Symposium on Second Language Writing: Abstracts Available

Abstracts of presentations at the 2009 Symposium on Second Language Writing are now available in word format at http://sslw.asu.edu/2009/program.html.

I have also added more information about the Symposium site and the area at http://sslw.asu.edu/2009/venue.html. I hope this makes it easier as participants make decisions about hotels and other activities during their stay at ASU.

Mark A. James on Learning Transfer

Mark Andrew James, a colleague of mine at ASU, just published yet another study of learning transfer. The article, "'Far' transfer of learning outcomes from an ESL writing course: Can the gap be bridged?" appears in the most recent issue of the Journal of Second Language Writing.

Mark is also serving as the Associate Chair of the 2009 Symposium on Second Language Writing to be held in November at ASU.

Congratulations, Mark!

CFP: Symposium on Second Language Writing 2009

Symposium on Second Language Writing 2009
November 5-7, 2009
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

Theme: The Future of Second Language Writing

The 2009 Symposium Organizing Committee seeks proposals for 20-minute presentations that address various topics within the field of second language writing--broadly defined. Any topic related to second language writing is welcome, but we particularly welcome proposals that seek to challenge the status quo in the field by introducing new topics as well as theoretical and methodological approaches.

As always, we are interested in L2 writing issues in any second or foreign language and at various levels of education--from emerging literacy and adult literacy to L2 writing across the disciplines and in the professions. We also encourage proposals that connect L2 writing with other related areas of inquiry, such as computer assisted instruction, computers and composition, corpus analysis, language testing, rhetoric, writing program administration and world Englishes. We welcome proposals from around the world.

Although there will not be a separate graduate student conference this year, graduate students are encouraged to submit proposals. After all, future of the field of second language writing depends on today's graduate students.

To submit your proposal, please use the online proposal submission form.

Proposals must be received by April 30, 2009 (Arizona Time/MST).

We look forward to receiving your proposal!

Paul Kei Matsuda and Tony Silva, Chairs
Symposium on Second Language Writing

SSLW 2009 Call for Proposals

The Call for Proposals for the 2009 Symposium on Second Language Writing, to be held at Arizona State University on November 5-7, 2009, is now available in PDF format.

http://sslw.asu.edu/2009/sslw2009cfp.pdf

Please distribute widely!

Paul

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Paul Kei Matsuda, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of English
Director of Writing Programs

Arizona State University
Department of English
Box 870302
Tempe, AZ 85287-0302 USA

Paul.Matsuda@asu.edu
http://matsuda.jslw.org/
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Founding Chair, Symposium on Second Language Writing
http://sslw.asu.edu/

Editor, Parlor Press Series on Second Language Writing
http://www.parlorpress.com/slw.html

Web Administrator, Journal of Second Language Writing
http://www.jslw.org/

Job Ad: Lecturer in Rhetoric and Composition with expertise in ESL Writing

Lecturer in Rhetoric and Composition with expertise in ESL Writing

Lecturer in Rhetoric and Composition. Beginning August 16, 2009. Required: Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition or in a related discipline with appropriate relevant coursework; experience in teaching college-level first-year ESL writing courses; evidence of effective teaching. Desired: Theoretical grounding, expertise, and teaching experience in second language writing; evidence of participation in professional conferences in applied linguistics, composition, rhetoric or TESOL.

Teaching load is 4 composition courses each semester. Appropriate professional university service responsibilities. Three-year renewable appointment.

Applicants must submit: Letter of application; vita; teaching philosophy; unofficial graduate transcripts; three letters of recommendation; and copies of recent teaching evaluations to D. Baker, Rhet/Comp ESL Writing Lecturer Search Committee, Department of English, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 870302, Tempe AZ 85287-0302, postmarked by January 2, 2009; if not filled, the 15th of every month until search is closed. We do not accept incomplete applications. E-mailed materials will not be accepted. A background check is required for employment. AA/EOE.

Call for Proposals: Symposium on Second Language Writing 2009

Call for Proposals

Symposium on Second Language Writing 2009

November 5-7, 2009
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

Theme: The Future of Second Language Writing

The 2009 Symposium Organizing Committee seeks proposals for 20-minute presentations that address various topics within the field of second language writing--broadly defined. Any topic related to second language writing is welcome, but we particularly welcome proposals that seek to challenge the status quo in the field by introducing new topics as well as theoretical and methodological approaches.

As always, we are interested in L2 writing issues in any second or foreign language and at various levels of education--from emerging literacy and adult literacy to L2 writing across the disciplines and in the professions. We also encourage proposals that connect L2 writing with other related areas of inquiry, such as computer assisted instruction, computers and composition, corpus analysis, language testing, rhetoric, writing program administration and world Englishes. We welcome proposals from around the world.

Although there will not be a separate graduate student conference this year, graduate students are encouraged to submit proposals. After all, future of the field of second language writing depends on today's graduate students.

To submit your proposal, please use the online proposal submission form.

Proposals must be received by April 30, 2009 (Arizona Time/MST).

We look forward to receiving your proposal!

Paul Kei Matsuda and Tony Silva, Chairs
Symposium on Second Language Writing

2008 Symposium

The 2008 Symposium on Second Language Writing was a great success. As always, it was good to see many familiar faces as well as new ones. This year, we focused on foreign language writing--English as a foreign language as well as foreign languages other than English.

This year's Symposium would not have been possible without the contributions of the two Associate Chairs. Melinda Reichelt was the driving force behind this year's program--she was instrumental in assembling the list of speakers who represent a wide variety of languages and contexts. Tony Cimasko worked hard in taking care of local details; everything went smoothly thanks to him.

The Graduate Student Conference, organized by Jihyun Im and Beril Tezeller Arik, was also stimulating. The discussion at the end, where participants reported on issues they found interesting, gave me a lot of ideas for next year's Symposium.

We also benefited much from the support provided by the Symposium Assistants from Purdue University, Arizona State University, and the University of New Hampshire. They are: Haiying Cao, Shihyu Chang, Lixia Cheng, Yin Ling Cheung, Cristyn Elder, Fatima Esseili, Brian Guthrie, John Hitz, Mike Hubert, Jaisree Jayaraman, Beth Kramer, Elena Lawrick, Xianqiang Li, cristine McMartin-Miller, Wongjan Poolpoem, Laurel Reinking, Tanita Saenkhum, and Steven Simpson.

The next Symposium will be held on November 5-7, 2009, at Arizona State University. The theme will be the future of second language writing.

Symposium on Second Language Writing

The 2008 Symposium is just around the corner. I'm really looking forward to reconnecting with many of the colleagues from around the world as we explore the issue of foreign language writing.

In the meantime, I'm already working on the next one--to be held at Arizona State University on November 5-7, 2009.

The theme of the 2009 Symposium will be "The Future of Second Language Writing," and the call for proposals will be available sometime this fall.

I hope you will join us in exploring the future directions for this young and vibrant field.

Conferences Ahead

Here are some of the conferences I'm planning to attend over the next year or so:

Symposium on Second Language Writing, West Lafayette, IN, June 5-7, 2008.

Thomas Watson Conference, University of Louisville, Louiville, KY, October 16-18, 2008.

National Council of Teachers of English, San Antonio, TX, November 20-23, 2008.

Conference on College Composition and Communication, San Francisco, CA, March 11-14, 2009.

American Association for Applied Linguistics, Denver, CO, March 21-24, 2009.

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Denver, CO, March 25-28, 2009.

Symposium on Second Language Writing, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, November 5-7, 2009.

The Seventh Symposium on Second Language Writing (SLWIS Newsletter)

Here is a little more information about the next Symposium on Second Language Writing, which will take place on June 5-7 at Purdue University.

2007 Symposium on Second Language Writing

This year's Symposium on Second Language Writing was a huge success. About 340 people from 26 countries participated in the three-day event that took place at Nagoya Gakuin University, home of Miyuki Sasaki, one of the leading L2 writing researchers.

Many people told me that they were impressed by the quality of presentations (as was I) and that they enjoyed meeting people from variuos parts of the Pacific Rim and beyond.

More photos are available here.

The Symposium has now become an annual event, and the next Symposium will take place on June 5-7, 2008, at Purdue University. Tony and his staff will be organizing the 2008 Symposium (including the website), and I'll be working on the 2009 Symposium.

2008 Symposium

The dates for the 2008 Symposium has been set. It will be on June 5-7, 2008 at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA. More information will be available here.

Symposium Abstracts Now Available

Abstracts for concurrent sessions are now available online. Since the schedule of sessions is still tentative, abstracts are arranged in alphabetical order by title.

http://sslw.jslw.org/2007/abstracts.html

New URLs for JSLWLIST and SSLWLIST

Just when I finished migrating these lists to a new system, they had to upgrade the software and change the server, and the URLs for the subscription pages have changed. Here they are:

Journal of Second Language Writing Mailing List
https://lists.asu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=JSLWLIST

Symposium on Second Language Writing Discussion List
https://lists.asu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=SSLWLIST

JSLW and SSLW Mailing Lists

The new mailing lists for the Journal of Second Language Writing (JSLWLIST) and the Symposium on Second Language Writing (SSLWLIST) are now available.

Subscribers can manage their own subscription easily through the listserv web interface:

Journal of Second Language Writing Mailing List
https://lists.asu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=JSLWLIST

Symposium on Second Language Writing Discussion List
https://lists.asu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=SSLWLIST

JSLWLIST continues to be announcement only, but SSLWLIST is now available for interaction among subscribers. I hope it will help the Symposium participants who need to find roommates or ask questions about the Symposium and its venue.

Symposium Program Now Available

The tentative schedule for the 2007 Symposium on Second Language Writing (September 15-17, 2007) in nagoya, Japan, is now available in Excel format.

Tentative Schedule

Due to limited space, only the first authors/presenters are listed. A complete list of all the presenters is also available.

If you are one of the presenters, please take a look at it and let me know if there is any problem.

Server Migration

As a result of my move to Arizona State, I've also had to move the websites for the Journal of Second Language Writing and Symposium on Second Language Writing.

Fortunately, with the help of Bruce Matsunaga, the tech person for the ASU English Department, I have been able to move everything to the ASU server without any major problems.

I will be posting various announcements about the Symposium (label:symposium) and the Journal (label:jslw) here.

Symposium Site Visit

While I was in Nagoya, I got together with Miyuki Sasaki and Masumi Narita, Local Co-Chairs, for a site visit for the 2007 Symposium. We went to Kanayama Station to check out all the hotels in the area. We also went to Nagoya Gakuin University's new Shirotori Campus, where the Symposium will be held in September 2007.

Having been there, I now have a better sense of what it's going to be like to have the Symposium in Nagoya. On the way home from Nagoya, I got inspired and developed directions and wrote a brief guide to Kanayama and Nagoya, and posted them on the Symposium web site.

The Politics of Second Language Writing: In Search of the Promised Land

I just heard from the publisher that The Politics of Second Language Writing: In Search of the Promised Land will be available in the next few days.

This book grew out of the Fourth Symposium on Second Language Writing (2004), which focused on the impact of institutional politics and policies on second language writing instruction. It is also the first book in the Parlor Press Series on Second Language Writing.

I've really enjoyed working with Christina and Xiaoye, co-editors of the book, on this project. Their committment to the field of L2 writing and their determination to move the project forward have really helped in producing this volume.

I've also found working with Dave Blakesley, the founder and publisher of Parlor Press, a real pleasure. A researcher of rhetoric and composition himself, he really understands both publishing and academic worlds. I'm really looking forward to continuing our productive relationship.

But most important, we were fortunate to be able to work with contributors who provided excellent manuscripts and responded well to our and reviewers suggestions and comments. They are: Danling Fu, Marylou Matoush, Kerry Enright Villalva, Ilona Leki, Ryuko Kubota, Kimberly Abels, Angela Dadak, Jessica Williams, Wei Zhu, Guillaume Gentil, Kevin Eric DePew, Xiaoye You, Deborah Crusan, Sara Cushing Weigle, Jessie Moore Kapper, Christine Norris, Christine Tardy, Stephanie Vandrick, and Barbara Kroll.

I can't wait to see this book in print--and in Adobe eBook format.

Update: Symposium 2007 in Japan

Here is an update: The 2007 Symposium on Second Language Writing is going to be at Nagoya Gakuin University, Japan. Professor Miyuki Sasaki has generously agreed to host the Symposium at her institution's new campus.

The dates are set for September 15-17, 2007. The information will soon be available at the Symposium web site.

This time, we are going to be soliciting proposals from everyone--there won't be a separate graduate student conference. Our goal is to make it possible for as many people to participate as possible.

I'll post more information here soon--stay tuned!

Symposium on Second Language Writing 2006, Part II

The Symposium was a great success. It was great to see many of my friends in the field. I refer to them as friends because I treasure my relationships with colleagues in the field. It's not that we don't disagree with each other--in fact, we argue over many issues, but to me, that's part of what friendship is about.

What I enjoy about conferences in general is the opportunity to engage in sustained conversations about issues that we care deeply about. And we try to create opportunities for those conversations by organizing this Symposium. A lot of great conversations took place during the sessions, in the hall way, at restaurants, and even in hotel rooms.

I also met a lot of new people who attended the Symposium for the first time. I got to know some of them really well. I hope to get to know the others at the next Symposium ;-)

The "theory" theme was a challenging one to talk about even for experienced researchers, but the speakers did a great job of addressing various and sometimes conflicting definitions of theory as well as a wide range of issues related to practicing theory in the field of L2 writing. I can't wait to see the manuscripts based on these talks for the next Symposium volume.

I came back from the Symposium yesterday. Dwight was kind enough to pick up Steve, Matt and me at 4:45 a.m. to take us to the Indy airport. I know he did a huge favor because both Dwight and I are night owls (4:45 is about our bedtime). Thanks, D! I'll buy you a drink at AAAL in Montreal this weekend.

Symposium on Second Language Writing 2006

The first of the three-day event went really well. It was the Graduate Student Conference. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the presentations and talking with the presenters afterwards.

I was pleased with the overall quality of graduate student presentations. Chris Casanave told me she was glad to see that most of the presenters made the effort to "speak to" the audience rather than "read" papers. Most of them were well-informed by the relevant literature, and there were signs of serious attempts to contribute new knowledge to the field. I also felt that the questions and answers afterwards were becoming more sophisticated and well-informed while remaining colleagial. I take it as an indication that second language writing is maturing as a field.

I was also happy to see that many of the invited Symposium speakers as well as other established researchers in the field attended the Graduate Student Conference and interacted with the presenters and participants. Many grad students told me that they appreciated the opportunity to get to know the "authors" whose work they have been reading. I can't wait to see these budding scholars return to future Symposia as the "authors."

The biennial social gathering at Lafayette Brewing Company (my favorite hangout while I was at Purdue) was well attended, and the participants seemed to be enjoying themselves. This is one of my favorite parts of the Symposium.

Tony Cimasko and Steve Simpson did an outstanding job in organizing the Graduate Student Conference. I was especially impressed by how well they handled the pre-conference meeting with session chairs as well as the small-group discussion at the end. Thanks for your hard work, Steve and Tony. Well done!

Symposium on Second Language Writing 2006

The Symposium program is almost complete, and it's now available on the web. We are still looking for a few session chairs, but other than that, we have a pretty full program for the three-day event. This year, Tony Cimasko from Purdue and Steve Simpson from UNH are organizing the Graduate Student Conference, and they have done a great job in putting together a robust program.

Joleen Hanson from UNH and Karyn Mallett from Purdue will be working with us to organize the Symposium. I'll be asking them to put together the program book, coordinate the book exhibit, and lead the Symposium Assistants. (We used to call them Local Representatives, but since UNH grad students are not really local, we've decided to change the name.)