Dear IEPIS Members:

Greetings to all IEPIS members and to all other TESOL members subscribing to the IEPIS Newsletter and the IEPIS community discussion forum. Although the TESOL year (from TESOL convention to TESOL convention) is rather new, there is some noteworthy news.

IEPIS AT TESOL 2012

IEPIS had a very strong presence at the 2012 TESOL Convention, thanks to the 275 proposals submitted for review and the resulting 80 accepted sessions.

IEPIS’s Academic Session

The IEPIS’s Academic Session was a panel presentation addressing the topic of “Transitioning IEP Students to University Reading.” The panel was composed of Neil J. Anderson, professor at Brigham Young University, who spoke about developing fluent, engaged L2 academic readers; Thomas Cobb, associate professor at University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM), who spoke about technical vocabulary as a way into academic reading; Bill Grabe, regent’s professor at Northern Arizona University, who spoke about main idea comprehension and the strategic reader; and Fredricka L. Stoller, professor at Northern Arizona University, who spoke about a curricular view of reading instruction in the IEP.

The session was well attended, with a consistent 115 to 125 participants for the entire time, even with the usual comings and goings. The panel addressed aspects of developing cognitive approaches to fluent reading, a method of combining general and technical lexicons for lower intermediate learners who need to begin academic reading prematurely, ways to improve main idea and reading comprehension instruction and the development of strategic readers, and the curricular benefits of dedicated reading labs, integrated reading and writing classes, and content-based approaches for reading skill development.

IEPIS’s InterSections

IEPIS’s InterSections were jointly held with other interest sections. One InterSection, held by IEPIS with the Speech, Pronunciation, and Listening Interest Section and Teacher Education Interest Section, was entitled “Teacher Education for Pronunciation Teaching in IEPs: What and How.” Speakers explored the best practices in pronunciation instruction as they related to teacher education and intensive English programs.

The second IEPIS-sponsored InterSection at TESOL 2012, entitled “Creatively Designing Intensive Business English Programs to Meet Learner Needs,” was conducted with the English for Special Purposes Interest Section. In this session, presenters shared insights about effective approaches to designing a special-purpose curriculum to meet the needs of learners in intensive business-English courses.

Both of these were well attended.

New Officers for 2012 and Beyond

Chair: Jim Bame
Chair-Elect: Caralyn Bushey
Past Chair: Carol Romett
Member-at-Large: Ilka Kostka

UPCOMING IEPIS DEVELOPMENTS

Proposal Readers for 2013

I would like to thank all of you who filled out the paperwork online and took the training online in order to read for TESOL 2013. Without you, IEPIS would be much poorer.

Upcoming Changes to IEPIS Governing Rules

All interest sections are required to have governing rules that align with the governing rules of TESOL. In the future, probably starting in November, TESOL will be updating its standing rules, and the IEPIS will follow by aligning our standing rules.

Nominate Yourself or Colleagues for an IEPIS Leadership Position

The following positions are open. Contact Carol Romett if you are interested in a fantastic networking and career-enhancing opportunity.

• Chair-Elect (Chair and Past Chair) for 2013-2016
• Member-at-Large

IEPIS’s New Historian

Katie Hansen, Georgetown University, has graciously accepted the position of historian for IEPIS for the term of 2012–2015.

HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED IN IEPIS

Please consider participating as an active volunteer in IEPIS: serve on a committee, write an article or book review for the IEPIS Newsletter, lead a discussion in the IEPIS community forum, suggest a project for IEPIS to undertake, or, most important, nominate yourself to run for a leadership office in IEPIS.

Jim Bame is associate professor and director at Utah State University’s Intensive English Language Institute.