Writing for Scholarly Publication in a Canadian Higher Education Context: A
Case Study. Pejman Habibie, Western University.I also attended several of the plenary presentations. I was particularly blown away by Jo Loianco’s talk titled “Ethnic Separatism, Social Conflict and Violence: The Rold of Deliberative Language Planning in Conflict Zones. While this area of applied linguistics seems far from my research interest, the work he presented was a strong reminder of the importance of applied linguistics in real life. It also illustrated how one scientist can have so much positive impact in the world. The politicization of language is an issue in probably every country to a certain extent, but in violent conflict zones, it can impact life and death. It is likely that LoBianco’s research connected to UNIEF and ministries of education in various countries has saved lives by helping to find peace through language policy.
I attended a few invited colloquia, but one that was particularly interesting was titled
“Global Englishes and SLA: Establishing a Dialogue and Common Research Agenda. This was a “star-studded” group of scholars including Lionel Wee from Singapore, Anna
Mauranaen from Helsinki, Suresh Cannagarajah from Pennsylvania State, Ryuko Kubota from British Columbia, Richard F. Young from Wisconsin, and Lourdes Ortega from Georgetown. Somehow they were trying to present a bridge between SLA and WE, which may already exist, though not exactly directly. One aspect that makes such a bridge possible is that the SLA researchers on the panel are working in a social paradigm open to
multilingualism rather than a cognitive one based on “native speaker” norms.
Finally, this year I attended the AAAL Annual Business Meeting, for the first time. It was chaired by outgoing AAAL President Paul Kei Matsuda, who handed the gavel to Kathi Bailey. As the First Vice-President she was the 2016 Conference Chair and then rotated into the position of AAAL President. Aside from some announcements of committees, the main discussion was regarding “Guidelines for communicating rights to non-native speakers of English in Australia, England and Wales, and the USA.” At issue was whether or not AAAL would join another organization to support these guidelines, which the membership did vote to do. In addition, it was announced that AAAL 2017 would be held in Portland, Oregon. It was fascinating to be in the same room with senior members of AAAL such as Aneta
Pavlenko, William Grabe, Dwight Atkinson, Elana Shohamy and so many others, and a large contingent of graduate students.
This was my first time to Orlando, but my second experience with AAAL. I attended most of the plenary talks, numerous concurrent sessions, and all conference social events.
Being able to interact with established and meet scholars working on related topics and methodologies in my field in these ways was extremely gratifying and inspiring. In order to extend the conference experience, I recorded many of the talks on a digital recorder and have listened to them during on the flight back to Taiwan. I also have many more entries on my must-read list of articles and books. Next, I will reflect more on my participation in the conference.
二、 Reflections deriving from conference participation
Even though traveling all the way to Florida was exhausting and preparing for the presentation was a lot of work, it was definitely worth it. Being able to meet with people from all over the world in person and discuss ideas is invigorating. This happens in formal and informal situations; perhaps the most important interactions happen in the social or semi-social events. For example, through presenting my study, I was able to get valuable feedback on the project that I presented from the group. Then, the next day I was able to sit down with Mary Jane Curry, one of the leaders in scholarly publishing research, and talk about my work for over one hour. We met in a cabana near the pool of the conference hotel, which provided a
relaxing environment to have a fruitful discussion. I recorded our meeting so that I could refer again to the feedback and insight she offered as I continue my writing work.
Because the cost of the accommodation of conference hotel was prohibitively high, I shared an apartment with several other friends who are faculty in the USA. In the evenings we were able to discuss the sessions we attended and brainstorm future research projects. It is very likely that I will be able to collaborate with one of them in the near future because data I have collected on my current project will be useful for a topic he has been working on for a few years. In addition, the opportunity to socialize with so many renowned applied linguists and learn about their experiences surrounding their research work is truly inspiring.
三、 Suggestions
Institutions in Taiwan and MOST should continue to encourage their faculty to
participate in international conferences abroad. My findings from the MOST-funded project for 民國 104 support this activity. Several interviewees mentioned not only the valuable feedback researchers received on their presentations, but also direct connections to later journal publications. The immediate face-to-face feedback and encouragement from peers and mentors in social and professional settings directly affected future publication success.
As in my report from attendance at AILA in 2014, I argue that if more scholars from Taiwan receive funding for participation in these conferences, more voices from here will be included in the discussions, debates, and decisions regarding the overall research trends.
Through this experience, researchers in Taiwan can step up into and become part of the greater international academic community. This is an exciting and extremely motivational experience and positively affects Taiwan-based scholars’ chances of publishing in
international publications. While this helps lengthen individual CVs, it also means that scholars in Taiwan have a greater chance of contributing to the broader conversation in their respective fields locally, regionally, and internationally. Therefore, as far as the travel grant is concerned, the most important thing is that the MOST continues to provide funding to faculty in Taiwan so that they may participate in more academic gatherings around the world.
四、 Name and content of the materials brought back
Besides the conference program book, I brought back handouts from talks I attended, and audio files recorded on my digital recorder of most of the plenary talks. In addition, as usual, book publishers known for their applied linguistics titles displayed and sole books through the duration of the conference. I got a special deal on an important book by Jan Blommaert, Ethnography, Superdiversity and Linguistic Landscapes: Chronicles of
complexity. This book provides a deeper understanding of work from Blommaert, whose
Sociolinguistics of Globalization, inspires the theoretical framework of my study. I also purchased James P. Spradley’s The Ethnographic Interview, which came highlyrecommended to one of my mentors and co-presenters. Much of my research is seeking to understand experiences of individuals in certain sociopolitical contexts. I have found posing questions in an ethnographic manner and gathering data through individual interviews in those contexts is an effective way to explore the questions. This book provides clear advice and insight into the best way to use ethnographic interviews to gather this data.
五、 Other:
I would like to point out that the benefits of attending a conference do not end when the last session finishes. The colloquium that I presented with at AAAL was a presentation of papers that will be published in a Multilingual Matters book on global academic publishing.
Since the conference, authors and editors have been working hard and I have received official confirmation that my paper will be included in the volume. Gathering together in Orlando allowed one of the editors and six of the authors from as many different countries to meet in person to better understand the experiences of scholarly writing and publishing around the world. In this way we know each other not only in text, but in person.
To conclude this report, I would like to thank the reviewers and others who have attended to my proposal and application for the MOST funding that directly contributed to the chance for me to attend the AAAL this year.
日期:2016/12/05