SLS Letter XXXIV

SLS Letter

Volume XXXIV

Fall 2008

MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR

Warm aloha! I appreciate and applaud your efforts at staying connected to your SLS community by taking a look at this latest edition, my first as editor. I view this publication as the major channel of communication with alumni by showcasing any updates within our extended ohana, as well as what the currently enrolled and employed members of the department are doing.

The SLS Letter now exists only in electronic form on the SLS Department website. This policy was put in place with the last edition in Fall 2006, and a brief notice with the website address was sent to the department’s antiquated post office address mailing list. As expected, many were “returned to sender, address unknown”, so perhaps we could not reach you. On the notice I asked alumni to email me with a current email address, and I invited submissions for this issue. I must apologize for losing a few when my computer crashed—I’d kept them open to respond to personally, and unfortunately they disappeared. If you emailed me and your submission doesn’t appear in this issue, please don’t be discouraged and email me again (I’m thinking of an elderly gentleman in Japan…).

A few alumni asked that their email addresses be included within their submission, and almost all wanted me to share their email addresses with friends and colleagues in the community. I\’ve recently created a Facebook group, called UH SLS Dept. Alumni, for all to communicate among yourselves. Please join at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=51841896681

I (and your SLS ohana) would greatly appreciate YOUR input for the next SLS Letter, projected for Fall 2009. Photos are welcome!

Mahalo,
Barbara Leigh Cooney, Editor
bcooney@hawaii.edu

 

NOTES FROM THE DEPARTMENT CHAIR

In the two years since our last SLS Letter, we have experienced many successes and some disappointments. Let me start with the good news. The Department hosted the annual Second Language Research Forum in October this year. The SLRF Executive Committee, headed by doctoral students Matt Prior and Yukiko Watanabe, did an outstanding job. From all reports, it was a huge success.

In the Spring 2008 semester, John Norris was awarded the Board of Regents\’ Excellence in Teaching Award. John was also promoted to the rank of associate professor and granted tenure. Christina Higgins won the College of Languages, Linguistics, and Literature\’s Excellence in Teaching Award. Lourdes Ortega was promoted to associate professor and granted tenure in 2006, and both Graham Crookes and Kathy Davis were promoted to the rank of professor in 2007.

In the previous year, 2006-07, the Department co-hosted the 17th Annual Pragmatics and Language Learning Conference and the Second International Conference on Task-Based Language Teaching.

Further good news involves the hiring of two new tenure-track assistant professors. Luca Onnis joined us this past August from Cornell University where he had done a three-year post-doctoral appointment. His research interests include the cognitive science of learning, psycholinguistics, and computational modeling. His doctoral degree came from the University of Warwick, UK. Luca was selected to be the new director of the Center for Second Language Research. Dongping Zheng, whose appointment begins August 1, 2009, is an assistant professor in the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education, and the Confucius Institute, Michigan State University. Her doctoral degree is from the University of Connecticut. Her research and instructional interests include technology and language learning and teaching. For more information, see their statements in the Newsletter.

There have been some setbacks. Steve Jacques, long-time director of the Hawaii English Language Program, left us to take a position at Leeward Community College. Fortunately, we were able to hire an outstanding replacement, Joel Weaver. Joel, who received his MA from us in 1989, was the Director of Intercultural Communications College, Honolulu.

There was a complete change in the SLS office. Carolyn Paet, SLS secretary left us for the Dean\’s office, Languages, Linguistics and Literature. Marsha Kato, the ELI clerk-steno, took another position on campus. Again, we were very fortunate to find outstanding replacements. Karen Matsumoto took over from Carolyn. She was at Honolulu Community College before joining us. Teri Kim replaced Marsha, and Moore 570 has not been the same since her arrival.

We changed the name of the doctoral degree from Second Language Acquisition to Second Language Studies. We felt that SLA was rather narrow. Now our three graduate programs – the MA, the Advanced Graduate Certificate, and the PhD – all have the same name.

We are now entering rough waters, given the economic turmoil. Various scenarios to meet a reduction in support from the State have been proposed, depending on the size of the budget cut that the Governor imposes on the University. We hope that the cuts will not damage the Department.

As always, we would enjoy hearing from any of our graduates, colleagues, and friends. If you have any news to share with us, please send it via e-mail to Barbara Cooney (bcooney@hawaii.edu). And if you are in the islands, please stop by and visit.

Aloha,
Richard Day, Chair

 

GRADUATE PROGRAMS

The graduate programs continue to advance.

The MA program was a bit smaller this past fall, with only 20 new candidates, but applications for next fall are ahead of last year. We have received several Fulbright student grantees, a Rotary scholar, a Prince Akihito Scholar, and East-West Center grantees. As seen in the list of graduates, we have also maintained high rates of graduation, with 18 in 2006, 22 in 2007, and 22 in 2008. A number of outstanding scholarly papers and theses have also been presented at major conferences such as SLRF, TBLT, AAAL, and JALT, and several have appeared in our Second Language Studies, or have been submitted for publication.

The Advanced Graduate Certificate in Second Language Studies continues to attract good candidates. We have had seven graduates since Fall 2006. Candidates show diversity of research interests such as: electronic portfolio assessment, designing task-based CALL (for Spanish language teaching), the acquisition of Japanese L2 relative clauses by children, the effect of recasts on acquisition of JSL, federal legislation and the effect on adult literacy programs, and an analysis of hospitality discourses and encounters.

The PhD program recently changed the degree to SLS from SLA to reflect the growing types of research interests pursued by the candidates in the program. Between Fall 2006 and the end of Fall 2008, eleven candidates have finished, including 4 this semester. In the meantime, applications to the doctoral program have increased considerably, while we have persisted in maintaining a high degree of selectivity.

As usual, we look very much forward to hearing from you about your news, professional or otherwise, your views of our research and training activities, and any other ideas and concerns you wish to write us about. We want to encourage all alumni to keep in contact.

Aloha!
Thom Hudson, Graduate Chair

APPEAL TO OUR ESTEEMED ALUMNI

From Dick Schmidt:

Please donate to SLS Department funds!

We all receive solicitations from our undergraduate and graduate schools to contribute to the health of those universities through gift-giving, but did you know that it is possible to make tax-deductible donations directly to funds administered by the SLS department that directly benefit students in the same programs you attended? We now have a total of seven such funds that you can donate to! The Ruth Crymes Fund was established in loving memory of Ruth Crymes, former chair of this department. Income from the fund is used primarily for travel grants to send graduate students in the program to present their work at refereed conferences, and over the years many, many students have been supported that way. The Charlene J. Sato Fund, established in memory of SLS faculty member \”Charlie\” Sato, supports academic work by any student in the University of Hawaii system related to pidgin and creole studies. The David Rickard Fund, established by retired faculty member Dave Rickard, supports students with significant financial need. The \’Oihana Maika\’I Fund was established by a generous gift from Susan Proctor and Jonathan Hull, two MA graduates from this department who went on to become co-authors of the internationally renowned Interchange textbook series, to help graduate students in the department reach their own career goals in second language studies, with priority given to those doing academic pedagogical work in the areas of reading, writing, and curriculum development and evaluation. The Elizabeth Carr Holmes Fund was established in memory of a UH professor (author of Da Kine Talk) with close ties to this department, and supports graduate student research. We particularly call your attention to the Craig Chaudron Memorial Fund, established right after our dear colleague, friend, and mentor passed away two years ago. Final determination has not been made yet regarding the uses to which this fund will be put, but one popular idea is to establish the Craig Chaudron Distinguished Lecture series, to bring eminent scholars to UH to give high profile lectures in areas related to Craig\’s work. Finally, please consider a bread-and-butter fund, the SLS Enrichment Fund. This small fund (we hope it will grow!) is the only source for such departmental activities as occasionally taking a faculty job applicant to dinner or providing an honorarium for a visiting speaker.

Donations can easily be made online by credit card to any of these funds:

• First, access the UH Foundation home page at www.uhf.hawaii.edu
• From the pull down menu, select \”Make a Gift.\”
• To make a donation to the SLS Enrichment Fund, under \”Programs\” select \”UHM- College of Lang., Ling. And Lit.\” Under \”Accounts,\” select \”Second Language Studies Enrichment Fund.\”
• To make a donation to any other SLS fund, in the box for \”Other program/account\” enter any of the following:

12099692 Ruth Crymes Mem Grant

12383202 SLS Graduate Oihana Fund

12506504 David Rickard Fund

12174802 Elizabeth Carr Holmes Scholarship

12307102 Charlene Junko Sato Memorial Fund

12480204 Craig Chaudron Memorial Fund

20099693 Crymes Grant Endow (for major gifts)

20383203 SLS Graduate Oihana Endow (for major gifts)

 

RECENT GRADUATES

Fall 2006

BA: Keith Anderson, Christina Cruciana, Fatima Gomes, Matias, Dawa Jung, Jin Kim, Akiko Otsuki, Henry Meyer, Kilistina Taitin, Fei-Yi Yu

MA: Miho Akiyama, Tsui-Ping Cheng, Maria Angelus Cu Mara, Anna Dudzik, Floyd Graham, Sorin Huh, Aki Iimuro, Yumi Matsumoto, Saerhim Oh, Makoto Omori, Zhilong Terry Qian, David Royal, Brian Alan Shoen, Bong-Gi Sohn, Takashi Sugiyama, Takako Yamaguchi, Kimie Yamamoto, Yuka Yamauchi

AGC: Mariko Yoshida

 

Spring 2007

BA: Sarah Dosek, Christina Kim, Christina Lee, Bethany Lueders, Kei Nakane, Lui Paulo, Chishio Shindo, Vita Tanielu, Emmanaline Wimberly

MA: Wesley Kwong, Lun Ho, Yurika Iwahori, Murad Khalliev, Greg Nakai, Rika Oki, Daniel Silver, Summer Sung, Weiwei Yang

AGC: Chie Fukuda, Rod Gammon, Keiko Ikeda, Takayo Kawabe

 

Summer 2007

BA: Han Na Bae, Jane Lee, Azusa Oe, Peter Nam Yang, Yumi Yoshimura

MA: Hae-Jung Cho, Kevin J. Gregorek, Hye-Eun Kim, Yong Hwan Kim, Mari Miyao, Kojiro Murakawa, Takeshi (Tom) Tsurutani, Sarah Elinor Trask

PhD: Tomomi Hasegawa, Douglas Margolis, Annie Tremblay

 

Fall 2007

BA: Hajime Harada, Masayuki Honda, Yuki Ichikawa, Akiko Iwasaki, Takeyuki Koga, Kyohei Nishino, Tae Jung Park, Melissa Sarner, Mayuka Yoshizumi

MA: Aya Akiyoshi, Kevin R. Cancellaro, Varsabhanavi Devi Graves, Dennis Koyama, Miki Nagahira, Yusuke Okada, Soo Jung Youn

PhD: HyunSook Ko

 

Spring 2008

BA: Hajime Harada, Masayuki Honda, Yuki Ichikawa, Akiko Iwasaki, Takeyuki Koga, Won Kyung Lee, Kyohei Nishino, Tae Jung Park, Mayuka Yoshizumi

MA: Sarah (Coco) Anderson, Jacob Joseph Barber, Alexis von Biedenfeld, Daniel Brown, Julie Bouchard, Elizabeth Chan, LeeJin Choi, Yun Deok Choi, Autumn Demaine, Koeun Ham, Emily Yunyee Lam, Emily Wen-shi Lee, Jung-Min Lee, Mi Yung Park, Leon Potter, Hyang Suk Song

PhD: Hye Ri Joo

Summer 2008

BA: Hee Sun Choi, Jacqueline Wiedel

MA: Kevin Gregorek, Myeong-Heong Kim, Hakyoon Lee, Yoon Ah Seong, Yi-Jiun Shiung, Castle Sinicrope

PhD: Siwon Park, Marta Gonzalez-Lloret

RECENT GRADUATES’ WHEREABOUTS

Alexis von Biedenfeld (MA, Spring 2008)

David and I are thrilled to announce the birth of Julian James Hendrix, who was born on 11/24/08 by Cesarean birth. He was 21.25 inches long and weighed 8 pounds, 15 ounces. Here is an early photo of him, all bundled up.

I worked at LCC (Leeward Community College) in the ELI as a lecturer from March until October and will perhaps return after Julian gets a little bit older. I was also helping with the short-term exchange program for international students at LCC. I have also had a few orchestra concerts with the Oahu Civic Orchestra. I think that\’s really all I\’ve been doing since I learned I was expecting. I had no idea this time would go by so quickly!

I really miss seeing you and everyone else in Moore Hall. Maybe I\’ll bring Julian by when he gets a little older.

Julian James Hendrix, newborn son of Alexis von Biedenfeld

Dan Brown (MA, Spring 2008)

Since graduating in May, I\’ve been working as an English Language Fellow in Valparaíso, Chile teaching a course in ELT methodologies for pre-service teachers, and helping with teacher development for in-service teachers.

Elisa Chan (MA, Spring 2008)

Currently I\’m working as an Adjunct ESL Instructor for the Intensive English Program (IEP) at The International Center for English (TICE) at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, AR. I began about a month ago. I\’m currently teaching level 2 (low intermediate) listening/speaking, writing, reading, and grammar. I love it, and am looking forward to continuing on with the program as full time or adjunct again in the spring.

Hope all is well. I miss Hawaii and the SLS crew!

Marta Gonzalez-Lloret (PhD, Summer 2008)

I am still full time teaching at the Spanish department and teaching SLS680P(3).

Floyd Graham (MA, Fall 2006)

I started work here at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, Japan. i have been consulting with fellow faculty about the ins and outs of their classes, which are similar to the ones i have been assigned. I thought you might be pleased to know that many of them incorporate extensive reading into their course plans. I had always wondered how it can be accomplished with so many other things on our plates, and now i am getting to see firsthand. I too have decided that i will incorporate a component of extensive reading into at least 1 of my 5 courses, and possibly 3 of the 5.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know that extensive reading is alive and kicking here at Kansai Gaidai.

On a personal note, Sugiko just gave birth to our second daugher, Chiara Leilani, 2 weeks ago [April 2007], so we are enjoying parenthood round 2 along with all the other new changes in our lives.

Varsha Graves (MA, Fall 2007)

Varsha is the Academic Director of the ELS Language Centers at Hawaii Pacific University\’s downtown campus.

Nate Johnson (MA, Spring 2006)

I went back to Oregon in May \’06 and then finished up my SP for an August graduation (with a LAMPE specialization). I didn\’t have much luck finding work in the area at first, but things picked up after I visited ORTESOL that November. Within a couple days after ORTESOL, I picked up work as an \”emergency hire\” at Tokyo International University of America (TIUA) in Salem. It was for just one class (and just one month), but it was a foot in the door. That December I was also offered a class at Linfield College (in McMinnville) for their winter term, and TIUA gave me another two classes for the spring. Both places gave me some great experiences, but neither could offer me full-time work after the spring. That\’s where Lewis & Clark College came in. Last spring, Lewis & Clark College (in Portland) offered me a full-time teaching post for 12 months. I started work this September and things have been going very well. It\’s an absolutely amazing place to be. I\’m working in a small program with very experienced (and excellent) ESL professionals. I have students from Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Rwanda — and I think I\’m learning as much from them as they are from me. My contract is a year-to-year affair, so the future is a bit fuzzy. But things seem all right for the time being. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that my MA from UHM is being put to good use. I feel pretty fortunate, and I appreciate the part [Thom Hudson] played in getting me to where I am.

Houxiang Li (MA, Summer 2006)

I’m working on my Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics at Penn State. I returned to Hawaii to present a paper at SLRF this past October and was excited to see some of my old friends and professors from SLS.

I miss SLS and Hawaii.

Kojiro Murakawa (MA, Summer 2007)

I am currently studying at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto as a Ph. D. candidate under the instruction by Jim Cummins, Alister Cumming, and Normand Labrie, who is my supervisor.

Studying at UH was a wonderful experience for me.

Yumi Matsumoto (MA, Fall 2006)

I am currently working as a full-time English teacher at a private secondary school in Japan. This year I am a homeroom teacher for 7th graders and teaching English to 7th graders. I am very busy with my current job, so I really miss my SLS life in Hawaii.

Melissa Sarner (BA, Fall 2007)

I am currently working in Japan, teaching at a private English conversation school.

Hope all is well in Hawaii, enjoying your warm weather. I am freezing here! Hopefully see you all in a year or two for the MA program!

Yoonah Seong (MA, Summer 2008)

This is Yoonah Seong, a recent Summer 08 graduate. I recently moved to New York, and I am currently working as an ESL instructor at the American Language Institute at New York University. This fall semester, I am teaching 4 classes, from beginner courses to advanced academic courses.

Castle Sinicrope (MA, Summer 2008)

I\’m living in Berkeley, California with my fiance, a first-year MBA student at Berkeley\’s graduate school of business. Beginning in October, I was hired as a Research Analyst at Berkeley Policy Associates, a firm that conducts policy research and large-scale evaluations of implemented social programs. My first two projects are both education and English language learner related, one for PREL in American Samoa, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, and Hawaii, and the other for WestEd in several California school districts. I should be back in the Pacific throughout the next two years for site visits. I\’m very glad to be putting my SLS education to good use!

Bong-gi Sohn (MA, Fall 2006)

I have had various, sometimes unexpected, but fascinating life journeys that I never expected to happen. I taught multilingual kindergarteners in an ESLL program in a public school in Hawaii and went through some challenges and possibilities as a multilingual speaker. Part of me is still a teacher, and I go to different places to teach either Korean or English. I then went to U of Wisconsin at Madison and met wonderful person, teacher, and researcher Maggie Hawkins. I gained great inspiration from her and was able to shape myself as a doctoral student. For various reasons, I’m now at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, in the Literacy Education Ph.D. Program. This is my first semester. I feel gratitude to be here with excellent scholars in the field of language, literacy, and education. This is one step closer to my dream: stand strong for the strong and weak for the weak. I’m dreaming the “change” and believe literacy has potentials for this.

Without being an MA student in SLS program at UH, I wouldn’t be able to stand at this point. I grew personally, emotionally, and professionally in that space. I miss Hawaii a lot. It’s my imagined world and the paradise. I hope to see some people from Hawaii in the near future.

Hyang Suk Song (MA, Spring 2008)

After graduation from SLS, I came to Montreal in Canada and I am in the PhD program (with specialization of L2A) at McGill University. Sometimes, I miss Hawaii and people in SLS. However, nowadays, I\’m enjoying winter and snow in Montreal.

Annie Tremblay (PhD, Summer 2007)

I have been in Illinois since I graduated. I work as Assistant Professor in the Department of French at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I am also affiliated with the University of Illinois Second Language Acquisition and Teacher Education Program. My research is now on the acquisition/processing of French as a second/foreign language by adult native English speakers. Details on the research projects I am currently involved in can be found on my website (https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/atrembla/home).

I am happy in Urbana-Champaign, professionally as well as personally. I was lucky to find exactly what I was looking for right upon graduation.

Mariko Yoshida (MA, Fall 2006)

I\’m currently working with a marketing research company in Japan. I am responsible for coordinating overseas market research and writing up a report in support of business expansion of Japanese companies. My recent happy news is that I got engaged and am planning to get married next summer:)

Ayako Yoshizawa (MA, Spring 2006)

I have been working at Keiwa college since last September. I teach 4 core curriculum speaking and listening classes, and one elective course \’travel and study abroad\’. It\’s a small but very nice school, and I am extremely happy with this new environment.

 

RECOGNIZING SCHOLARLY EXCELLENCE IN SLS: THE HARRY WHITTEN PRIZE

From Lourdes Ortega

Our department is lucky to have an official way of recognizing scholarly excellence among its graduate students in the form of annual Harry Whitten Prizes. The award recognizes (a) master’s theses that were considered outstanding by all members of the committee and (b) master’s and Advanced Graduate Certificate (AGC) Scholarly Papers that attracted the highest and unanimous grade of “with honors” from both faculty readers. The benefactor of this Scholarship was Harry Whitten, now deceased widower of Ruth Crymes, who was President of TESOL in the 1970s and a faculty member of the SLS Department at the University of Hawai‘i from 1958 until her untimely death in 1979. She was also chair of the department from 1972-1975.

The Harry Whitten Prize for Scholarly Excellence for best MA or AGC Scholarly Paper or Thesis has gone to the following recipients in recent years:

2005

Yusuke Fujisawa, fall 2005: “Using G-theory and Multi-Faceted Rasch measurement for the investigation of the reliability and the validity of peer assessment of L2 oral skills” (MA SP, Readers: J.D. Brown and Tom Hudson)

2006

Aya Takeda, spring 2006: “Effects of pitch accent on ambiguous sentence processing by native Japanese second language learners of English” (MA thesis, Chair: Bonnie Schwartz)

Eun Suk Choi, summer 2006: “Semantic context effects in forward and backward translation by Korean learners of English” (AGC SP, Readers: Craig Chaudron, Richard Schmidt)

Munehiko Miyata, summer 2006: “Frequency effects in the processing of regularly inflected words by native and non-native English speakers” (MA thesis, Chair: Richard Schmidt)

Tsui-Ping Cheng, fall 2006: “Code-switching and participant orientations: A conversation analytic approach” (MA SP, Readers: Gabriele Kasper, Christina Higgins)

Saerhim Oh, fall 2006: “Investigating the relationship between fluency measures and second language writing placement test decisions” (MA SP, Readers: John Norris, Lourdes Ortega)

2007

Chie Fukuda, spring 2007: “Resistance against being formulated as cultural Other: The case of a Chinese student in Japan” (MA SP, Readers: Gabriele Kasper, David Ashworth). This SP was also published in Pragmatics, 16(4), 429-456.

Rod Gammon, spring 2007: “Case Study: Regulatory influence on a Honolulu Adult Education program, 2003-2005” (AGC SP, First Reader: Thom Hudson)

2008

Hyang Suk Song, spring 2008: “On the L2 acquisition of Korean wh- constructions with negative polarity items: adult L2, child L2, and child L1 development” (MA thesis, Chair: Bonnie Shwartz)

Soo Jung Youn, spring 2008: “Rater variation in paper vs. web-based KFL pragmatic assessment using FACETS analysis” (AGC SP, Readers: JD Brown, Thom Hudson)

Castle Sinicrope, summer 2008: “Qualities as nouns: The emergence of grammatical metaphor in a longitudinal L2 German corpus” (MA SP, Readers: Lourdes Ortega, Richard Schmidt)

Choongil Yoon, fall 2008: “Transfer of rhetorical organization? A within-subject exploration of Korean students’ argumentative essays in Korean and English” (MA SP, Readers: Lourdes Ortega, Sandra McKay).

Congratulations to all of them!

 

OTHER RECENT STUDENT AWARDS

From Dick Schmidt

2006

Ruth Crymes Scholarship Fund travel grants

Kyae-Sung Park to present at GALANA-2, Toronto; Annie Tremblay to present at GALA-8, Siena, Italy; Yukiko Watanabe to present at TESOL.

Elizabeth Carr Holmes Scholarship Fund research grants

Aya Takeda, Mari Miyao, Annie Tremblay, Yong Hwan Kim

2007

Ruth Crymes Scholarship Fund travel grants

Sang-Ki Lee to present at AAAL in San Antonio; Annie Tremblay to present at the Tokyo Conference on Psycholinguistics; Zhijun Wen to present at the CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing; Soo Jung Yoon to present at the American Association of Teachers of Korean and SLRF; Sang-Ki Lee to present at JALT.

‘Oihana Maika’I Fund, materials development grants

Ben Gilbert, Hung-Tsu Huang, Keiko Konoeda, Adam Mastandrea

Elizabeth Carr Holmes Scholarship Fund research grants

Mari Miyao, Hyun Sook Ko, Annie Tremblay, Zhijun Wen, Sang-Ki Lee

2008

Ruth Crymes Scholarship Fund travel grants

Matt Buscemi to present at CALICO; Hye-sun Cho and Leejin Choi to present at the International Conference on Language, Education, and Diversity, Hamilton, New Zealand; Priti Sandhu to present at the Georgetown University Round Table; and Castle Sinicrope to present at AILA in Essen, Germany.

‘Oihana Maika’I Fund, materials development grants

Hye-Yoon Cho, Kyung-Hee Choi, Matthew Buscemi, Ann Johnstun, Elizabeth Lavolette, Man-chiu Lin, Young-Sil Oh

Elizabeth Carr Holmes Scholarship Fund research grants

Mari Miyao, Zhijun Wen

 

NEW FACULTY INTRODUCTIONS

Luca Onnis, a native of Italy, joined the Department of Second Language Studies on August 1, 2008 as assistant professor. He is developing an interdisciplinary research program in language learning that bridges basic research in the cognitive sciences and applied research in language learning and teaching.

Substantial recent advances in understanding human learning have come from the cognitive sciences. Dr. Onnis’ research program aims at building on these theoretical and empirical advances to better inform education practices and student learning. The program will integrate methods such as laboratory-based experiments, computational modeling, and computer-based analyses. While one strand of research will focus on establishing basic mechanisms of learning relevant to L2 acquisition, a parallel strand will seek to scale up lab results to more complex every-day learning scenarios such as classroom teaching.

Dr. Onnis’ interdisciplinarity is reflected in his education and training: 1) a B.A. in Translation Studies and Linguistics from the Universita` di Bologna, Italy (summa cum laude,1999); 2) experience as teaching assistant of Italian at a French high school (1998-1999); 3) A PhD in Psychology at the University of Warwick, UK, with a thesis on Statistical Language Learning (2004); 4) postdoctoral training in the Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at Cornell University.

 

Impact and visibility

Dr. Onnis has published in high-profile journals such as Cognition, Cognitive Science, Developmental Science, Journal of Memory and Language, and Computational Linguistics. The breadth of his published work encompassed empirical research in computational models of language, corpus analyses, statistical learning, and brain imaging. He signed a contract with Oxford University Press as co-author on a book on Statistical Learning. Three publications have directly inspired two PhD projects at Stanford University and the University of Georgia respectively. Another publication is part of a graduate course on language evolution at the University of Edinburgh.

Dr. Onnis presented over 30 talks and posters at major international venues such as BUCLD, Cognitive Science Society, SRLD, Psychonomics …and SLRF 2008. He was 11 times invited to hold keynote speaker lectures at major universities such as Harvard, Yale, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Paris, and Barcelona.

 

Leading skills and supervision:

As a graduate student Dr. Onnis single-handedly obtained funding and organized a 3-day international workshop on the CHILDES database, gathering 4 distinguished experts in the field and attracting participants from the US, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, and Africa, besides the UK. At Cornell, he supervised and tutored research assistants in the Psych Lab, Three of the students directly tutored by him were admitted to top-ranking Graduate Schools (Stanford, Carnegie-Mellon., Rochester, and Harvard).

 

Funding Highlights

Dr. Onnis has won several prizes and grants. His undergraduate thesis on real-time language processing in L2 learners won an international prize and was published. At Cornell, he obtained an R03 Grant from the National Institutes of Health to study fluency in monolingual and bilingual sentence processing ($160,000). The project ranked in the 6th percentile of all NIH submitted projects for 2006. In 2008 he declined a grant from the European Union (Euros 600,000) and instead accepted the offer of the Department of Second Language Studies.

 

Dongping Zheng

My career path can be traced back to when I first co-taught English to Chinese children with my husband, Bob. I was fascinated how actively engaged the Chinese children were when they were interacting with Bob. My curiosity of finding a happy medium that extracts the best essence of Chinese and western education led me to study education in the University of Great Falls, Montana.

The transition of switching my applied linguistic background to education was not as painful as I imagined. As a matter of fact, this experience provided an opportunity to supervise in a CALL in Lebanon where I supported English language teachers and students.

As Laozi said, “Dao gives birth to 1, one gives birth to 2, two gives birth to 3, and three gives birth to the cosmos.” (“道生一，一生二，二生三，三生万物”), my love of teaching and language gave birth to my desire to purse a doctoral degree in the educational technology program at the University of Connecticut. I was eager to learn in what ways technology help people learn and the underlying principles of psychology that help children learn in more engaging and sustaining ways. This curiosity led me to do my dissertation research in a virtual world, Quest Atlantis, in which I extended the concept of negotiation for meaning to negotiation for action with the goal of capturing how new learning is afforded in virtual environments. My current research at Michigan State University also involves virtual environments, in which I study how to design virtual curriculum that fosters both expert-novice and symmetrical interactions, as well as how in-world and in-life identities emerge and converge. I am looking forward to getting on board with faculty and graduate students in the department of SLS to explore the integrated field that cuts across second language acquisition, educational psychology, educational technology and teacher education.

As a little girl, when my mom told me stories about how kind people are who live by the ocean, I dreamed of seeing an ocean some day. When I first visited the sea at Yantai, Shangdong Province, I fell in love with the generosity of the people and spontaneity of the ocean. On November 27, 2007, I took an oath to become a naturalized citizen of the United States. I voted on November 4, 2008. Both swearing in and voting experiences were very emotional and made me very proud. I deeply realized how empowering it is being an American, in that I can dream to be who I want to be, and maintain my color and identity in the mosaic that is the United States. My dream of becoming an academic, pursing research and teaching, recently came true through strong mutual interest between the Department of Second Language Studies and myself. My excitement can find no place to hide in “the loveliest fleet of islands that lies anchored in any ocean…,” (Mark Twain). My longing of living by the ocean will come true in about 7 months.

 

OFFICE STAFF INTRODUCTIONS

Teri Kim, ELI Secretary

Aloha and greetings from Aunty Teri Kim in Moore Hall, Room 570. I am pretty sure that most SLSers and ELIers have come my way. But just in case we haven’t met, I work for Kenny Harsch. I replaced Scott Hong just about 6 months ago. And in Scott’s own words, “It’s all good.” I like to talk to everyone and anyone about most anything. I keep Karen Matsumoto company on a daily basis. Karen has come a long way since I started working here. She even shares her Classic Coke with me. Yep, it can’t get any better than that. I also like to cook and arrange parties. Yes, that was my smooth segway into a Christmas celebration. If you are interested, come and talk story with me. You’d be surprised at what just talking story can lead to. Remember, that’s Aunty Teri in Moore 570. Have a wonderful day

Karen Matsumoto, Department Secretary

My name is Karen Matsumoto. I graduated from McKinley High School and now work at UHM Second Language Studies. Entered the state in April of 1988 at Centralized Processing Center and worked there for 3 years. In November of 1991 came to the University of Hawaii and was employed at College of Continuing Education as a Clerk Typist III until December of 2002. College of Continuing Education later merged with Summer Session and is now known as Outreach College. From Outreach College I took a promotion to Secretary II and worked at Honolulu Community College until April 2007 before taking a lateral position and starting at Second Language Studies where I currently work.

Justin Ogata, Student Help

Hi, I’m Justin Ogata, and I am one of the student helps working in the SLS Department. I graduated from Kalani High School and am now planning on majoring in Accounting. Some of my hobbies include playing basketball, although I haven’t played recently due to the huge amounts of homework. If you ever need help with a task dealing with copying &/or shredding, feel free to ask me. Aloha!

Raina Tuakoi, Student Help

Hi! My name is Raina and I have been a student assistant for Second Language Studies for two years. I am currently in my last semester at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. I will be graduating in December with an English Degree. In my spare time, I like to listen to music, shop, hang out with friends, sleep, go to the movies, read, watch television, and tan at the beach. I have been in Hawaii for five years and I can honestly say my experience has been wonderful. Despite how much I love Hawaii, I will be returning home to San Francisco after graduation in December to spend time with my family while I apply to teach English abroad in Europe.

 

SLS STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS

HATESL Becomes SLSSA—Second Language Studies Student Association
(pronounced “salsa”)

HATESL Sign-Makers (photo Dana Kwong)

SLSSA Officers 08-09 (photo Eri Hashimoto)

From Youngsil Oh & Reginald Gentry, Jr.

SLSSA Co-presidents 2008-2009

The Second Language Studies Student Association (SLSSA) is a student organization within the Department of Second Language Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

The organization promotes professional and social interaction between its members and the SLS faculty, with emphasis on SLS as it affects and is affected by students in the department. Through SLSSA, SLS students can provide constructive input into how the department is run and can positively impact the SLS profession both locally and globally.

In addition, SLSSA provides its members with opportunities for professional development by sponsoring workshops and seminars, as well as strengthening intra-departmental ties through social events such as monthly coolers, graduation ceremonies and so forth.

We look forward to hearing from you!

HATESL Officers 07-08: Spring 08 Graduates are wearing leis (photo Eri Hashimoto)

From Mathew Espinosa

HATESL President 2007-2008

I had the enormous privilege to serve as president of our beloved HATESL organization in the 2007-2008 school year. I feel like it was a job worth reporting on. Given that the work I and the 20+ other board members put into HATESL was completely voluntary and only add more onto our already full plates, I think we should be very proud of our many accomplishments and I would like to share them with the greater SLS community. Thanks to advice from previous HATESL leaders and a hardworking, creative spirit amongst our board members, 2007-2008 brought with it a lot of innovation and a staunch refusal to accept the status quo. We used that spirit to bring some much needed change to the organization and to revitalize it. Here is a list of some of the major accomplishments of the 2007-2008 HATESL Board:

Creating a Members Only email list (hatesluhm-l)

Tracking FLERR usage by HATESL members and enforcing HATESL membership in order to receive FLERR copying privileges

Staying on budget!

Trying out a one-day retreat

Hosting three academic workshops on resume/CV writing, abstract writing, and academic writing

Hosting the first Halloween Fundraiser Party

Promoting an Aloha United Way food drive

Creating and collecting data from an SLS Student Survey in order to better understand the student perspective on the program and inform students and faculty of potential ways to improve the department and student organization in order to better meet student needs

Leading the way for SLSSA–changing the name to something that better represents our student body and is more inclusive

Compiling a list of non-SLS classes taken for SLS degrees in order to promote the interdisciplinary nature of our field and encourage students to register for classes outside our department

Hosting a Talent Show to highlight the varied talents of students and faculty in our department, from music to art to performance

Hosting coolers/events every month!

Coordinating the SLS Peeps program where new students are paired with returning student buddies to help them transition into life in the SLS department

Promoting \”semi-HATESL events\” where SLS students get together informally to attend local events like plays, movies, concerts, and sporting events

Updating the \”Information for New Students\” page (much needed!) in order to better inform new students and potential applicants about our program and life in Honolulu

And we did all of this with only one consistent driver and car (a big thanks to Ben Gilbert!). It took a village, so to speak, but I\’d like to give a special thanks to my Co-President, Elisabeth Chan, who provided lots of support and stellar leadership throughout. Our board worked very hard throughout the year and we all look forward to hearing of the continued innovation and accomplishments of the future SLSSA board members. Good luck and congratulations!

The 36th HATESL retreat at Camp Kokokahi, September 2006 (photo Dana Kwong)

HATESL Skateboarding Lesson Auction item Jan 2008:

Dana, Hakyoon, Yoonah, Roo, Merica (Photo Dana Kwong)

HATESL, December 2007: Da famous SLS Christmas Carol “Oh, Syntax Tree!”

From Troy Rubesch

 

The Language Teacher Development Group (LTDG)

Are you interested in language teaching? Or perhaps you’re currently teaching at HELP, the ELI or any of the dozens of language schools on the island? Maybe you just like to hang around language teachers? Well, you’re in luck!! New students, old students, all students are welcome to attend!

The LTDG is an official UH Registered Independent Organization (RIO) founded last year by language teachers for language teachers. We meet regularly as an informal forum to share problems, opinions and experiences with an eye towards practical solutions, teacher training and professional development. Past meetings have dealt with classroom management, effective feedback techniques and incorporating technology in language teaching.

The LTDG is proud to announce its officers for the 2008-2009 academic year:

President: Troy Rubesch

Vice President: Nate Friberg

Secretary: Ann Johnston

Please contact Troy Rubesch at , or any officer for more information.

LTDG meeting, December 2008 (photo Troy Rubesch)

 

STUDENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Hye-sun Cho, PhD Candidate

Conferences:

Constructing ‘Third Space’ for Non-Native English Speaking Preservice Teachers. TESOL Annual Convention, New York, New York, April 3, 2008.

“I No Longer Feel Just Powerless”: Exploring Critical Academic Literacies for Linguistic Minority Undergraduates. American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting, New York, New York, March 28, 2008.

Exploring Critical Academic Literacies: Tensions and Transformations in a Bilingual Preservice Teacher Program. International Conference on Language, Education, and Diversity, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand, November 24, 2007.

Creating ‘third space’ in Language Teacher Education through Narratives. American Association for Applied Linguistics Annual Conference, Costa Mesa, California, April 19, 2007.

 

Awards and Grants:

GSO Travel Fund (September 2008)

Ruth Crymes Scholarship (November 2007)

GSO Travel Fund (October 2007)

Golden Key International Honour (September 2007)

In addition, I am currently serving as a reviewer of an international journal, Pedagogies. And finally, I successfully defended my dissertation in October 22 and am graduating in December 20, 2008.

Mathew Espinosa, MA Candidate

Mathew Espinosa was the only representative of the SLS Department attending and presenting at the National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE) annual conference in 2008, a major conference for US English teachers from PreK-University levels. He presented on alternative ways of organizing professional development on issues of teaching English language learners for mainstream K-12 teachers. He also gave presentations for local teachers at the HALT and Hawaii TESOL conferences in 2007 and 2008 on teaching foreign languages through content, using technology in the language classroom, and the holistic \”Writer\’s Workshop\” approach to second language writing instruction. He applied his understanding of content-based L2 instruction to develop a theater-based version of the ELI 70 (Intermediate Listening/Speaking) course for the Fall 2008 semester. The course allowed students to develop various academic listening and speaking skills while applying their learning to a simulated \”Introduction to Theater Arts\” course. They created and presented design plans, discussed and analyzed plays, and attended and participated in local productions, amongst other assignments.

 Yao Zhang Hill, PhD candidate

Internship:

Summer intern program of the Research and Development Division at the Educational Testing Service (ETS), Princeton, NJ (06/2008 – 07/2008)

Publications:

Hill, Y. Z., & Tschudi, S. (2008). A Utilization Focused Approach to the Evaluation of a Web-based Hybrid Conversational Mandarin Program in A North American University. Teaching English In China: CELEA Journal 31(5).

Fukuya, Y. J., & Hill, Y. Z. (2008). Effects of Recasts on EFL Learners\’ Acquisition of Pragmalinguistic Conventions of Request. Issues in Applied Linguistics, 15(1).

Watanabe, Y., Hill, Y., Ma, J. H., & Von Biedenfeld, A. K. (2007). Second International Conference on Task-Based Language Teaching: Conference evaluation report (NetWork #49) [PDF document]. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i, National Foreign Language Resource Center. http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/NetWorks/NW49.pdf

Grave, V., Hill, Y., & Shoen, B. (2007). [Review of the book Teachers exploring tasks in English language teaching]. Language Teaching Research, 11(3)

Conferences:

Hill, Y. Z. (Session Chair), Tsurutani, T., & Fouts, T. (2008b, November). Investigating an Alternative English-Proficiency Screening Test for College Admission Purposes. Paper presented at the 2008 NAFSA: Association of International Educators Regions I & XII Bi-Regional Conference, Honolulu, HI.

Hill, Y. Z. (2008a, June). Investigating Consequential Validity of Using STEP EIKEN Test as an Alternative English Proficiency Screening Test for College Admission Purposes. Work in Progress Paper presented at the 30th Annual Language Testing Research Colloquium, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.

Hill, Y. Z., & Tschudi, S. (2007e, September). Exploring Task-Based Curriculum Development in a Hybrid Web-Based Conversational Chinese Program. Paper presented at the 2nd International Conference on Task-Based Language Teaching, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI.

Watanabe, Y., & Hill, Y. Z. (2007d, September). Use and User Focused Conference Evaluation: Collaboration, Negotiation, and Action. Paper presented at the 2nd Hawaii Pacific Evaluation Association Annual Conference, Honolulu, HI.

Hill, Y. Z., Tschudi, S. (2007c, May). A Utilization-Focused Approach to the Evaluation of a Web-Based Hybrid Beginning Chinese Class in a North American University. Paper presented at the 5th International Conference on ELT in China & the 1st Congress of Chinese Applied Linguistics, Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, Beijing, China.

Hill, Y. Z. (2007b, April). A Participatory Approach to the Development of a Reading Placement Test. Paper presented at the 2007 International Society for Language Studies Conference, Honolulu, HI.

Hill, Y. Z. (2007a, March). Exploring Task-Based Curriculum Development in a Hybrid Web-Based Conversational Chinese Program. Paper presented at the 10th Annual National Conference of Less Commonly Taught Languages Conference, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI.

Hill, Y. Z. (2007, March). Exploring Task-Based Curriculum Development in a Hybrid Web-Based Conversational Chinese Program. Paper presented at the 10th Annual National Conference of Less Commonly Taught Languages Conference, WI.

 

Awards and Grants:

Graduate Student Organization Travel Award, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (Fall 2007)

Arts & Sciences Advisory Council Awards, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (Spring 2007)

\’Oihana Maika\’i Fund , Department of Second Language Studies, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (Fall 2006)

 

Committees served:

Volunteer Committee of the Second Language Research Forum (SLRF) 2008, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (2007 – 2008)

General Organization Committee of 2nd International Conference on Task-Based Language Teaching, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (2006 – 2007)

Department Personnel and Policy Committee (DPPC), Department of Second Language Studies, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (2006 – 2007)

PhD Admission Committee, Department of Second Language Studies, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (2006 – 2007)

Organization Committee of the 1st Hawaii-Pacific Evaluation First Annual Conference, Honolulu, HI (2006)

ISLS Conference Spring 2007 in Waikiki: SLS students with Christina Higgins and Su Motha (photo Dana Kwong)

Dana Kwong, MA Candidate

Presentations:

Mar. 5th, 2007. Paper presentation at SAPS (School of Asian and Pacific Studies) 17th annual Graduation conference, UHM. Dana Kwong and Dan Brown. \”LOCAL RESOURCES FOR A LOCAL CONTEXT: CHALLENGES TO ELT POLICY IN THAILAND\”

Apr. 4th, 2007. Round table paper presentation at ISLS (International Society for Language Studies). Dana Kwong and Dan Brown. \”LOCAL RESOURCES FOR A LOCAL CONTEXT: CHALLENGES TO ELT POLICY IN THAILAND\”

Publication:

Group editor for multi-authored book review of : Betty Lou Weaver & Jane R. Ellis (eds.), 2004 Task-based Instruction in foreign language education: practices and Programs, published in Language Teaching Research, 11 (3), 378-382, 2007. Authors: Joara Bergsleither, Mar Galindo, Yong Hwan Kim, Dana Kwong. Journal Editor: John Norris. This project came of of John\’s TBLT class in fall of 2007

Sang-Ki Lee, PhD Candidate

During the fall of 2006 to the present, Sang-Ki Lee has conducted research on various issues and his publications have appeared in journals such as Studies in Second Language Acquisition (2008, with Hung-Tzu Huang), Language Learning (2007), Language and Information (2007), and English Teaching (2006). Sang-Ki has also presented at various international conferences, including: SLRF 2008 (with Lourdes Ortega & Munehiko Miyata), KATE (Korea Association of Teachers of English) 2008, AAAL 2008, JALT (Japan Association for Language Teaching) 2007, AAAL 2007 (with Hung-Tzu Huang), and SLRF 2006 (with Sumi Chang). He has been a recipient of a number of grants and awards, which include: The International Research Foundation for English Language Education (TIRF) Doctoral Dissertation Grant (2008), Language Learning Dissertation Grant (2008), AAAL Graduate Student Travel Award (2008; also awarded the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Graduate Student Travel Scholarship as one of two top-ranked Ph.D. student applicants), Korean Honor Scholarship from the Embassy of the Republic of Korea (2007), Ruth Crymes Grants (Spring 2007 & Fall 2007), Elizabeth Holmes-Carr Scholarship (2007), and Graduate Student Organization Grants (2006 & 2007). During the fall of 2008, Sang-Ki was busy serving as a conference co-chair for SLRF 2008 and with his defense of his dissertation research, titled “Salience, Frequency, and Aptitude in the Learning of Unaccusativity in a Second Language: An Input Enhancement Study.”

Castle Sinicrope, MA, Summer 2008

Presentations:

Qualities as nouns: The emergence of grammatical metaphor in a longitudinal L2 German corpus. Paper presented at the American Association for Applied Linguistics, Washington DC (March 30, 2008).

Nominalization as grammatical metaphor: Systemic-functional perspectives on advanced L2 writing development. Paper co-presented with Heidi Brynes from Georgetown University in the symposium, “Researching advanced L2 writing: Theoretical, methodological, and empirical issues” at the 15th World Congress of Applied Linguistics (AILA), Essen, Germany (August 25, 2008).

 

Grants and Awards:

GSO Grants and Awards for AAAL 2008 (March 2008)

Ruth Crymes Scholarship for AILA 2008 (August 2008)

Henry Whitten Award for outstanding MA scholarly paper (May 2008)

Yukiko Watanabe, PhD candidate

Yukiko has been actively facilitating various evaluation projects, including (a) College-wide student exit survey project, evaluating certificate, two-year requirement, BA, MA, and PhD programs at the College of Languages, Linguistics and Literature, UHM (2008-09; see website: http://www.lll.hawaii.edu/eval/), (b) identification of student learning outcomes of an information literacy program at the Meiji University Library (2008-ongoing), and (c) Foreign Language Program Evaluation Project, led by Dr. John Norris (2005-08; see website: http://www.nflrc.hawaii.edu/evaluation/). During 2006-08, she enjoyed presenting her evaluation work as well as her second language research projects at major national and international conferences, for example, AAAL, ACTFL, ISLS, JALT, and TESOL. In 2007, Keiko Konoeda and Yukiko worked on a project implementing task-based critical pedagogy in Japanese EFL classrooms, which was supported by the Oihana Maika\’i Fund, University of Hawai ($500). The project is now published as a book chapter:

Konoeda, K. & Watanabe, Y. (2008). Task-based critical pedagogy in Japanese EFL classrooms: Rationale, principles, and examples. In M. Mantero, P. C. Miller, & J. L. Watzke (Eds.), Readings in Language Studies (Vol. 1, pp. 45-72). St. Louis, MO: International Society for Language Studies.

During 2007-08, the SLRF Executive Committee members (Dennis Koyama, Sang-Ki Lee, Matt Prior, Priti Sandhu, Yukiko Watanabe, David Wen, & Jim Yoshioka) were able to successfully obtain funding from UHM institutional grants for organizing SLRF 2008: Diversity and Equity Initiative Grant, Student Equity, Excellence, and Diversity, University of Hawaii ($500), Student Activity and Program Fee Board ($1000), University of Hawaii Endowment of the Humanities ($3000), Ruth Crymes Scholarship (SLS, UHM) ($3247). Thanks to SLS communal support, SLRF 2008 was a big success!

Zhijun Wen, PhD candidate

Papers:

Wen, Z. (2008). [Review of the book Reading Skills for College Students]. Reading in a Foreign Language, 20, 132–135

Wen, Z. (2007). Online processing of subject-verb agreement in English by first and second language speakers. In H. Caunt-Nulton, S. Kulatilake, & I.-h. Woo (Eds.), Proceedings of the 31st annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 668–679). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla.

Conferences:

Wen, Z., Miyao, M., Chu, W., Shiung, Y., Takeda, A., & Schwartz, B. D. (2008, October). On knowledge and processing of grammatical number by nonnatives. Paper presented at the 2008 Second Language Research Forum (SLRF), University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI.

Dekydtspotter, L., Schwartz, B., Sprouse, R., Wen, Z., Chu, W., Miyao, M., Renaud, C., & Shiung, Y. (2007c, September). On detailed morphological analysis in L2 sentence processing. Paper presented at the 17th European Second Language Association (EuroSLA) Conference, Newcastle University, England.

Wen, Z. (2007b, March). How L1 and L2 perceivers process English subject-verb agreement violations. Poster presented at the 20th Annual CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, University of California, San Diego, CA.

Wen, Z. (2007a, February). Adult acquisition of an L2 lexical feature through natural exposure. Poster presented at the Hawai‘i TESOL 2007 Annual Conference, Honolulu, HI

Wen, Z. (2006, November). Online processing of subject-verb agreement in English by first and second language speakers. Paper (alternate) and poster presented at the 31st Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, MA.

 

Awards and Grants:

Elizabeth Holmes-Carr Scholarship, Department of Second Language Studies, University of Hawai‘I (08/2008)

The Graduate Student Organization (GSO) Grants and Awards. University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (06/2007)

The Ruth Crymes Scholarship. Department of Second Language Studies, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (05/2007)

Elizabeth Holmes-Carr Scholarship. Department of Second Language Studies, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (01/2007)

Committees served:

Executive Committee of the Second Language Research Forum (SLRF) 2008, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (2007 – 2008)

Visiting Colleague Committee, Department of Second Language Studies, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (2007 – 2008)

Department Personnel and Policy Committee (DPPC), Department of Second Language Studies, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (2007 – 2008)

Elizabeth Holmes-Carr Scholarship Fund Committee, Department of Second Language Studies, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (2006 – 2008)

PhD Admission Committee, Department of Second Language Studies, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (2006 – 2008)

Soo Jung Youn, PhD candidate

Awards:

Harry Whitten Award (Spring 2008)

Ruth Crymes Scholarship (Travel grant 2007, the 30th SLRF at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Conferences:

MA thesis \”Rater bias in assessing pragmatics of KFL learners using FACETS analysis\” at the 17th Pragmatics and Language Learning Conference 2007.

AGC SP \”Rater variation in paper vs. web-based KFL pragmatic assessment\” at the SLRF at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2007, and at the 30th Annual Language Testing Research Colloquium in China 2008.

SLS goes to THAILAND

SLS Participants at Ubon-Rajathanee University (UBU), Summer 2008

From Laura Mizuha

For the second summer in a row, SLS 690 ESL Teaching Practicum was conducted in collaboration with Ubon-Rajathanee University (UBU) in the northeast of Thailand. With our own Dr. Richard Day leading the way, twelve SLS MA teachers-to-be embarked on a pedagogic journey, not a new one, but to the same place that ten MA SLS students had gone the summer before. This crucial summer marked the second success for solidified a continuing partnership program, The UBU-UH Program.

It’s especially nice when the ideas exchanged among colleagues over coffee realize their fullest potential, which is what happened there. In the Spring of 2006, Dr. Day and Dr. Patareeya, esteemed visiting professor to UH from UBU, chatted about the advantages and possibilities of having SLS MAs go to UBU to teach English. Simultaneously, their Faculty of Management Science had just implemented an all-English Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration focusing on international issues. For UBU, this required serious planning in terms of English language Instruction as the city of Ubon-Rajathanee is situated in a relatively rural area, translating into a limited exposure to English language both in school and out. English was one of the most important issues to handle for the International BBA. The Dean of the Faculty of MS was eager to have UH MA SLS students do their SLS 690 ESL Practicum for the first year BBA students. After discussion, it was decided that the first eight weeks of the sixteen-week semester, which starts in June, would be designated for intensive English classes taught by the MA SLS students. UBU students had a learning need, SLS MAs had a teaching need, and the time frame was great. In factoring in free faculty housing, rural Thailand is a relatively affordable place to do an unpaid internship. It was perfect!

In preparation, the SLS MAs spent most of the previous spring semester mentally, financially and pedagogically preparing. Hard work was not unexpected and taking on new academic and professional challenges was part of the chosen opportunity. In Thailand, SLS MAs, now in-service university teachers, taught one of three skills areas, Reading, Writing, or Oral Fluency to thirty-five first year students and academic writing to over fifty returning sophomores, juniors, and seniors. For the first year students, these courses started at 9:00 a.m. and ended at 2:45 p.m. with an hour lunch, Monday through Thursday. For teachers, one and half hours were devoted to teaching and the rest was devoted to preparation, professional development in the 690 Practicum, individual research endeavors, as well as professional duties to UBU and the students. The afternoons, from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. were spent meeting twice a week for the three-credit 690 Practicum and twice a week conducting real-life, “Do-It” projects with students (using English as a Lingua Franca). The rigorous schedule of 9 to 6, did however afford us three-day weekends to enjoy, explore and really take advantage of this unique opportunity. [Photos in Power Point and below, click here] To say the least, hard work and lots of initiative paid off.

Hard work, initiative, positive visionary attitudes, are definitely not in short supply around our SLS Department and so all contributing parties must share recognition. In no particular order, this involves a number of people from the UBU administration including Bob Tremayne, Dr. Patareeya, Dr. Richard Day, and the entire SLS Department including professors in their teaching, advising, and administrative capacities as well as staff. The second year participants; Matt Buscemi, HyeYoon Cho, KyungHee Choi, Benjamin Gilbert, Ann Johnstun, Man-chiu Lin, Wenpei Long, Laura Mizuha, Daisuke Mizutani, YoungSil Oh, Leon Potter and Rebekah Spraitzar also appreciate the pioneering efforts of the first batch of MA SLS students at UBU; Nick Chudeau, Amelia De los Rios, Benjamin Gilbert, Varsha Graves, Emiko Kamimoto, Yoko Kusumoto, Merica McNeil, Samantha Ng, Leon Potter, and Hatsumi Toku for helping to lay the foundation for a practical experience that we will all carry with us through our professional careers and personal lives.

 

NEW AND CONTINUING EXTERNAL GRANTS

National Foreign Language Resource Center (NFLRC)

Current year: $339,978

Total since establishment: $7,292,446

http://nflrc.hawaii.edu

Director: Richard Schmidt

The University of Hawai\’i National Foreign Language Resource Center serves as one of a small number of language resource centers established to improve the teaching and learning of foreign languages throughout the US, particularly the less commonly taught languages. Although housed in the College of Languages, Linguistics, and Literature with ties to all the \”language\” departments, the NFLRC is primarily associated with the Department of SLS. During the current 4 year grant cycle, NFLRC major projects include support for John Norris\’ Foreign Language Program Evaluation project (separately grant-funded through Spring 2008); a project to develop a complete curriculum of courses leading to an undergraduate certificate (equivalent to a minor) in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean offered entirely online; development of online \”language cafés\” for heritage learners of Samoan, Filipino and Japanese; and support for the Department of Linguistics language documentation project, which trains native speakers of un- or under-documented languages of the world to document their own languages. NFLRC publishes three book series: Dick Schmidt is series editor of NFLRC Monographs, and Gabi Kasper edits two new series, the Pragmatics & Language Learning series and (soon to appear) the Pragmatics & Interaction series. NFLRC also publishes outstanding online journals: Reading in a Foreign Language (Thom Hudson and Richard Day are the editors, and PhD student David Wen is the managing editor), Language Learning & Technology (the leading journal in this field), and Language Documentation and Conservation. Finally, NFLRC sponsors, hosts, or co-sponsors many workshops, symposia and conferences, including the 2nd Int\’l Conference on Task-Based Language Teaching in September 2007 and the Second Language Research Forum (SLRF) 2008, both of which were organized by SLS MA and PhD graduate students. For more information about NFLRC activities, visit our website at www.nflrc.hawaii.edu.

Foreign Language Program Evaluation Project

From 2005-2008, John Norris was principal investigator for a national-level project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, the Foreign Language Program Evaluation Project. The purpose of the project was to identify and understand the kinds of evaluation demands and needs that face college foreign language educators in the U.S., to develop resources and strategies for meeting those demands, and to disseminate and investigate evaluation capacity building efforts. This project is now being continued under the auspices of the NFLRC. To find out more, access resources, etc., visit the FLPEP web site at:

http://www.nflrc.hawaii.edu/evaluation

Professional Development for Teaching English as a Second Language

Primary Investigators: Dr. Eva Ponte and Dr. Christina Higgins

The purpose of this collaborative project between the College of Education and the Second Language Studies department is to provide training and support to K-6 in-service teachers in the area of English as a Second Language (ESL). Our objectives are 1) to provide fundamental disciplinary knowledge to teachers about second language development and multicultural education; 2) to train teachers about valid and effective teaching practices for English language learners; and 3) to certify targeted K-6 teachers to teach ESL students as per federal and state requirements. To that end, the project provides services to approximately 20 teachers, who in turn serve an estimated student population of 400 learners, and trains them to become lead ESL teachers in their respective schools upon completing their participation in the project.

Participating teachers will take part in two university outreach courses approved towards federal mandate for ESL accreditation (Second Language Studies 302 & Education-Curriculum studies 440). They will also benefit from in-class support from graduate students who will assist them in translating theory into practice.

This project is funded by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title II.A—State Agency for Higher Education (SAHE) funds. It is active from September 1, 2008 until August 31, 2009.

Sang-Ki Lee, PhD candidate: Two doctoral dissertation grants!

SLS student Sang-Ki Lee was recipient of two grants this year that supported his doctoral dissertation research. He was awarded a highly competitive Language Learning doctoral dissertation grant http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/langlearn/ and one of very few and highly coveted Doctoral Dissertation Grants annually awarded by the International Research Foundation for English Language Education (TIRF) http://www.tirfonline.org/ddgrecipients.html. The TIRF grant went to SLS-UH alumnus Steven Talmy, currently assistant professor at the University of British Columbia, the first year when the award was created (in 2002). Please congratulate Sang-Ki when you see him!

 

ELI/HELP NEWS

At the ELI, Director Kenton Harsch oversaw and helped in the push forward on the establishment of student learning outcomes (SLOs; now required by WASC for all courses), and also continued research on plagiarism and patchwriting, which he hopes to bring into the ELI\’s curriculum and policy in the near future. Since returning from maternity leave in Fall \’06, Priscilla Faucette has worked on in-house materials development (in which Exec. Dir. Graham Crookes had a hand as well), and supervised ELI GAs on a number of projects. Harsch and Faucette have also been analyzing the workload for their positions and the ELI as a program, to gain a better understanding what is and isn\’t essential to effectively run the program so they can streamline, eliminate, and reallocate the workload. They hope to present on this topic at TESOL \’09. They also began applying workload analysis to the ELI Clerk-Typist position, when Marsha Kato moved on to a secretarial position elsewhere on campus (we were lucky to have Marsha\’s assistance in the ELI for over 10 years). The ELI is delighted to welcome Teri Kim as the new Clerk-Typist.

At HELP, the content-based curriculum described in the last SLS letter was well-established by the summer of \’07. In December 2007, we were sorry to bid farewell to Director Steve Jacques, who is now not far away at Leeward Community College. After a brief interregnum supervised by Acting Director Crookes, we were relieved in May 2008 to take on board Joel Weaver as the new Director. Joel comes to us from many years at the local private language school Intercultural Communications College, and has many strengths (besides our own MA(ESL), particularly in recruitment. Joel looks forward to carrying on the challenging task of keeping the HELP curriculum and classes growing in quality while expanding services and bringing in a more diverse clientele to study at this preeminent ESL entry point to the university.

ALUMNI NEWS

Damrong Attaprechakul (MA, 1976)

I wonder about the cooperation between the TU [Thammasat University, Bangkok] Linguistics doctoral degree program and the SLS department. I heard about the academic tie/negotiation from a colleague some time ago but nothing much at all.

I enjoy reading articles from the Reading in a Foreign Language Journal. It\’s a great journal!

Meed Barnett (MA, 1973 as Gretchen Wetterau):

My current name is Meed Barnett. It used to be Gretchen Wetterau. I graduated in 1973. I have gone back to my roots as a full time artist, but remain interested in what is going on in SLS/ESL. (I did teach for about 20 years.) If you would like a glimpse of my work, Google Meed Barnett.

Bill Beers (MA, 1984)

Do I know you [Barbara]? I think you worked at Kobe Steel before I joined in December, 1984. I met you once; you were teaching at a woman\’s university in Nishinomiya, I think it was, and you were enjoying your classes very much. I was envious because I was not enjoying my job at Kobe Steel at that time, and was very envious of your position. Was that you? Am I thinking of the same person [YES!]?

Anyway, things got much better for me at Kobe Steel once a few very cantankerous gaijins quit, and I began enjoying my job much more. I am still here, but I \”retired\” from Kobe Steel last year, and now work for their associated company, which used to be their training department, which has the ludicrous name of \”Shinko Human Create\”. I\’m doing the same thing as I was before, but at a reduced salary (since I \”retired\”).

But the company has been quite fair to me the whole time, over 22 years now. I teach ten small classes of one to four students each twice a week, in Kobe on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and in Osaka on Wednesdays and Fridays. The students are always highly motivated (if they\’re not, they don\’t come to class). Monday is my free day to study Japanese and to do other things, like write this letter to you. I get 20 paid holidays a year, in addition to the nearly three weeks the company shuts down for New Year\’s, Golden Week, and Obon. These conditions have been the same both before and after my \”retirement\” except that before \”retirement\”, I also got \”home leave\”, which means an extra week off with pay and an airline ticket to one\’s home country.

Cathy Harrison Boatwright (MA, 1999)

Cathy has been teaching ESL and serving as the Asst. Director for K-12 ESL teacher training at NC State in Raleigh until last year [2006] when she took a more demanding position at home with her Irish triplets: Spencer and Harrison (age 2) and Erica (11 months).

Lea del Castillo (MA, 1991)

My name is Lea del Castillo (MA 1991), and I’m sending you my email: . You may include me (and my email address) in your next SLS Letter. And if anyone might be interested, I’m currently back in the elementary classroom (and miraculously, still considered employable at 70 years of age!), teaching K-5 ELL at Haha`ione Elementary. And this year I have the greatest variety of languages ever, from the usual (for Hawaii Kai) Korean and Japanese, to Norwegian, Dutch, German, Estonian, Thai, French, Spanish, Taiwanese, Mandarin, Portuguese, and Samoan. We’re learning songs in all of these languages, and having a blast!

Michael Clark (MA, 1984)

Divide my time between:

– teaching part-time at U. C. Berkeley (College Writing Dept. and ITA program).

– writing guidebooks for Lonely Planet pubs. (recent titles: Hawaii (Oahu chapter); Greece, Japan (pub. date: fall 2007)

– My wife Janet, and kids Melina (age 14), Alex (age 12) are looking forward to our next holiday in Hawaii. Kids and I recently became citizens of Greece, a story to be told over retsina while visiting Honolulu.

Rochelle delaCruz (MA, 1982)

Rochelle has been teaching ESL since 1982 at Seattle Central Community College in a program that offers classes from literacy to college-prep. She also developed and implemented interdisciplinary learning communities for native and non-native English-speaking students and teaches linguistics for ESL teacher preparation. In addition to teaching, she edits and publishes Northwest Hawai`i Times, a free newspaper for the transplant Hawai`i community in the Pacific Northwest; writes stories for Honolulu Theatre for Youth\’s Christmas Talk Story; and for nearly eight years was a cross-cultural commentator on public radio stations in Hawai`i and Washington. Rochelle and her husband Roy return often to Hilo and are planning to eventually move back to Hawai`i. They have three children and two grandchildren.

Moira (Prendergast) Delumpa (MA, 1990)

I have fond memories of my years in the ESL department (87-89), It sure is refreshing to see that some things never change, like my favorite professor, Dr. Day!

I had my first son, Brian, while finishing up my MA in the summer of \’89. He will be graduating from High School in June [2007] and heading off to the Art Institute in San Diego. My husband, Brendan (web developer) and I now have eight children ages 17-2. We have 4 boys and 4 girls. As you can imagine, my full time status managing the family doesn\’t leave a lot of room for teaching, but I\’ve managed to teach in the California Junior College System, Public High School System and I\’m currently a long term sub in Adult and Community Education. It gives me the flexibility that I need.

I wish I had more exciting news for you, but for now, this is it. I do hope to start transitioning back into the classroom over the next couple of years.

Moira’s amazing family: Brian 8/89, Liam 3/94, Bennie 6/95, Mairead 6/96, Deirdre 2/99, Triona 10/00, Mary Aoife 9/02 and Owen 7/05—all birth children, although Moira was adopted in 1964! Photo taken at Hawaiian-themed wedding in San Diego.

Michael Depoe (MA, 1990)

Hawaii TESOL 2007 Annual Conference welcomed the 2006 ESLL Teacher of the Year, Mr. Michael Depoe, from Kauai High School. Mr. Depoe presented, \”Bridging the Cultural Gap: Creating Culturally Sensitive Classrooms.\” This presentation discussed the effects of culture and family on learning. The adjustment to school in a new culture can be extremely challenging for ELL students and their parents. This presentation will explore how teachers can create culturally sensitive classrooms. When teachers understand and respect cultural differences, learning can improve.

Jay Ercanbrack (MA, 1992)

Aloha! Jay Ercanbrack here. I was a student in the MA-ESL program from 1989-1992… After graduating I moved to Japan and have been teaching here ever since. I am now working at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa. One of my colleagues is another UH-ESL graduate from the same era, Mitsyo Toya. We often talk about the \’good old days\’ at UH.

Pianta (MA, 1993) and Bobbie Felix (MA, 1987)

It was nice seeing [Bob Gibson] in April [2007] after all these years. Pianta is here with me right now, and she really enjoyed seeing a copy of the picture you have of her and the HELP group on your door. We just thought we\’d write you and say hi and to tell you how happy we are to be alumnae of such a great program. (She\’s having a hard time finding teachers who are as well prepared as we were!!)

To update you, Pianta is the chair of the ESL department (which unfortunately, is subsumed under the English dept) for San Diego Mesa College. There are about 700 ESL students, 400 of whom are actually UCSD students who still require ESL instruction. Most of these students are residents or native-born bilingual students. I\’m an adjunct teaching at three different schools. I\’m piloting a hybrid reading/vocab class this semester, learning as I go along. I was also co-site chair of the state CATESOL conference this year, which was time consuming but rewarding.

Pianta and other college chairs are always looking for well-qualified teachers (for part-time positions). Please let your graduates know that San Diego schools are always looking for them.

We both hope to go back to UH some day to roam around the 5th floor of Moore Hall. We think fondly of our days at UH, HELP, and not-so NICE.

Mike Foley (MA 1971)

I worked in SLS for several years before earning an MATESL degree, and about  five years after . . . Then I switched into mass communications and haven\’t really done anything in the discipline since. We live in Laie, HI. When we retire in a couple more years, however, my wife and I are thinking about doing some volunteer SLS work in China.

Lyn Froning (MA, 1972)

Taught ESL at the Secondary Level in several public school systems (Massachusetts and Alabama) from 1975 to 1999.

Directed a federally-funded ESL Certification Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham from 1999 to 2005.

Retired in June, 2005.

Yusuke Fujisawa (MA, 2005)

I am currently working as an English teacher at a junior-senior high school in Kochi, Japan. This year I am mainly teaching 7th and 8th graders. I come back to Hawaii sometimes because my school has an exchange program with a church in Honolulu. Though I miss the researcher side of myself, I am enjoying teaching now.

Ann Gleason (MA, 1982)

I am a 1982 graduate of the (then) ESL Masters program. I was a classmate of Graham Crookes\’. I have been teaching at the UH Hilo English Language Institute since its inception in 2000. Before that, I taught in Hawaii Community College\’s Intensive English Program. I could go back farther than that, but I\’ll stop there. I am on leave this semester [Fall 2007] to take care of my husband, who is sick with cancer.

Lynn Glick (Potter) (MA, 1985)

I graduated from UH way back when the department was still known as the ESL department. Craig had just started teaching there and he was my faculty advisor for my master\’s program. I was very sad to learn of his passing.

I would like to give just a brief update on myself. I have spent the last 19 years working for the Oakland Unified School District in CA. I currently am a \”Reading Coach\”. I teach/coach teachers in how to teach reading. I work with kindergarten through 5th grade teachers. My school is a small school in Oakland, with a high percentage of English Language Learners. We also have a high percentage of at high risk students. We struggle with achievement and are currently in year 5 of \”Program Improvement\”. Our students are learning to read in English.

Personally, I was married in 1992 and have a daughter (6) just finishing kindergarten. Please include my email address in the next newsletter .

Tom Grigg (MA, 86)

Marsha and I have lived in Portugal since 86 and seem to be taking root. Have a look at the results of a European Cooperation project I have been working on through the University of Lisbon: http://www.worldenough.net/picture/English/index.EN.html>.

Best to everyone!

Judy Guffey (MA, 1990)

Treasurer (by default now) of the UHAADESL chapter. Can\’t change the name without changing the by-laws. The president is in Japan. The secretary mails me the alumni checks as they are received and I deposit them into the UHAADESL account at First Hawaiian Bank. I tried to \’stop being the treasurer\’ and found to change the signatories on the account the by-laws needed to be changed. Auwe. You may know this is NOT an active chapter by any stretch of the imagination.

B. A. in Social Ecology from U. C. Irvine in 1976.

Lived in South Africa from 1981 to 1985.

In Hawaii for grad school. Degree granted 1990.

Taught for the Employment Training Center (non-credit community college section which was subsumed by Windward Community College in the late 90s)….I taught \’basic skills\’ to adult students who were primarily immigrants with low reading levels in English.

I retired from UH in July 2002. Have taught part-time for Waipahu Community School for Adults on an as-needed basis. The rest of the time I volunteer at the Ronald McDonald Family Room in Kapiolani Women\’s and Children\’s Hospital. I also volunteer with one student for Hawaii Literacy.

I travel as often as possible….will make my 6th trip to Vietnam in August. Other trips on schedule this year….inter-island cruise in May….French Polynesia in October….Mexico for Christmas….back to Fiji in February 2008…so I stay busy…and I\’m a voracious reader!

Please share my email address with the SLS ohana. Maybe someone else would like to be treasurer of the alumni chapter for a while.

Marybeth Hageman (MA, 1993)

I have been teaching the last 5 + years for the Charles County Public Schools in Maryland as an itinerant ESOL teacher. I have pull-out classes for elementary and middle school students from three schools and a regular credited high school class every day.

Kazuaki Hojo (MA, 1966)

Born: Dec. 2, 1935

Studied at UH Manoa from 1962 to 1963 under Teacher Interchange Program of the East West Center and also from 1965 to 1966 for MA in ESL, which was formerly called MATESL.

Chosen as one of the \”Ninety Illustrious Alumni\” on the occasion of the 90th anniversary commemoration year for the U of H in 1997.

At present: Professor emeritus of Kyoto Sangyo University, Japan.

Jonathan Hull (MA, 1986)

I have been working at this university (King Mongkut\’s University of Technology Thonburi) for the past five years, teaching mainly on the MA in Applied Linguistics and am currently conducting research in rural Thailand. We\’re starting a PhD program in November [2007].

Warm aloha to you [Barbara Cooney] and the rest of the department, too!

Thomas (Tom) A. Huff (MA, 1998)

Graduated in 1998 (at age 70).

Taught ESL at HPU part time 1885-2003.

Currently a volunteer tutor with ESL students at Washington Middle School.

Mark James (PhD, 1996)

I\’m still teaching in the Department of English Language Teaching and Learning at BYU-Hawaii. Spring [2007] was a busy one. Over the past several months I have presented at professional conferences in Seattle, Singapore, China and Tonga.

Douglas L Johnson (MA, 1984)

After putting my ESL degree to good use in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, I returned to state-side secondary public education; retired in 1992 and entered the world of banking as a technology analyst. I will retire, again and for the last time, from Washington Mutual Bank in July, 2007.

Karen Jones (MA, 1987)

Since graduating in 1987, I followed my husband, Mark, a Navy officer, to Puerto Rico. Then we moved to Alexandria, Virginia, where Mark began a career as a civil servant. We have been in Virginia ever since. Our son, Austin, who was born in Hawaii just before I graduated, is now 21 and in Iraq with the Army as a radar repair technician. Our daughter, Valerie, is 19 and is attending Judson College.

I taught English and ESL at the elementary, middle school, and college levels until 1993 when I was hired to be the Employee Development Supervisor for Pentagon Federal Credit Union. I held that position until 1996 when I became a stay-at-home mom and home-schooled my children. I have also been a contractor, accepting curriculum development and eLearning development projects for multiple agencies and companies. As of October 2008, I am working the Office of Training and Development for Customs and Border Protection.

In July 2006, I began work on my doctorate (EdD) in Christian Education Leadership at Regent University. It is a 95% online program, so it has been a challenge to keep myself paced and on task. I took my comps on December 6th but have not heard the results yet.

Mark\’s father finally moved from Hawaii to Florida, but his mother still lives in Foster Village, so we may get back out there someday!

Hae Young Kim (PhD, 2000)

I am teaching at Duke University and was published in Language Learning (2007, vol 57, issue 4): \”On Crosslinguistic Variations in Imperfective Aspect: The Case of L2 Korean\”.

Jean Kim (2001):

I graduated from the SLS department in December 2001 and then started my Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia in 2003. My research was on the language socialization of Generation 1.5 Korean-Canadian university students. My next step is to start teaching at a university in Korea from the new academic year in March.

Ron Lapp (MA, 1983)

I continue to teach both English composition and ESL to freshmen in the Department of English and ESL at Los Angeles City College, LA. (Assistant Professor, tenured.)

Candis Lee (MA, 1989)

Back in 2002, I received my Ed.D. from the University of So. California (USC), and I am presently an Assistant Professor of English (ESL) at Hawaii Pacific University.

Patricia Love (MA, 1981)

Kia ora, My name is Patricia Love (commonly known as Pat). I attended classes at the University of Hawaii (Manoa) in 1979/80 and completed my masters thesis in ESL (from home in NZ) several years later. I have called in several times over the years to chat or lunch with Richard Day, who was Chair of the Dept during my time of study there. I retired three years ago from my position as Director of the Massey University Engish Language Centre, originally based in Palmerston North New Zealand. By the time I completed my time there the Centre had grown and had teams working at the Auckland and Wellington campuses as well as in the original location. I loved my time there, but am also loving my retirement. I spent one year, 2004/2005, teaching in Nagoya, Japan and am now doing part-time marking and teaching, on-line and face to face, in the College of Education, Massey University. When I am not involved in teaching I spend my time at the movies, (LOVED \”Snow-cake\” recently), reading (have you read \”Mister Pip\” by the NZ writer, Lloyd Jones?) and spending time with one or more of my 16 grandchildren. They range in age from 30 years to 18 months. Oh, there is one 5-year-old great-grandson too. They are all beautiful and highly talented… (OF COURSE!) and a variety of sizes, shapes and colours. I had a wonderful time studying at UH and would love to hear from anyone who remembers me. My email address is: Best wishes, Pat.

Treela McKamey (MA, 2005)

I\’m living in Venezuela teaching as an English Language Fellow and will do some workshops in Costa Rica in Jan 2008.

Mark Messer (MA, 2004)

I\’m teaching ESL in an international student program at a high school in Maine.

Susan Middlesworth (MA, 1975)

I taught at the University of Kuwait from 1975 to 1980 with a number of other UH graduates. I moved to Canada with my husband and after 9 years at home with children, have been teaching English to adult immigrants in Ottawa, Ontario since 1989. I think Canada is much more supportive of the immigrants and language training for them. This has been good for me as a teacher!

For some reason, I always get mail from SLS in my husband\’s name, Kassem, but I do not go by that. I still use Middlesworth.

Ingrid Moa (MA, 1981)

I am an SLS graduate and would like to be in touch with my old friends from 1981 (MA) at UH Manoa…My name is Ingrid MOA, currently living and teaching SLS at Highline Community College just south of SEATAC where I am enjoying my immigrants from Korea, Vietnam, Chile, Nicaragua, Mexico, Colombia, Mongolia, Ukraine, Russia, Taiwan etc. I miss Hawaii of the 60\’s and old friends…since 81 I have lived and taught in San Francisco, Kuwait (6 years), Bahrain (8 years), and was a center director for 7 years in Seattle and have very happily left admin to be back in the classroom. I was in Spain last year and will be in Europe for a month this summer [2007] and then back to Seattle which has so many kama\’ainas and local restaurants that a bit of Hawaii and the Hawaiians who have left Hawaii are here with me. I was 100% shocked when I went to Kona for a funeral last year and all the locals were gone from all the stores…I asked a waitress what happened??? Where are all the locals?? She said they left! For where? Las Vegas…cause they were priced out of the market…just like me! It is a big shame…What happened? When I came back to Hawaii (my home) to look for work, I was told that all my 20 years overseas experience didn\’t count at Manoa from where I got my BA and MA. It didn\’t count because my experience \”wasn\’t in the system\”. While I was getting my MA, we were told to leave the islands and get international experience…only to find out 20 years later that all of that international experience was worth zero financially at Manoa and that I would have to start from the beginning as if I were 20. Needless to say, I am not happy with Manoa and urge any SLS organization in Hawaii to address this issue before sending graduates off on some idealistic teaching mission. ALOHA.

Cheryl Fong Mohr (MA, 1983)

It has been 23 years since I left Hawaii for the 2nd time. I left in June 1983, receiving my MA in absentia while I began using my MA to teach English in Northeast China. I stopped off in Hawaii in 1984 en route to California, where I married one of my teammates. During our stopover we were warmly feted by Makiki Church; even though I miss people there, we haven\’t been able to afford going back. We lived in China for 5 more years, then settled down in Orange County in 1990. Our daughter is a Harbinite. Our two sons were born in tiny La Habra. I\’ve taught Adult Ed ESL off-and-on since then, interspersed with various public school and private school jobs in English and math. After taking early retirement from full-time public school teaching a year ago, I\’m working more hours than ever. Of the 4 part-time jobs I currently have, my night school ESL one is by far the most fulfilling and energizing.

The last time I wrote to the DESL (now the DSLS), only one person responded: Dr. Pam Anderson, whom most of us simply called \”Pam,\” mostly because she was younger than we were! As far as I know, she\’s still happily married and teaching in Edinburg, Texas. She even went to China recently to teach; her high school-aged daughter tagged along. She never wrote back after her initial report. Are you there or back home, Pam?

I\’d love to hear from my old classmates & professors. You guys probably thought I\’d never finish, since I was the last one, taking 3 years while everyone else finished in 1 or 2 years. Bev & Irene? Siok Hua? George from Malaysia? C.A. Eddington? Ron (who beat me by half a year?)? Bill ___ (you taught in Indonesia and married a native woman, I heard; you called my crowded car the \”ESLmobile\”! – – things haven\’t changed much)? Dr. Plaister (I read that he retired to Calif. later)? Miho & Danny? Dr. Ken ____ (you were so kind to me when I broke down in tears when I didn\’t pass my thesis defense the first time!)? ______ (the older gentleman and missionary in South America, my \”fils basque\” during a culture presentation I did on a French holiday)? Mary Beth? And many others who\’ve undoubtedly gone on and done amazing things. (I noticed the other day that Roni Lebauer is still publishing.) And even others who weren\’t in the program during my day, like Joanne Lin__? (sorry I lost touch after you married that pastor!).

Moreover, there\’s always a bed or sofa available to anyone who wants to stop by. We\’re not far from Surf City, Disneyland, Knott\’s, and many equally famous and infamous places and people. Give me a call or \”e\” me some time [contact Barbara for number/address]!

May God\’s mercy and grace abound in your lives!

Katrina Oliphant (MA, 1997)

I have moved to Brussels with my husband Giovanni and kids Adrian, Leila, and Maya. Giovanni will be working for NATO HQ for the next three years.

Keiichi Orikasa (MA, 1988)

I am currently employed at Keio Senior High School.

John Pak (MA, 1987):

I\’ve been teaching English at Toyo Eiwa University in Japan for a long time. Just this year I had a textbook called \”Let\’s Chat!\” published by EFL Press. I spoke at the JALT (Japan Association of Language Teachers) conference in Tokyo in November 07 to promote this book.

Ron Parrish (MA, 1979)

I have been taking care of my mother for 24 years since coming back from Hawaii in 1983; she passed away on May 6 at the age of 97. So now what? I am teaching part-time at George Fox University in my hometown of Newberg, OR and teaching ESL in the English Language Institute.

Michael Power (MA, 1980)

I am now Assistant Superintendent for Program and Learning Support for the Tacoma (Washington) Public Schools.

Evy Ridwan (MA, 1988)

I do not mind sharing my email address with sls ohana, especially classes of l988 and l989.

I went to 5th floor moore hall last nov [2006]. Too bad I could find esl office [!].

William J. (Bill ) Riopel (MA, 1984)

Reside in Bangkok, Thailand. Bye the bye, whatever happened to Dr. Mike Long?

Melissa R Sarner (BA, Fall 2007)

I am living in Mishima City, Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan.

I am really interested in going for my MA when I return in a year or two. Everyday actually working in the field makes my interest grow, so I do want to stay involved in the department in anyway I can. Let me know if there is anything.

George Sawa (MA, 1985)

George has been teaching EFL in Aichi Prefecture, Japan for the past eighteen years. He taught English majors for the first thirteen years at a now-closed women\’s junior college (which fell victim to Japan\’s falling birthrate and other factors) and currently teaches non-majors at the successor four-year university of business management and rehabilitation therapy.

“I don\’t know which was harder to adjust to: teaching non-majors or teaching male students, or both! I would love to hear from my classmates and also from other alumni who are in Japan. Please give my regards to Dr Day and Dr Schmidt. I think those two are probably the only ones left in Moore Hall who would perhaps still remember me.”

Kathy Shimabukuro (MA, 1981)

My name is Kathy Shimabukuro, and I received an MA from the ESL department in 1981. My name at that time was Kathy (Kathryn) Partridge. The only people I still know in the department are Richard Day and Dick Schmidt!

Thank you for developing an online newsletter–what a great idea!

Martin Paul Soetrisno (MA, 1968)

Allow me to introduce myself. I am Martin Paul Soetrisno. I graduated from this Department in 1968 with an MA degree in TESL. Since then I have been teaching English as a Second Language at a Catholic University in Surabaya. My career has included teaching position as Assistant Professor in Linguistics, administrative positions as Assistant Rector and Rector of the University. As of January 2008 I will retire officially, but still asked to continue teaching for several years more.

In Surabaya we have a organization of the University of Hawaii TESL alumni. I wish I still could hear about Prof Ted Plaister, George Kanahele, Charles Schultz, Bernadine Nardin, Yao Shen, and the rest of you. Some of them might have passed away already, but they still live vividly in my memory. My campus life at the University of Hawaii was a real experience.

Allow me, herewith, extend \”MERRY CHRISTMAS\” to all of you at the Department.

Masahiro Takahashi (MA, 1969)

I earned MA degree in economics at the University of Hawaii in 1973.

Joan Kathryn Martin Teaiwa (MA, 1967)

I have lived in Fiji since 1969, since my husband is from here. We are both UHM alum and EWC alum and receive Malamala and EWC correspondence. I retired in 1996, and most of my professional work was in the area of University of the South Pacific distance education, editing print course materials for Pacific Island students for whom English was a second or third language. I taught English briefly in high school, too, and later gave English conversation practice to adult Chinese students. As far as I know, I was the first American student to earn a MATESL from UHM in 1967, as all of my classmates were from Asian countries and were experienced teachers. I was fresh out of college and intended to return to Washington, DC to teach English in an enlightened way to inner-city students. How life changed! I hardly ever visit Hawai\’i or DC, but will in fact be on campus briefly in the middle of this month [May 2007]. I might stop by the department for old times sake. By the way, after graduating 40 years ago, I taught in the ELI briefly and then worked with a group of recently arrived young and older immigrant students in ESL programs at Washington Intermediate School and at McKinley High School. My only contact with the field now is receiving the TESL Reporter from Brigham Young from time to time.

Claire Toynbee (MA, 1981)

I was a student at the Manoa campus from 1979 to 1981, and graduated from the M.A. program in (Teaching) English as a Second Language. These days I do some free tutoring for ESL students, but I\’ve worked in computer support at Vancouver Community College for almost 20 years, and I presently look after user accounts there while based at the Downtown campus. At VCC, SLS means Sign Language Studies: http://vcc.ca/dept/dept-signlanguage.cfm.

Back in the 1970s, I was an EFL teacher in Tokyo, mainly at the Kanda Institute of Foreign Languages (Kanda Gaigo Gakuin). I went there because of my husband, Maynard Hogg\’s interest in Japanese language and culture; we were recruited from UBC. When we got divorced in Tokyo a couple of years before I left for Hawaii, Maynard had already started his transition from EFL instructor to Japanese-English technical translator, and he has now lived there for 35 years.

These days I divide my time between Vancouver, where I work, and Vancouver Island, where most of my family lives, so I regularly ride the ferry between the Lower Mainland and the Island.

I have an interest in family history, and I administer the Toynbee surname project at FamilyTreeDNA.com … For my mother\’s side of the family, I also volunteer for the Clan Sinclair Association of Canada, , and I\’m pleased to report that my niece Althea, now 16, is a fine young Highland dancer who wears the Sinclair tartan. The Vancouver area is fortunate to have a Centre for Scottish Studies at Simon Fraser University here, , and SFU also has an award-winning pipe band .

Dec 2008 update: I\’ve now left VCC, and I\’m taking a break. I plan to move to Parksville, which is north of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. Parksville is served by the Nanaimo bus system, and I was interested to find that the Nanaimo bus schedule has its General Information section in English, First Nations (Hul\’q\’umi\’num\’), French, Japanese, Chinese and Korean. I\’m not sure that their information line can provide the same range, though.

Yun Xiao (MA, 1990)

I am happily reporting that I have had a very successful job search. I have chosen Bryant, RI. Here is the position: Tenure-track associate professor and chair of the Modern Languages

Department, to start on 8/1/07. Tenure review will be in fall 2008. The university is pretty, oceanside, 15 minutes from Providence, and 1 hour from Boston. I believe that this will be the last station of my life/career journey (I have been wandering and struggling around for two decades). I am planning to buy a place there. You [Dick Schmidt] are more than welcome to visit me once I am settled. My heart-felt thanks for your faithful support.

Virginia Yelei Wake (MA, mid-1990’s)

I started working as a postdoc fellow at the Census Bureau at the end of May and the fellowship will be for two years. As there is more and more awareness of the linguistic and cultural diversities in the country, the Census Bureau needs more people with expertise in languages and sociolinguistics. So, here I am working on analyzing the multilingual survey interviews and picking up the topic of Chinese pragmatics again :-). I haven\’t done anything in SLA but I have a feeling that eventually we\’ll touch that area as well.

Yian Wu (MA, 1984)

Time flies and it is already around 25 years since we studied in the same programme. I certainly remember you [Graham Crookes], esp. your approachability and readiness to help, which meant a lot at that time. I read your publications now and then, knowing that you have been doing very well academically. Briefly, I had an opportunity to pursue a PhD in applied linguistics at Cambridge University, UK between 1992 and 1997 and as soon as I was awarded the degree, I came back to BFSU [Beijing Foreign Studies University], where I had studied and taught and still teach.

I miss Hawaii a lot, more so as I am getting on in years. I would be more than pleased if I could contribute to a connection between our two institutions.

Please give my best regards to Dick Day, Dick Schmidt and all other members of the faculty.

 

CONFERENCES

TBLT Fall 2007 at Imin Centre UHM: Emily Lee volunteering at sign-in desk (Photo Dana Kwong)

2007 Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT)

From John Norris

In September 2007, the 2nd International Conference on Task-Based Language Teaching was hosted by SLS and the NFLRC, with John Norris acting in the role of conference chair and some 260 participants attending. To find out more about the conference, see online proceedings for most of the presentations, and link to related conferences, check out the TBLT 2007 web site at:

http://www.hawaii.edu/tblt2007/index.html

 

2008 Second Language Research Forum (SLRF)

From Matthew Prior

Congratulations to SLS students and faculty for hosting the 2008 Second Language Research Forum (SLRF) on October 17-19. Previously held at UH in 1988 and 1998, this was our third time to be successfully selected to host this international graduate student-run conference. Many of SLRF 2008’s 400-plus attendees said it was one of the best and most well-organized conferences they have attended.

Conference highlights included stimulating plenaries by Dick Schmidt, Alan Firth, Carmen Munoz, and Harald Clahsen; a colloquia organized by our own Christina Higgins entitled, \”Language learning in and out of the classroom: Connecting contexts of language use with learning and teaching practices\”; a colloquia on \”Combining Conversation Analysis and SLA: Avenues for research\” with Gabi Kasper as one of the presenters; a publisher\’s session with Richard Day and other experienced editors; A CA of L2 Talk Workshop organized by Makoto Omori; and many outstanding paper and poster presentations representing a wide range of second language research.

A big mahalo to the 60 student volunteers for their amazing work, and congratulations to the executive organizing committee for a job well done: Dennis Koyama, Sang-Ki Lee, Matthew Prior, Priti Sandhu, Yukiko Watanabe, Zhijun Wen, & Jim Yoshioka. The executive committee wishes to give special thanks to the faculty advisors (Robert Bley-Vroman, Gabi Kasper, John Norris, & Lourdes Ortega), LLL Dean Joseph O\’Mealy, SLS Chair Richard Day, Deborah Masterson, and John Kawahara for all their support and guidance.

Kind sponsorship and support was provided by the College of Languages, Linguistics, & Literature (LLL), the Language Learning Center, the National Foreign Language Resource Center (NFLRC), Ruth Crymes Scholarship Fund, Student Activity and Program Fee Board, Student Equity, Excellence and Diversity (SEED), Second Language Studies Student Association (SLSSA), and the University of Hawai‘i Endowment for the Humanities.

We hope SLS students will be ready in ten years to continue the tradition by bringing SLRF 2018 back to the island!

SLRF Plenarists (left to right): Harald Clahsen, Carmen Munoz, Richard Schmidt, Alan Firth (photo Yukiko Watanabe)

 

FACULTY AND STAFF NEWS

JD Brown

In addition to his normal teaching, advising, research, and committee work, from 2007 to 2008, JD served on four editorial boards (JALT Journal, Language Testing, and Language Learning and Technology, and RELC Journal) and was the Editor of Second Language Studies. He also received two Fulbright Hays Academic Specialist Grants from the US State Department to go to UAE and Oman, and to Russia. In addition, he taught during summers in Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka at the Japan campuses of Temple University and at Teachers College, Columbia University in Tokyo. JD also did six plenaries at: TESOL Arabia 2007 in Dubai, UAE; the TUJ/Fukuoka JALT 2nd Annual Colloquium in Fukuoka, Japan; two Far Eastern ELT Association Institutes in Vladivostok and Khabarovsk in the Russian Federation; and the 10th Annual Academic Forum on English Language Testing in Asia (AFELTA) in Tokyo; the 30th Annual Language Testing Research Colloquium, Hangzhou, China. He also did a number of other lectures and workshops in Honolulu; Dubai, UAE; Buraimi, Rustaq, and Muscat, Oman; Tokyo and Sapporo, Japan; Vladivostok and Khabarovsk in the Russian Federation; Lima, Peru; and Concepcion, Chile. In addition, he was interviewed for articles in the English Language Teaching Contact Scheme – Africa and the Middle East List on the Internet, the Japan Times Shukan ST, in Tokyo, and the Zolotoy Rog newspaper in Vladivostok. In June, he received the Messick award sponsored by the LTRC, ILTA, and ETS. More importantly, he put in many, many enjoyable miles on his ice skates and rollerblades.

Barbara Leigh Cooney

Barbara was very happy to get away from the computer screen (as Assistant to the Chairs) and back into the classroom, teaching SLS 303 in Spring 2008. Our undergraduate students are very keen to learn about language teaching! Her conference presentations included a panel discussion with two stellar PhD students, Matthew Prior and Priti Sandu, on “A Sampling of Approaches to L2 Narratives” at the 2007 HITESOL conference and a paper titled “Interpreting History Via Narrative Inquiry: ESL Student-Researchers in Japan & Hawai‘i” at Peace and Justice Studies Association’s annual conference at Portland State University in September 2008. She was disappointed to learn that UH administration considers her participation at professional conferences inappropriate (!) and refused to fund her presentation at FEELTA (Far Eastern English Language Teacher’s Association) in Vladivostok, Russia, June 2008. Let’s hope our own MAs fare better as they are encouraged to present at conferences!

Barbara’s family life is rich and rewarding with her two daughters presenting endless challenges as teenagers. Her elder daughter, Xiu Xiu, has strong interest in her Chinese heritage and identity and continues to persevere with her studies in Chinese language at Kalani High School. Barbara is encouraging Kaimuki Middle School to begin offering languages, preferably Chinese, for her younger daughter, Ju Ju. With current budget cuts… she\’ll need much good luck!

Graham Crookes

During the period since the last SLS Letter, my main academic efforts have been devoted to seeing my book on philosophies of teaching through a more intensive reviewing and editing process than I have previously encountered. Cambridge University Press has changed the title twice: it is now Values, philosophies, and beliefs in TESOL: Making a professional statement. Besides earlier manuscript reviews, It has also gone through one round of editing and two rounds of page proofs. I am told that a third is possible even though it should be on the shelves in time for conferences in March!

I also have been on the Faculty Senate Executive Committee for the last year and a half, meeting every week (!) with senior administrators of UH Manoa. I should say that I didn\’t know what I was in for. There are actually fewer real administrators above the level of the Deans than one might have supposed, and a lot of positions have been interim, temporarily unfilled, and repeatedly filled and vacated. In an era of declining state support for state universities, this is not a good thing. The new UHM Chancellor has also decided to dismantle our immediate administrative location, the College of LLL, which has served DSLS well these past 30 years. It is hard to convey the effect this weekly \”insight\” into the \”workings\” of Manoa has had on me; at least I have been able to keep my colleagues apprised of developments that could severely impact us, and I believe that DSLS is moving to adapt to the policy \”environment\”.

I also have been involved in the transitioning of the Korean Flagship Program (in which DSLS had a hand, following the efforts of Mike Long and Craig Chaudron) to a more appropriate administrative location in the Department of East Asian Languages and Linguistics; and of course, actively involved in the running of ELI and HELP. The loss of HELP Director Jacques and the gaining of a replacement in the form of Joel Weaver occasioned a period of fairly intense activity for me as Interim Director.

With my family I look forward to some extended travel around the occasion of giving a plenary next year at AAAL Denver; meanwhile we take pleasure in the moment and in the sanctuary of Manoa Valley.

Kathryn A. Davis

My academic projects since the last newsletter continue to focus on critical qualitative research and language policy and planning. My publications include a book chapter (in press) on the language education policy implications of agentive youth research, based on a 2007 paper commissioned by the University of California Language Minority Research Institute and the Arizona State Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Dept.. Another publication arose from an invitation to be a discussant (along with Elana Shohamy) for a colloquium on Language Policy Issues in Luxembourg at the 2007 Sociolinguistics Symposium in Amsterdam. Elana & I are contributing commentaries for a Journal of Language Problems and Planning special issue on this topic. My major publication project at the moment is an edited volume on critical qualitative research in second language studies. The volume provides a historical overview of qualitative research in SLS, describes recent critical research trends, and includes chapters that cover a range of qualitative research approaches, topics, and research sites on the Pacific Rim. In 2007, current and former SLS students Hye-sun Cho, Renae Skarin, and Matthew Prior participated in a colloquium I organized on critical and narrative research approaches for AAAL. In 2007 I presented papers at AERA in colloquiums organized by Linda Harklau & Rebecca Callahan (Language Minority Youth) and Elana Shohamy & Terri Wiley (Educational Language Policy). I also gave a presentation on “Language and Gender Revisited” at the 2007 Sociolinguistics Conference in Amsterdam. This past summer I had the fortunate opportunity to conduct field work in Yunnan Province, China on ethnic minority language use and education. I must confess this wasn’t all work and endless flights; I very much enjoyed seeing former and current students, friends, and colleagues along the way. I’m still undecided about where the best food (and wine) in the world can be found. I plan to keep on sampling.

Richard R. Day

I have been very fortunate to be involved with an innovative offering of SLS 690 SLS Teaching Practicum at Ubon Rajathanee University, Ubon, Thailand. In both 2007 and 2008, I taught 690 at UBU with about 10 MA SLS students in June and July. The MA students designed and taught an eight-week intensive EFL course to students in the Faculty of Management Science. We plan to do it again in 2009.

I was awarded a Senior Specialists grant for the period August 18 to September 5, 2008, at the Faculty of Letters, National University of Laos. I worked with the faculty of the Faculty of Letters on their MA TEFL program. I chaired the committee that set up the MA program, and have been working the past two years to ensure that the program is running smoothly.

I have been involved in a research project on EFL reading fluency funded by the University Research Council. The research is being done at Ubon Rajathanee University, Faculty of Political Science.

I have participated in a number of conferences in the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Thailand.

Priscilla Faucette has been extremely busy with her work in the ELI and spending time with her toddler Kaipo who continues to wake up before 6:00 a.m. (now speaking in two-word sentences, the most popular being \’no. mine.\’). Despite such a busy life, she has become more active in her professional development and continues to take classes in conflict resolution (facilitation skills, mediation, etc.). In the near future, she hopes to give presentations/workshops on the benefit of such techniques to her work in language program administration.

Kenton Harsch continues to enjoy his work as Director of the English Language Institute (ELI) and Employment Coordinator for SLS. In 2005, Kenny took Professional Improvement Leave (roughly equivalent to a sabbatical) to learn more about program administration and plagiarism (those are two separate topics, by the way). Since that time, he has co-presented with Kelly McClanahan Kennedy (MA/SLS, 2005) on plagiarism and patchwriting, and hopes to develop and implement pedagogically focused approaches to dealing with plagiarism. In the past few years, Kenny has been focusing on how the ELI needs to evolve (such as the development and assessment of student learning outcomes as a part of informed program administration). Kenny is also working together with ELI Coordinator, Priscilla Faucette, on workload analysis across the ELI (they will be co-facilitating a workshop at TESOL 2009 in Denver on this topic). As Employment Coordinator for SLS, Kenny continues to work with Jim Yoshioka of the NFLRC facilitating the Teacher Portfolio & Preparation Series of job-preparation workshops (TiPPS). And on a personal note, with his daughter now in her junior year in high school, he realizes that he\’s going to need a hobby once she goes off to college!

Christina Higgins has been expanding her teaching repertoire over the past two years to include courses on intercultural communication, localizing TESOL, and discourse analysis. She has been active at conferences, as she has traveled to Jamaica, the Netherlands, Germany, and the mainland USA to give papers on her current research. At SLRF 2008, held at UH-Manoa, she organized an invited colloquium that examined the links between classroom practices and second language use beyond classroom walls. She also organized a colloquium on language and HIV/AIDS at AAAL in 2007. She has a forthcoming monograph with Multilingual Matters on hybridity in language and culture in East Africa, a book which synthesizes the research that she has been doing in Tanzania and Kenya for the past seven years. She is also co-editor of a book on language in public health that examines discourse about HIV/AIDS (Multilingual Matters), and she is editing another book on the development of second language selves as a result of second language learning and use (Mouton). Christina has also been learning more about local language issues in Hawai’i through her role as co-convener of Da Pidgin Coup, a group that has met on campus since 2002 to find ways to advocate for linguistic rights and language awareness. She is beginning a research project with Waianae High School that investigates language awareness through student videoethnography. She is also learning more about local language issues through her involvement as Co-PI on a NCLB grant that provides professional development to 20 elementary school teachers in Honolulu (AY 2008-09).

Thom Hudson has spent the time since Fall 2006 learning the intricacies involved in being the Chair of Graduate Programs in the Department. He also finished his involvement as co-P.I. of the English Language Capacity Building in Vietnam project. His textbook Teaching Second Language Reading was published by Oxford University Press in early 2007. He continued working on the advisory board of the telephonic interpretation enterprise NetworkOmni in their effort to develop a training certification program. Also, an edited text on foreign language placement, Case Studies in Foreign Language Placement with Martyn Clark has just been published through the NFLRC. At present, he is working on the draft of a new textbook on quantitative research methods, which he hopes to complete during his sabbatical in Spring 2009.

Gabriele Kasper attended conferences and gave talks in Europe, East-Asia, and the mainland, among them plenaries at SLRF (UIUC, 2007) and the 10th National Pragmatics Conference, Nanjing (2007). At the 2007 AAAL conference in Costa Mesa, she participated in the Language Learning Round Table, held in celebration of AAAL’s 20th anniversary. Together with Hanh Nguyen, Dina Yoshimi and Jim Yoshioka, she co-chaired the 17th International Pragmatics & Language Learning conference in March 2007. She also organized an invited session at the 18th International Congress of Linguistics in Seoul, July 2008. After five years, Gabi’s tenure as North American editor of Applied Linguistics expired in May 2008. So far the change has not resulted in an appreciable increase of her beach time.

John Norris

I have had a busy several years. 2006 saw the publication of a co-edited (with Lourdes Ortega) volume entitled Synthesizing Research on Language Learning and Teaching, and in 2008 a book based on my dissertation research finally appeared, entitled Validity Evaluation in Language Assessment. In addition to presenting papers (many of them co-authored with Lourdes Ortega) on invited colloquia at eight conferences since 2006, I delivered plenary addresses at the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages annual conference (2006, 2007) and at the Japan Association of Language Teachers Conference (2007). I also brought two major conferences to Hawaii in 2007, serving as chair for the ADFL conference and the Second International Conference on Task-Based Language Teaching, and I was program chair for the first annual conference of the newly founded Hawaii-Pacific Evaluation Association in 2006 as well. More recently, I was very proud to serve as one of the faculty advisors for SLRF 2008 and to witness the successes of the student organizers (exactly 10 years after serving in that role myself for SLRF 1998). In conjunction with my federally funded Foreign Language Program Evaluation Project, I have also kept up an intensive travel schedule since 2006, delivering 10 invited presentations and workshops on evaluation and assessment at diverse mainland institutions (including Notre Dame, Cornell, and Duke, among others). Working closely with Ph.D. student Yukiko Watanabe, I have also managed five case studies on program evaluation in college FL education, and in 2007, we delivered an intensive 2-week NFLRC summer institute on “Developing useful evaluation practices in foreign language programs”. In summer 2008, I was granted tenure and promotion to Associate Professor. I am most proud to also note that in 2008 I was awarded the University of Hawaii Regent’s Medal for Excellence in Teaching, after being nominated by a group of SLS students, a very touching honor indeed.

Dick Schmidt

Dick Schmidt continues as director of the National Foreign Language Resource Center, and because the NFLRC is concerned with improving foreign language teaching in the US, most of Dick\’s travels in recent years has been to US destinations such as Portland, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Phoenix, Nashville, Denver, etc. He\’s looking forward to a trip in a few weeks to the University of South Florida (Tampa), where Kate Wolfe-Quintero (now ELI Director at USF) has invited him to give a talk on the paradigm wars in SLS. His other major talks lately have been on \”US national foreign language policy and SLA\” (plenary at AAAL 2007 in Costa Mesa) and \”The noticing hypothesis 20 years out\” (plenary at SLRF 2008, Honolulu). His most interesting recent publication was \”Þáttur meðvitundar í námi annars máls.\” That\’s an Icelandic translation of an oldie but goodie, \”Consciousness and foreign language learning\” that appeared long ago in Applied Linguistics, but what\’s cool about it is that it appears in a volume designed to standardize applied linguistics terminology in Icelandic.

 

RECENT FACULTY AND STUDENT PUBLICATIONS

JD Brown:

Brown, J. D. (2006). Promoting fluency in EFL classrooms. ILI Language Teaching Journal, 2(2), 1-26. Reprinted by permission from the original article: Brown, J. D. (2004). Promoting fluency in EFL classroom. In T. Newfield (Ed.), Conversational fluency: Ideology or reality: Proceedings of the JALT Pan-SIG Conference, Kyoto, Japan, 2003. Tokyo: Japan Association for Language Teaching. [Not listed before in the SLS Newsletter]

Brown, J. D. (2007). A review of English Placement Test – Revised. In R. A. Spies, B. S. Plake, K. F. Geisinger, & J. F. Carlson (Eds.), The Seventeenth Mental Measurements Yearbook (pp. 305-308). The Buros Institute of Mental Measurements, Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press.

Brown, J. D. (2007). A review of Woodcock-Munoz Language Survey – Revised. In R. A. Spies, B. S. Plake, K. F. Geisinger, & J. F. Carlson (Eds.), The Seventeenth Mental Measurements Yearbook (pp. 872-874). The Buros Institute of Mental Measurements, Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press.

Brown, J. D. (2007). Book review: Statistical Analysis for Language Assessment (L. F. Bachman). Language Testing, 24(1), 129-135.

Brown, J. D. (2007). Book review: Statistical Analysis for Language Assessment Workbook and CD ROM (L. F. Bachman & A. J. Kunnan). Language Testing, 24(1), 136-147.

Brown, J. D. (2007). Statistics Corner. Questions and answers about language testing statistics: Sample size and power. Shiken: JALT Testing & Evaluation SIG Newsletter, 11(1), 31-35. Also retrieved from the World Wide Web at http://www.jalt.org/test/bro_25.htm

Brown, J. D. (2007). Statistics Corner. Questions and answers about language testing statistics: Sample size and statistical precision. Shiken: JALT Testing & Evaluation SIG Newsletter, 11(2), 21-24. Also retrieved from the World Wide Web at http://www.jalt.org/test/bro_26.htm

Brown, J. D. (2008). Raters, functions, item types, and the dependability of L2 pragmatic tests. In E. Alcón Soler & A. Martínez-Flor (Eds.), Investigating pragmatics in foreign language learning, teaching and testing (pp. 224-248). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Brown, J. D. (2008). Statistics Corner. Questions and answers about language testing statistics: The Bonferroni adjustment. Shiken: JALT Testing & Evaluation SIG Newsletter, 12(1), 23-28. Also retrieved from the World Wide Web at http://www.jalt.org/test/bro_27.htm

Brown, J. D. (2008). Statistics Corner. Questions and answers about language testing statistics: Effect size and eta squared. Shiken: JALT Testing & Evaluation SIG Newsletter, 12(2), 36-41. Also retrieved from the World Wide Web at http://www.jalt.org/test/bro_28.htm

Brown, J. D. (In press). Foreign and second language needs analysis. In M. H. Long & C. J. Doughty (Eds.), Handbook of second and foreign language teaching. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Brown, J. D. (In press). Using open-response questionnaires in qualitative language research. In J. Heigham & R. Croker (Eds.), Qualitative research methods. UK: Multilingual Matters.

Brown, J. D., & Bailey, K. M. (2008). Language testing courses: What are they in 2007? Language Testing, 25(3), 349-383.

Kondo-Brown, K., & Brown, J. D. (Eds.) (2008). Teaching Chinese, Japanese, and Korean heritage students. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 264 pages. [ISBN-10: 0805858784; ISBN-13: 978-0805858785]

Kondo-Brown, K., & Brown, J. D. (2008). Introduction. In K. Kondo-Brown & J. D. Brown (Eds.), Teaching Chinese, Japanese, and Korean heritage students (pp. 3-16). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Kondo-Brown, K., & Brown, J. D. (2008). Preface. In K. Kondo-Brown & J. D. Brown (Eds.), Teaching Chinese, Japanese, and Korean heritage students (pp. ix-xi). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Brown, J. D. (2008). Testing-context analysis: Assessment is just another part of language curriculum development. Language Assessment Quarterly, 5(4), 1-38.

Graham Crookes:

in press Radical language teaching. In M. H. Long & C. Doughty (eds.). Handbook of Second and Foreign Language Teaching. Blackwell.

2009. Making a Statement: Values, Philosophies, and Professional Beliefs. Cambridge University Press.

2005. Resources for incorporating action research as critique into applied linguistics graduate education. Modern Language Journal, 89, 468-475.

Kathy Davis:

Davis, K. (In press). Agentive Youth Research: Towards Individual, Collective, and Policy Transformations. In T. G. Wiley, J. S.Lee and R. Rumberger (Eds.) The Education of Language Minority Immigrants in the USA.

Davis, K. (forthcoming 2008). Commentary on Language Policy Issues in Luxembourg. Journal of Language Problems and Planning. Special Issue. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Davis, K. (Ed.) (forthcoming 2009). Critical Qualitative Research in Second Language Studies: Agency and Advocacy on the Pacific Rim. In T. Osborn (Series Ed.). Contemporary Research in Education Series. Greenwich, CN: Information Age Publishing.

Richard R. Day:

Brantmeier, C. and Day, R. R. (2007). Individual learner differences and extensive reading. In J. Mukundan, S. Menon & A. A. Hussin (Eds.), ELT Matters 3: Developments in English Language Learning and Teaching. (pp. 94-105.) Serdang: Universiti Putra Malaysia Press.

Day, R. R., Shaules, J. & Yamanaka, J. (2009). Impact Issues. Book 1. Hong Kong: Pearson Longman Asia ELT.

Day, R. R., Shaules, J. & Yamanaka, J. (2009). Impact Issues. Book 2. Hong Kong: Pearson Longman Asia ELT.

Day, R. R., Shaules, J. & Yamanaka, J. (2009). Impact Issues. Book 3. Hong Kong: Pearson Longman Asia ELT.

Day, R. R. & Ono, L. (2008). Cover to Cover. Book 3. New York: Oxford University Press.

Day, R. R. & Harsch, K. (2008). Cover to Cover. Book 2. New York: Oxford University Press.

Day, R. R. & Yamanaka, J. (2007). Cover to Cover. Book 1. New York: Oxford University Press.

Kenton Harsch:

Day, R. R. & Harsch, K. (2008). Cover to Cover. Book 2. New York: Oxford University Press.

Harsch, K. (2006). Using authentic film in language classrooms. In Park, J.C. (Ed.), Multimedia assisted English teaching in the laboratory (9-23). Seoul, Korea: Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.

Christina Higgins:

Higgins, C. (letter of intent). Negotiating the self in a second language: Identity formation in a globalizing world. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. (editor)

Higgins, C. (under contract). Applied linguistics in the field: Local knowledge and HIV/AIDS. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. (co-editor with Bonny Norton).

Higgins, C. (forthcoming). Performing English locally: Re-voicing the post-colonial experience. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Higgins, C. (forthcoming). Raising critical language awareness in Hawai‘i: Da Pidgin Coup. In B. Migge, I. Léglise, & A. Bartens (eds.), Creoles in education: A critical assessment and comparison of existing projects.

Higgins, C. (forthcoming). Discursive constructions of responsibility in HIV/AIDS prevention: Investigating re-entextualization practices in Tanzania. In C. Higgins & B. Norton (eds.) Applied linguistics in the field: Local knowledge and HIV/AIDS. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Higgins, C. (in press). East Africa. Chapter in Sociolinguistics around the world: A handbook, Nicole Müller & Martin J. Ball (eds.). London: Routledge.

Higgins, C. (2008). From ‘da bomb’ to bomba: Global Hip Hop nation language in Tanzania. In A. Ibrahim, H. S. Alim, & A. Pennycook (eds.) Global Linguistic Flows: Hip Hop Cultures, Youth Identities, and the Politics of Language (pp. 95-112). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Gabriele Kasper:

Kasper, G. (2006). Speech acts in interaction: Towards discursive pragmatics. In K. Bardovi-Harlig, C. Félix-Brasdefer, & A. Omar (Eds.), Pragmatics and Language Learning, Vol. 11 (pp. 281-314). Honolulu, HI: National Foreign Language Resource Center.

Kasper, G. (2007). Pragmatics in second language learning: An update. In A. Valdman (Ed.), Language learning celebrates 30 years of AAAL http://www.aaal.org/index.php?id=53

Kasper, G. (2008). Data collection in pragmatics research. In H. Spencer-Oatey (Ed.), Culturally speaking. 2nd edition (pp. 279-303). London & New York: Continuum.

Kasper, G. (2008). Discourse and socially shared cognition. In J. Cenoz, & N.H. Hornberger (Eds.), Encyclopedia of language and education, 2nd edition, Vol 6. Knowledge about language (pp. 59-78). New York: Springer Science+ Business Media, LLC.

Kasper, G. (in press). Categories, context and comparison in conversation analysis. In H. t. Nguyen & G. Kasper (Eds.), Talk-in-interaction: Multilingual perspectives. Honolulu, HI: National Foreign Language Resource Center, University of Hawai\’i at Manoa.

Kasper, G. (in press). Interlanguage pragmatics. In L. Cummings (Ed.), The pragmatics encyclopedia. London: Routledge.

Kasper, G. (in press). L2 pragmatic development. In W.C. Ritchie T.K. Bhatia (Eds.), New handbook of second language acquisition. Leeds, UK: Emerald.

Kasper, G. (in press). Locating cognition in second language interaction and learning: Inside the skull or in public view? International Review of Applied Linguistics.

Kasper, G., & Kim, Y. (2007). Handling sequentially inapposite responses. In Zhu Hua, P. Seedhouse, Li Wei & V. Cook (Eds.), Language learning and teaching as social interaction (pp. 22-41). Houndsmill, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kasper, G., & Ross, S. (2007). Multiple questions in oral proficiency interviews. Journal of Pragmatics, 39, 2045-2070.

Nguyen, H. t., & Kasper, G. (Eds.), (in press). Talk-in-interaction: Multilingual perspectives. Honolulu, HI: National Foreign Language Resource Center, University of Hawai\’i at Manoa.

Tateyama, Y., & Kasper, G. (2008). Talking with a classroom guest: Opportunities for learning Japanese pragmatics. In E. Alcón & A. Martínez-Flor (Eds.), Investigating pragmatics in foreign language learning, teaching, and testing (pp. 45-71). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.

John Norris:

Norris, J. M. (Ed.) (2009). Special issue: Understanding and improving language education through program evaluation. Language Teaching Research, 13(1).

Norris, J. M. (2009). Task-based teaching and testing. In M. Long and C. Doughty (Eds.), Handbook of second and foreign language teaching. Cambridge: Blackwell.

Norris, J. M. (2008). Understanding and improving language education through program evaluation: Introduction to the special issue. Language Teaching Research, 13(1).

Norris, J. M. (2008). Validity evaluation in language assessment. New York: Peter Lang.

Norris, J. M. (2006). Assessing foreign language learning and learners: From measurement constructs to educational uses. In H. Byrnes, H. Weger-Guntharp, & K. Sprang (Eds.), GURT 2005: Educating for Advanced Foreign Language Capacities: Constructs, Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment (pp. 167-187). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

Norris, J. M. (2006). Development and evaluation of a curriculum-based German C-test for placement purposes. In R. Grotjahn (Ed.), Der C-Test: Theoretische Grundlagen und praktische Anwendungen (vol. 5) (pp. 45-83). New York: Peter Lang.

Norris, J. M. (2006). [Review of B. Lynch (2003). Language assessment and programme evaluation.] Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 28(3).

Norris, J. M. (2006). The why (and how) of student learning outcomes assessment in college FL education. Modern Language Journal, 90(4), 590-597.

Norris, J. M., & Ortega, L. (2007). The future of research synthesis in applied linguistics: Beyond art or science? TESOL Quarterly, 41(4), 805-815.

Norris, J. M., & Ortega, L. (Eds.) (2006). Synthesizing research on language learning and teaching. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Norris, J. M., & Ortega, L. (2006). The value and practice of research synthesis for language learning and teaching. In J. M. Norris & L. Ortega (Eds.), Synthesizing research on language learning and teaching (pp. 1-50). Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Sinicrope, C., Norris, J. M., & Watanabe, Y. (2007). Understanding and assessing intercultural competence: A summary of theory, research, and practice. Second Language Studies, 26(1), Fall 2007, pp. 1-58.

Watanabe, Y., & Norris, J. M. (2006). Foreign language program evaluation: An annotated bibliography of resources for foreign language educators. [HTML document]. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i, Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center. Available at: http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/evaluation/bibliography.html.

Lourdes Ortega:

Ortega, L. (2009). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Hodder Arnold. [distributed in the United States by Oxford University Press; Understanding Language Series, Bernard Comrie & Greville Corbett, Series Editors; ISBN-13: 978-0340905593].

Ortega, L., & Byrnes, H. (Eds.). (2008). The longitudinal study of advanced L2 capacities. New York: Routledge. [Second Language Acquisition Research Series, Susan M. Gass & Alison Mackey, Series Editors; ISBN-13: 978-0805861730]

Ortega, L. (forthcoming). Research synthesis. In B. Paltridge & A. Phakiti (Eds.), Companion to research methods in applied linguistics. London: Continuum.

Ortega, L. (in press). Sequences and processes in language learning. In M. H. Long & C. J. Doughty (Eds.), Handbook of language teaching. Malden, MA: Wiley/Blackwell.

Ortega, L. (in press). Studying writing across English as a foreign language contexts: Looking back and moving forward. In R. M. Manchón (Ed.), Learning, teaching, and researching writing in foreign language contexts. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Ortega, L. (2009). Interaction and attention to form in L2 text-based computer-mediated communication. In A. Mackey & C. Polio (Eds.), Multiple perspectives on interaction in SLA: Research in honor of Susan M. Gass (pp. 226-253). New York: Routledge.

Ortega, L. (2008) Series Editor Foreword. In R. Young, Discursive Practice in Language Learning and Teaching (pp. ii-vii). Malden, MA: Blackwell. [Language Learning Monograph Series, vol. 58, Supplement 1]

Ortega, L., & Byrnes, H. (2008). The longitudinal study of advanced L2 capacities: An introduction. In L. Ortega & H. Byrnes (Eds.), The longitudinal study of advanced L2 capacities (pp. 3-20). New York: Routledge.

Ortega, L., & Byrnes, H. (2008). Theorizing advancedness, setting up the longitudinal research agenda. In L. Ortega & H. Byrnes (Eds.), The longitudinal study of advanced L2 capacities (pp. 281-300). New York: Routledge.

Ortega, L., & Carson, J. G. (in press). Multicompetence, social context, and L2 writing research praxis. In T. Silva & P. Matsuda (Eds.), Practicing theory in second language writing. West Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press.

Ortega, L. & Zyzik, E. (2008). Online interactions and L2 learning: Some ethical challenges for L2 researchers. In S. Magnan (Ed.), Mediating Discourse Online (pp. 331-355). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Mochizuki, N., & Ortega, L. (2008). Balancing communication and grammar in beginning-level foreign language classrooms: A study of guided planning and relativization. Language Teaching Research, 12, 11-37.

Norris, J. M., & Ortega, L. (2007). The future of research synthesis in applied linguistics: Beyond art or science. TESOL Quarterly, 41, 805-815.

Dick Schmidt:

Richards, J. C., & Schmidt, R. (forthcoming early 2009). Longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics. Fourth Edition. London: Longman (Pearson Education).

Schmidt, R. (2008). National language policy or a framework for national language education policy? Modern Language Journal, 92.3, 621-623.

Schmidt, R.W. (2007). Þáttur meðvitundar í námi annars máls. In Au›ur Hauksdóttir and Birna Arnbjörnsdóttir (Eds). Mál málanna [The Language of Language]. Reykjavík: Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Institute-University of Iceland Press. [Icelandic version of \”Consciousness and foreign language learning,\” Applied Linguistics 11 (1990)]