ALIS Newsletter - August 2013 (Plain Text Version)
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LEADERSHIP UPDATES FROM THE EDITORS
Greetings, ALISers! This edition of the AL Forum is reaching you at the height of summer in the norther hemisphere, and we hope it is proving to be a productive one for you, as you teach, write, and just enjoy some fun in the sun after a long academic year. If you missed the annual TESOL convention in Dallas, Texas, USA, this past March, do not fret: In this issue, we have put together some highlights from the academic session on the “Practicalities of Teaching Academic Reading and Writing”—a topic, we hope, you will find useful in preparation for the new academic year. In an effort to bring our professional community closer together and to acquaint one another with the research and teaching our members are involved in, we are expanding the section of this newsletter entitled “About This Community.” Please read the introductions of two members of our interest section featured today: Evan Frendo, a freelance English teaching professional based in Berlin, Germany, and specializing in Business English and English for specific purposes, and Dr. Ruba Bataineh, Director of the Prince Salman Research and Translation Center at Prince Sultan University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Before we present our feature articles, we would like to thank Kara Hunter, our outgoing chair, for the wonderful work she has done over the past 2 years for the ALIS. Kara has organized events at the annual TESOL convention, contributed to every issue of the AL Forum during her tenure, and has helped shape our IS in many other ways. Thank you, Kara, for your superb service to our community! In March, Kara passed the baton to Eli Hinkel, a prolific TESL researcher, writer, and teacher extraordinaire. As a faithful AL Forum reader, you have, no doubt, read Eli’s multiple contributions on the teaching of grammar and academic writing to ESL learners. We are looking forward to our IS thriving even more under Eli’s leadership. Now, on to our feature articles… Our first piece in this issue is Marianne Celce-Murcia’s detailed review of the role of discourse-based grammar in teaching academic reading and writing. Professor Celce-Murcia identifies common learner problems with reference, conjunction, and the tense-aspect system and provides grammar-based strategies for the teaching and learning of academic literacy skills. In the next article, Neil Anderson, Norman Evans, and James Hartshorn explore the expectations that university faculty have of their students with regard to kinds and amounts of academic reading to be performed in introductory courses in several majors enrolling large numbers of international students. Their study is not merely informative, but it also has significant implications for further research in applied linguistics and language pedagogy. Our last feature essay, by Jan Frodesen, aptly demonstrates the practical value of research in the ESL classroom. Dr. Frodesen offers several effective strategies that academic writing instructors can use to help their students explore a variety of academic registers and build their knowledge of grammar and academic vocabulary in preparation for pursing studies at English-medium universities. The article provides both examples of classroom activities and the guidelines instructors can follow in creating their own teaching materials. On a final note, the next issue of AL Forum will be Olga’s last as the newsletter coeditor. As our 3-year term as coeditors is winding down, she has decided to step down from the position while remaining an active IS member. The next election for key IS offices is coming up in November. We encourage all our members to consider taking a more active role by running for a leadership position, including the position of a newsletter editor or coeditor. Jana Moore Olga Griswold |
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