Leslie Bohon, University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia, USA
Josephine Prado, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Amina Douidi, University of Southampton, United Kingdom |
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Dear Intercultural Communication members,
Happy Lunar New Year to all of our members! May the Year of the Tiger bring you and yours good health, prosperity, and happiness.
This issue of InterCom is our Spring 2022 pre-convention edition! In store for you in this newsletter, we have an announcement from our Co-Chairs about the ICIS-featured presentations at the upcoming TESOL Convention in Pittsburgh, March 22-25, 2022. We also are featuring a lesson plan on non-verbal communication, a special spotlight on the work of an intercultural researcher, and announcements of upcoming ICIS events.
In our article section, we are happy to feature a spotlight on an intercultural researcher, Troy McConachy. ICIS member Amina Douidi interviews Troy about his work and current projects. In this piece, Troy covers topics ranging from the origins of his fascination with intercultural communication after finding his grandmother’s English-Japanese Bible at the age of seven, to current projects such as the foundation of an open access academic journal called Intercultural Communication Education.
This issue also includes a special feature, a lesson plan on non-verbal communication developed by Roxanna Senyshyn. Roxanna notes that she developed this exercise to “help students pay attention to nonverbal features of communication to improve both listening and speaking skills.” Roxanna has used the exercise successfully with different groups of learners ranging from international students to pre- and in-service teachers. The wide range of teachable points proves this activity a flexible and useful tool.
Finally, we encourage you to join us. There are several ways to share and to connect. ICIS holds informal “Coffee Hours,” offering ICIS members opportunities to meet, connect, and broaden our professional networks. The growing popularity of ICIS’ “Lightning Talks” have proven an exciting way to stay abreast of what our colleagues are discovering in their graduate studies. Also, you can find our events on our social media channels on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
Another way to connect with ICIS is to submit a piece to the ICIS newsletter. Share your insights or a lesson plan, experiences regarding intercultural learning, teaching intercultural competence or cultural exchange in your educational setting. Please see our Call for Submissions for links to the author guidelines and call. The next deadline is April 15, 2022. Please email your submissions to newsletter.icis.tesol@gmail.com.
We trust you will enjoy the features in this newsletter. We hope to see many of you at the TESOL Convention next month either in person or online!
Leslie Bohon, Ph.D, is Interim Director of English Language Learning at the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia (USA). Her work with international students focuses on helping them maximize their intercultural experience through academic culture and adjustment training. Her courses for international students include culture and writing with a strong focus on building intercultural competence.
Josephine Prado, Ph.D., serves as Assistant Professor for English Learner Education in the School of Education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her research interests include intercultural competence in teacher education and ESOL teachers’ efforts in advocacy.
Amina Douidi, Ph.D., recently completed her PhD from the University of Southampton, UK. Her research focuses on intercultural representation, interaction and dialogic pedagogy. |
