The format of the TESOL-TIRF Research Symposium features a rotation of sessions between panel presentations and break-out sessions. Individuals will be asked to attend the panel sessions, which will feature brief presentations from notable scholars in our field. Each panel will address a specific topic of interest to researchers in our field.
After each panel presentation, there will be a break-out session, providing attendees the opportunity to delve into the issues presented during the panel. Break-out sessions will be moderated by individuals who are familiar with the topics being covered. Attendees will be grouped according to their common areas of interest, including those related to research topics and research methodology choices.
Through participating in break-out sessions with like-minded attendees, individuals will have the opportunity to synthesize key takeaways from the panel presentations and raise issues that are important to them. The break-out sessions provide the opportunity for attendees to build relationships with other educators and researchers, in order to meet the Research Symposium goal of establishing a long-lasting research network in our field.
Friday Afternoon Panel:
TIRF Research Priorities & TESOL Research Agenda
This panel will present TESOL’s most recent research agenda, as well as the TIRF research priorities. The panelists will compare the commonalities and synergies as we move forward in guiding the field of TESOL to the next level of excellence through research. The discussion will touch on theoretical research frameworks in different paradigms, including research methodologies on the continua of qualitative and quantitative methods (or a combination of both) to tackle problems that exist in learning and teaching English. The panelists will suggest ways to empower collaborations between researchers and teachers, as well as teacher researchers. The moderator and discussant of the panel will invite audience members to engage in thinking and probing in order to reflect on the research agenda against their daily practice and their own research interests. The audience will take away two things from the panel discussion: (1) What the TESOL research agenda is, and (2) what the TIRF research priorities are, and how the participants can take initiative in participating and engaging in doing research in their respective roles as researchers, teachers, and teacher researchers.
Dudley Reynolds, PhD, TESOL International Association President, 2016-2017
Kathleen Bailey, PhD, The International Research Foundation for English Language Education, President
Panel Moderator: Jun Liu, PhD, Vice Provost for Global Affairs, Dean of International Academic Programs and Services, Professor of Linguistic, Stony Brook University
Saturday Morning Panel:
Understanding the Relationship Between Research Question and Methodology
Contrary to how they may appear in publications, research design and implementation are not linear, sequential processes. In fact, upon identifying a focus area, researchers then begin a dialogic process between question articulation and choosing appropriate research method(s). In this panel, three different researchers share their processes in developing research questions, choosing data collection and analysis methods, and the benefits and limitations of their choices. Maricel Santos shares her work with community-based research, focusing on the role of community voices in design and impact. Thor Sawin discusses the design of a large language learning survey administered to workers in an international organization and the challenges in turning a large corpus of coded text into a compelling publishable "story" about the population surveyed. Finally, Ester de Jong focuses on how a mixed-methods approach to investigating teacher achievement allowed for the exploration of different research questions but also brought its own challenges. An interactive Q&A closes the session.
Ester De Jong, EdD, Professor & Director School of Teaching and Learning, University of Florida
Maricel Santos, EdD, Associate Professor of English, San Francisco State University
Thor Sawin, PhD, Assistant Professor, TFL/TESOL Program, Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation, and Language Education, Middlebury Institute of International Studies
Panel Moderator: Judy Sharkey, PhD, Associate Professor, Education Department, University of New Hampshire
Saturday Afternoon Panel:
Connecting Research to Policy & Practice
Research emerges from questions of policy or practice and can also lead to (recommendations for) changes in both as well as the need for new research. In this panel, three researchers discuss how research has led to major efforts to affect educational policy and practice. George Bunch describes the role research played in the Understanding Language initiative’s efforts to influence policy and practice to improve K-12 education for English learners in the U.S., at a time when new standards for English language arts, mathematics, and science were being implemented. Gene Garcia discusses the role of U.S. educational policies in shaping the formal educational experience of English learners in dual language programs, focusing on current research findings and additional research needed to improve these programs and support their implementation for all children. Terry Wiley reviews a number of exemplary dissertations and case studies in his focus on the role of interpretive policy analysis in the implementation of “structured English immersion” in Arizona, with a view toward language policy as process and consequence. Q&A and further discussion follow the three presentations.
George Bunch, PhD, Associate Professor and Faculty Director of Teacher Education, University of California, Santa Cruz
Eugene Garcia, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Arizona State University
Terrence Wiley, PhD, President of the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington (2010-2017), and Special Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership and Graduate School, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Panel Moderator: Jodi Crandall, PhD, Professor Emerita of Education, Former Co-Director, MA TESOL Program, Former Director, PhD Program in Language, Literacy and Culture, University of Maryland, Baltimore County