Letter From the Chair
Ali Yaylali, Eastern Kentucky University, USA
Greetings!
The period following the TESOL Convention is always a time of reflection and planning for the year ahead. As I step into the role of SLWIS Chair, I am grateful for the dedication of our past and current leaders, whose commitment to the field of L2 writing has sustained our community through book clubs, webinars, research symposiums, and many other events. I would especially like to acknowledge Andy, our past chair, whose leadership and support over the past year have been invaluable to the vitality of the SLWIS.
At the TESOL 2026 Convention in Salt Lake City, we had the opportunity to connect with many of you during the expo, networking sessions, and Academic and Intersection Sessions. The conversations in these sessions generated new ideas and directions for the coming year. In this issue of SLW News, we are pleased to introduce—for the first time—a brief summary report of our academic session presentations, which focused on self‑regulation and autonomy in L2 writing.
Looking ahead, the SLWIS steering committee has identified several strategic goals for the upcoming year. First, we aim to continue supporting multilingual writers by offering professional learning opportunities that address their needs across K–12 and higher education contexts. Second, we hope to strengthen the visibility and impact of the SLWIS within TESOL and the broader education community through an active presence at events and on social media. Finally, we are committed to expanding our leadership pipeline by engaging more members in IS activities and encouraging them to take on leadership roles.
I am also pleased to welcome two new SLWIS leaders for 2026–27. Bakheet Almatrafi, Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics at Umm Al‑Qura University, will serve as our new chair‑elect, and Elizabeth Marnell, Co‑Director of the Alfaisal University Preparatory Program, will join us as member‑at‑large. We look forward to collaborating with them in the coming year. If you are interested in becoming involved in SLWIS leadership, please keep an eye out for TESOL’s call for volunteers this fall.
We always look forward to meeting new members and learning about your teaching and research contexts. If you would like to share your work with the community or suggest ideas for future SLWIS events, please feel free to reach out to me directly ([email protected]).
Best regards,
Ali Yaylali
Chair
Ali Yaylali is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at Eastern Kentucky University, USA. His research focuses on K–12 multilingual learner education, with emphasis on corpus‑informed language teaching, secondary writing, and transformative teacher preparation.