Dear SLWIS members,

The editorial staff at SLW News welcomes you to the October 2016 issue of our newsletter, which is packed with a wide variety of articles. First, SLWIS Chair Ryan Miller reviews SLWIS activities at the TESOL convention in Baltimore this year, gives an update about SLWIS involvement in the 2017 Convention, and describes how members can become more involved in our interest section. The issue also includes a comprehensive review of second language (L2) writing scholarship in 2015, articles about “queering” L2 writing, the impact of negative institutional factors on written feedback, and designing effective academic writing courses, as well as a reflection about working in a writing center with undergraduate L2 writers. There are also reviews of two books: Tutoring Second Language Writers and Writing for Peer-Review Journals: Strategies for Getting Published.

Additionally, we are excited to include an interview with renowned SLW expert Dr. Paul Kei Matsuda. Elena Shvidko, our community manager, interviewed Dr. Matsuda about the notion of expertise in SLW, which is the theme of this year’s Symposium on Second Language Writing. In our Member Profiles section, we also feature three Graduate Student Spotlights. In this issue, Elena talked to Suriati Abas, Marie-Louise Koelzer, and Hussein Meihami to learn more about their work in L2 writing. If you are a master’s or doctoral student interested in contributing to this section of the newsletter, please contact Elena for more information.

In this issue, we would also like to welcome Joel Henge-Hartse to the editorial team. Joel is a lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Before completing his PhD in teaching English as a second language at the University of British Columbia, he taught in the United States and in China. His work has appeared in the Journal of Second Language Writing, English Today, Asian Englishes, and Composition Studies. Joel will be aiding the rest of the team in reading articles and preparing them for publication. Welcome aboard, Joel! If you are interested in joining our editorial team, please feel free to email me.

Last but not least, I encourage all SLWIS members to consider sharing their teaching and/or research insights with our SLWIS community. Please visit the Submission Guidelines page for more information.

I wish you all an engaging and successful academic year!

Sincerely,

Ilka (on behalf of the editorial team)

SLW News Editorial Staff