Dear ALIS Community,

We hope that your summer was filled with joyous and safe gatherings with your loved ones.

First, we are pleased to introduce Dr. Sun-Young Shin (Indiana University) as the ALIS chair-elect. His main research interests lie in the field of language assessment, concentrating in particular on validating authentic language assessment, interactive classroom-based assessment, and standard-setting methods. He has already been involved in ALIS’s activities and has been organizing the Academic Session for the 2022 TESOL Convention.

In addition, ALIS has expanded its leadership team to grow our community. We welcome Dr. Rashad Ahmed (Jacksonville State University) as our MyTESOL Community Manager, Dr. Raydel Hernandez (Miami Dade College) as our Social Media Coordinator, and Dr. Jennifer LaCroix (Boston University) as our Member-at-Large. You can read more about them in the Leaders’ Corner of this issue. We have a great team and look forward to working together this year.

This summer we began a three-part webinar series on Translanguaging in post-secondary institutions. On June 11, 2021, we kicked off the series with Dr. Kate Seltzer’s presentation on “Developing a Translanguaging Pedagogy: From Theory to Practice.” Then, on July 30, 2021, Dr. Angelica Galante shared her research on “Plurilingual and Translanguaging Approaches in TESOL: What Does Classroom Research Show about Benefits and Challenges?” If you missed these presentations, you will find a recording on TESOL’s YouTube Channel.

The third and final webinar of the series will take place on October 1, 2021. Dr. Laila Aghai will present on “The Effects of Teachers’ Language Ideologies on ESL Students’ Translanguaging in an Intensive English Program.” You can register here for this webinar.

Planning for TESOL 2022 is also underway. The Academic Session will be on Aviation and Medical English assessment research and practices. This session will discuss the latest research and future directions on the theory and practice of developing and validating Aviation and Medical English assessments within the wider field of English for Specific Purposes. The Academic Intersection will be co-sponsored with the Teacher Education Interest Section and will explore the challenges facing instructors in multilingual and multicultural classrooms from various perspectives including World Englishes, Culturally Responsive Teaching, Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, and Translingualism.

So stay tuned for updates on our final webinar, TESOL 2022 Convention sessions, and other events, which will be posted on the myTESOL ALIS page, our Facebook page, and our Twitter account.

We are privileged to serve the ALIS community and look forward to meeting you at one of our events this year!

All the best,

Anna and Sun-Young