Every year, TESOL gets the chance to celebrate excellence in the field. At the 2015 TESOL Annual Convention & English Language Expo in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 106 awards were given to outstanding teachers, researchers, students, and EL advocates. Here are some of this year's award winners.

James E. Alatis Award for Service to TESOL

The James E. Alatis Award for Service to TESOL was established to acknowledge outstanding and extended service by TESOL members at international, regional, and local levels.
 
David Nunan is a globally acclaimed linguist, former president of TESOL International Association (1999–2000), and author of Go For It!, the largest selling textbook series in the world. He is professor emeritus of applied linguistics at the University of Hong Kong and president emeritus of Anaheim University, California. He has also worked as an educator, researcher, and consultant in Europe, Asia, and South America. Nunan has published more than 35 academic texts on curriculum development, language acquisition, research methods, and teacher education.

The TESOL President’s Award

The TESOL President's Award winner is selected annually by TESOL’s Executive Committee in recognition of individuals or organizations who have supported efforts for the field in line with TESOL’s values.

Linda Darling-Hammond is Charles E. Ducommun Professor at Stanford University, where she founded and codirects the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education. She was also founding executive director of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future and headed President Obama’s Education Policy Transition Team. Her most recent book, Getting Teacher Evaluation Right, provides guidelines and models for a research-based approach to teacher evaluation.

TESOL Teacher of the Year Award
presented by National Geographic Learning

The TESOL Teacher of the Year Award was created by TESOL and National Geographic Learning to recognize and honor exceptional English language teachers at all levels.

Sherry Blok holds an undergraduate degree in German from the University of Windsor and a master’s degree in second language education from McGill University. She is an ESL lecturer in the Intensive English Program at Concordia University. She is also the coordinator of professional development for the Language Institute and has led a number of workshops on topics related to feedback, assessment, and critical analysis in literature. She is an annual participant at the TESOL International Convention & English Language Expo and other educational conferences. She was named the 2013 official spokesperson for university lecturers for Fédération nationale des enseignantes et des enseignants du Québec (FNEEQ).

TESOL Award for Distinguished Research
presented by ETS/TOEFL

The TESOL Award for Distinguished Research was created to recognize excellence in any area of research on language teaching and learning.

Yasuko Kanno is associate professor of TESOL in the College of Education, Temple University, where she also coordinates the TESOL program. She is interested in linguistic minority students’ access to and success in postsecondary education and has a coedited a volume with Linda Harklau titled Linguistic Minority Students Go to College: Preparation, Access, and Persistence (Routledge, 2013). Her work has also appeared in (among others) American Educational Research Journal, TESOL Quarterly, Modern Language Journal, Applied Linguistics, and the Journal of Language, Identity, and Education. She serves as Research Notes and Forum editor of the Journal of Language, Identity, and Education.

Mary Finocchiaro Award for Excellence in Unpublished Pedagogical Materials

This award was created in 1987 in honor of Mary Finocchiaro, a noted educator, author, and TESOL president (1970–1971), to recognize a TESOL member(s) who has achieved excellence through the development of practical pedagogical materials not currently under consideration for publication.

Alyssa Anders began teaching ESL/EFL in Indianapolis, Indiana, and she continued in China, Oman, and the Detroit area in Michigan. She earned her master’s degree in TESOL from Eastern Michigan University in 2014, and currently works as an English language tutor in the Detroit area.

Kimberly Specht first began teaching in Leipzig, Germany, and will graduate with her master's degree in TESOL from Eastern Michigan University in 2015. Currently, she works as an ESL teacher and tutor at various institutions in the Ann Arbor area in Michigan.

Richard Lysogorski began his ESL/EFL teaching career in Japan, and he will graduate from Eastern Michigan University in 2015 with a master's degree in TESOL. Currently, he can be found teaching Japanese at Wayne State University or tutoring students in English in the Novi area in Michigan.

TESOL Virginia French Allen Award for Scholarship and Service

The TESOL Virginia French Allen Award was established in 1990 by Dr. Allen's former students in honor of her long-time contributions to the field. The award honors an ESOL teacher who has shared scholarship and provided service to a TESOL International Association affiliate.

Michelle Sluder is currently an ESL teacher at both the middle and high school levels in Arlington, Virginia, USA. She provides community outreach by teaching weekly English classes to parents of students and other adults in the local community. She also offers a tutoring program in writing. During the summer, she teaches students from Mexico who attend the Lasillian Language Camp hosted by Christian Brothers University and works at an ESL summer school. Recognition for her many accomplishments include being awarded the 2013 Arlington High Teacher of the Year and the 2009 West Tennessee ESL Teacher of the Year awards.

Ruth Crymes TESOL Fellowship for Graduate Study

This fellowship was created to support recent or current graduate students in the development of projects with direct application to ESOL language classroom instruction. The recipient of this award is expected to present the results of the project at a TESOL convention within 3 years of the date the award is received.

Namhee Suk is a doctoral candidate in applied linguistics at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. Her dissertation investigates the impact of extensive reading on Korean EFL university students’ reading comprehension, reading rate, vocabulary acquisition, and motivation to read.

TESOL Award for an Outstanding Paper on NNEST Issues
presented by Eastern Carolina University

The TESOL Award for an Outstanding Paper on NNEST Issues was created to recognize scholarship on NNEST issues.

Michael Burri is a PhD candidate in the School of Education at the University of Wollongong, Australia. He has taught in Japan, Canada, and Australia in a variety of contexts, and has served as the TESOL Speech, Pronunciation, and Listening Interest Section chair (2012–2013). His research explores the development of language teacher cognition about pronunciation pedagogy.

Outstanding Advocate Honor

The TESOL Outstanding Advocate Honor was created to recognize individuals who have advocated for, and on behalf of, the ESL/EFL profession and the constituency that it serves.

Premier Kathleen Wynne is Ontario’s 25th Premier and the first woman to serve in that role. Ms. Wynne completed a master’s degree in linguistics and adult education at University of Toronto. In May 2004, under her direction, the Adult Education Review was initiated as a joint project of the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities and the Minister of Education. When she became the Minister of Education in May 2006, Ms. Wynne implemented one of the key recommendations of the review’s report, which was to create an inter-ministerial unit—the Adult Education Policy Unit—with the mandate of working with the educational ministries and delivery agencies to strengthen the adult education system in Ontario.

For more information about the awards and how to apply, visit TESOL Awards.