Dear SLWIS community,

I hope that this message finds you well and looking forward to the 2016 TESOL International Convention in Baltimore. This is a special convention as TESOL celebrates 50 years as an organization, so come prepared to celebrate with TESOL. A musical by some friendly TESOL faces, a street party, a fun SLWIS social, and hundreds of informative and interesting sessions are all just around the corner! I encourage you to take part in whatever you can, as active participation by all our members helps strengthen our community and offers you opportunities to get to know people with similar interests.

As in previous conventions, our interest section will have great presence at this year’s convention. There will be about 50 sessions related to second language (L2) writing at the convention in addition to a number of interesting special sessions organized by Ryan Miller, our chair-elect. Our academic session will feature genre experts Ann Johns, Chris Feak, Ahmar Mahboob, and Luciana de Oliveira, who will discuss differing and overlapping approaches to applying genre in the classroom to enhance second language writing. Our diverse InterSections with Secondary Schools, Higher Education, and Adult Education and Refugee Concerns will address important issues in our field with pedagogical applications that we can all take back to our classes.

In addition to attending great sessions, there are other ways you can connect with our IS in Baltimore. You are encouraged to attend our Open Meeting on Wednesday night at 6:45 pm in Room 325 of the Convention Center. This will be immediately followed by the Friends of Second Language Writing social organized by Deborah Crusan, our development officer, and Todd Ruecker, our past chair. Our social is always a prime venue for reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones. This year’s social will be held at Cazbar Turkish Restaurant.

Once again, SLWIS has chosen to have its own table in the exhibit hall. We believe that having a presence in the exhibit hall throughout the convention is important, as the table provides a way for people to connect with other IS members and for us to recruit new members. We need your help to staff the table. Volunteering at the table is an important way that our members help contribute to the IS and help us grow. We aim to have at least two people at all times at the booth. Please sign up to help out. This is the perfect place for networking, collaborating, or just supporting the IS!

Although attending the convention is very important to stay connected with the organization and with colleagues in the SLWIS, we are always interested in involving membership outside the convention by keeping our listserv active (which happens organically, thanks to our active members) and offering online discussions that offer an opportunity to engage with a topic in more detail. In October and November 2015, we had two very engaging and well attended discussions: one on writing feedback, facilitated by Dana Ferris, and another one on writing assessment, facilitated by Deborah Crusan. Thank you Dana and Deborah for your willingness to share your knowledge with us! Recordings of these online discussions are now in the TESOL Resource Center as Teaching Tips. We will continue to offer these opportunities to stay connected beyond the conference. If you are interested in a topic, send it our way, and we will do what we can to make it happen.

I would like to close by recognizing the contributions of members as leaders in our IS. I’d like to recognize the service of our outgoing chair, Todd Ruecker, who has been an important leader in the IS these past few years. I know that the IS is in great hands with the strong leadership of our new chair, Ryan Miller, and our recently elected incoming chair, Nigel Caplan. I would also like to thank Thomas Mitchell for his service to the IS as steering committee member for a year. This year, we also have some great new members joining the steering committee, including Sandra Zappa-Hollman, Soo Hyon Kim, and Aylin Baris Atilgan, as members-at-large. Our newsletter is also another way to help us stay connected. Thank you Ilka and the rest of your team for putting together your first issue, and thank you to all the contributors.

Enjoy this issue, and see you all in Baltimore!

Best,

Silvia Pessoa

2015–2016 SLWIS Chair