ALIS Newsletter - March 2020 (Plain Text Version)
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LETTER FROM THE CHAIRS-ELECT Bahiyyih Hardacre, California State University Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Calfornia, USA
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 |
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