Letter from the Chair

Anne Lomperis, Language Training Designs, Montgomery Village, Maryland, USA 

Dear ESP Colleagues All Over the World – and in Our Partner Organizations,

Greetings from your Chair this year, 2026-2027. I would like to introduce all our other Steering Council members, then share some historic data about our internal membership representation. I focus on outreach to an underrepresented group. Then I share about other activities our Interest Section is involved in. I invite your engagement.

We would also encourage you to network among yourselves and take advantage of the fascinating and knowledgeable contacts that are represented in our global membership.

Current Steering Council Members

First, here is our roster of Steering Council members that took office as of the annual convention in March 2026. I also provide their geographic locations and affiliations. We thank all of them for their service.

1. Immediate Past Chair, Gerlinde Koppitsch, Villach, Austria, Carinthia University of Applied Sciences
2. Chair, Anne Lomperis, Greater Washington DC, USA, Language Training Designs
3. Chair-Elect, Rachel Lee, Daytona Beach, Florida, USA, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
4. Secretary, Mike Ennis, Bozen-Bolzano, Italy, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano
5. Community Manager, Marvin Hoffland, Klagenfurt, Austria, Carinthia University of Applied Sciences
6. Newsletter Editor, Kevin Knight, Chiba, Japan, Kanda University of International Studies
7. English in Academic Settings Representative, Andy Mattingly, Daytona Beach, Florida, USA, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
8. English in Academic Settings Representative, Najia Nazir, Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu (RCJY) (Saudi Govt. Agency for industrial development; education and workforce development initiatives)
9. English in Occupational Settings Representative, Grace Davis, South Lake Tahoe, California, USA, EnGen – Language Upskilling Platform
10. English in Occupational Settings Representative, Kateryna Bova, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Osborne Village Resource Centre (OVRC) (non-profit pre-employment resource center)
11. Member-at-Large, Le Thi Ha, Dong Nai, Vietnam, Lac Hong University
12. Member-at-Large, Farah Mohamed, Tripoli, Libya, Ministry of Education, Public School

Note that we are represented in Europe (Austria, Italy), the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Libya), Asia (Japan, Vietnam), and North America (Canada; US – Washington, DC; Florida; California). A majority of seven out of 12 work at universities, two work for government agencies in educational capacities (RCJY, Ministry of Education), two serve in workforce development organizations (one for-profit/EnGen, one non-profit/OVRC), and one is self-employed as an independent consultant. (Please contact any of them for more information than I could compile from TESOL and public sources or from personal exchanges.)

Data Comparing EAP and EOP Representation in the ESP IS

Let me add a bit of historic statistics to this current year’s leadership profile. Since the ESP IS was established in 1992, we have had 35 Chairs. Of these total Chairs, a dominant group has worked in universities – 29 or 83%, thus representing the specialty of EAP and a business model that is primarily EAP. Only 6 or 17% have run their own small businesses, representing the specialty of EOP and a business model that is dedicated to EOP. And of these six, all but two have left TESOL completely. Is there a home for EOP within TESOL?

We don’t have records to distinguish EAP vs. EOP members throughout the Interest Section or across the years, but the imbalance is likely to continue to be borne out. For example, of the 15 proposals I was given to review for TESOL 2027, a full 12 fell outside my area of expertise, including 9 from K-12. In my application to be a proposal reviewer, I had clearly identified my specialty as EOP. I recused myself from all these 12 because they deserved a reviewer in their specialty areas. Of the remaining three that I did review, they fell into adult ed or academic categories. Not one was from EOP. If a specialist in EOP received no EOP proposals, it raises the likelihood of low representation of EOP among all proposals submitted.

This low representation of EOP within TESOL and the ESP IS has been a serious concern of mine since the inception of the ESP IS. I helped to found the ESP IS, undertaking formation assignments as part of our little committee from 1990–1992. I also served as our first EOP representative to the Steering Council for two 2-year terms (1992–1996). In this capacity, I spearheaded a 10-year initiative to develop international standards for EOP with 5 co-authors and carefully selected review teams in 45 countries. We went to publication through TESOL Pubs in 2003. Over the years, I have evolved a broader framework for EOP that engages with national economic development goals and addresses organizational cost benefits that well-customized EOP typically brings. Beyond these efforts, though, we are poorer for the absence of ongoing contributions from greater representation of EOP members within the ESP IS.

From conversations with those who have left, I have learned that they have indeed felt there is no home for EOP within TESOL and the ESP IS. One of the reasons I recently ran for election as chair of the ESP IS was to raise this issue of underrepresentation of EOP within the ESP IS – and to make efforts to address this considerable imbalance.

Outreach to Create a Home for EOP Within the ESP IS -- Virtual EOP Chat Group – Monthly (in 4 world time zones for synchronous sessions)

One of the themes I hear among EOP colleagues around the world is that they feel isolated. To bring EOP folks together, at least virtually, I have proposed organizing an EOP Chat Group that would meet once a month. I am willing to offer it four times/month in different world time zones, so the meetings could be synchronous. If any of the readers of this newsletter would like to participate, please fill out the interest form in this link: https://forms.office.com/r/RZiq0jzAVd. The form will gather information about high-priority topics to discuss – as well as world time zones represented to plan our scheduling. I very much look forward to your responses and putting this opportunity to share in place.

-- EOP Professional Development

Another frequently voiced concern is that there just isn’t dedicated EOP teacher training available anywhere, especially in formalized contexts with certification possible. TESOL is starting to launch “micro-credentials” of short duration and low cost. I have begun discussing the inclusion of EOP topics among these micro-credential offerings. I will be addressing the existing TESOL Live webinars in November to begin a discussion for including the topic of EOP within these webinars, as well.

Collaboration with IATEFL

The ESP IS is establishing a track record of collaborating with IATEFL (International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language) and their ESP SIG (Special Interest Group). See the March 2026 ESP Newsletter for a report on presentations by Kevin Knight last December and Gerlinde Koppitsch in January 2026. And in May 2026, I presented a webinar on “Developing Larger Identities and Roles as an EOP Professional.” I received feedback that I covered topics many had not heard about but were eager to learn more (e.g., conducting research to calculate the typically high return-on-investment (ROI) from well-customized EOP programs for clients). Two attendees of this May webinar, who have formed a podcast group called ESP Unplugged, invited me to be interviewed further for a podcast. This was conducted in early September and will be available in about 2 months from that date.

TESOL Conferences: Virtual in November 2026 and In-Person in Houston, Texas, USA, in March 2027

And, of course, we are organizing special sessions for TESOL’s Virtual Conference on November 20-21, 2026, and for TESOL 2027 in Houston, March 15-18. Kevin Knight is organizing a virtual presentation for the November conference. Rachel Lee, our Chair Elect, has shared about the Academic Session she is organizing in her Letter from the Chair-Elect in this newsletter. And I am organizing two InterSection Sessions for Houston.

We are the primary, being joined by the Leadership and Mentorship Interest Section (LMIS) as secondary. We will be looking at different models of mentorship, including the concept of “co-mentorship” with industry collaborators. We will also examine how mentorship develops leadership.

We have recently been invited to join the Intercultural Communication Interest Section (ICIS) as a secondary partner to their primary role. We are in early discussions about the focus for this presentation.

If this Fall Newsletter is published before November 15, 2026, the deadline for submitting panelist names for the Houston sessions, please contact me if you would be interested in serving as a panelist.

If you will be giving your own presentation in Houston, please contact Kevin to include information about it for the Spring, pre-convention newsletter.

Stay tuned for more information about our ESP IS offerings at TESOL Houston in the Spring Newsletter.

Announce Your Own Events or Make Other Posts in myTESOL Under the ESP IS

And you can always announce any event or news about your own ESP activities in myTESOL under the ESP IS.

Share Your Ideas With All of Us

Please contact us, too, if you have any ideas you would like to pursue to increase engagement about any domain of ESP through our ESP IS. We look forward to staying in touch…!!

Anne Lomperis is Chief Solution Partner at Language Training Designs, her solo entrepreneurship founded in 1989 and based now in Greater Washington, DC, USA. Her specialty is English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) in support of national economic development, organizational management issues, innovative technology in training delivery, and systematic collaboration with industry experts for customized curriculum development. She is also very committed to EOP professional development for improved quality of service provision, greater recognition of EOP value-add, and therefore increased income generation at industry scale for a worldwide cadre of EOP career specialists.