please do not hesitate to contact me or David Olsher if you have any questions or suggestions. I look forward to seeing you all at the ALIS sessions in Maryland in early April 2016.

Nihat Polat