Dear SPLIS-ers,

I hope you have been both happy and productive in the last months. For those of you who were able to attend the Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching (PSLLT) Conference in Dallas, it was great to see you there. Proceedings from the 6th PSLLT are available to read here. Many interesting articles for us!

You should also have heard by now about the status of any proposals you submitted for TESOL 2016. We had many good submissions this year, as always! It should be an excellent set of presentations for the annual convention in Baltimore. For those of you who can attend, please also mark your calendars for the SPLIS Academic Session and the SPLIS-ALIS InterSection.

SPLIS Academic Session

Title: Two Sides, One Coin: Interaction of Listening and Speaking Skills

Speakers: Dr. Troy Cox, Dr. Melissa Michaud Baese-Burk, and Dr. Nicole Ziegler

Abstract: Although listening and speaking skills are often taught together, practitioners sometimes forget the extent to which the two skills inform and affect each other. This session brings together research on training, instruction, interaction, and assessment with a focus on the intersection of listening and speaking skills.

SPLIS-ALIS InterSection

Title: Effectiveness of Pronunciation Instruction: Models That Work

Speakers: Dr. Wayne Dickerson, Dr. Veronica Sardegna, and Dr. Ron Thomson

Abstract: This panel discusses the positive effects of three approaches to teaching pronunciation to adult learners: one based on helping learners develop efficiency in private practice outside the classroom; another grounded in strategy training, awareness-raising, and students’ self-assessments; and one that employs computer-assisted pronunciation training for enhancing students’ English perceptual acuity.

In the meantime, a big thanks to our newsletter editor and those who submitted to the SPLIS newsletter. Please consider sharing your work with us in the future!

Best,

Amanda

Amanda Huensch

SPLIS Chair, 2015–2016

Amanda Huensch received her PhD in linguistics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is currently assistant professor of applied linguistics in the Department of World Languages at the University of South Florida.