SLW News, June 2025
Letter from the Editors
Ali Yaylali, Eastern Kentucky University, USA
Bakheet S. Almatrafi, Umm Al-Qura University, Saudi Arabia
Stefan M. Vogel, University at Albany, SUNY, USA
Letter from the Past Chair
Svetlana Koltovskaia, Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, Oklahoma, USA
Meet the Experts: An Interview with Dr. Atta Gebril
Atta Gabril, The American University in Cairo (AUC), Cairo, Egypt
Interview conducted by Bakheet Almatrafi, Umm Al-Qura University, Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Interested in the challenges and innovations of integrated writing assessment in L2 contexts? In this interview, Dr. Gebril traces his research journey—from doctoral work on source-based writing to award-winning studies on coherence, cohesion, and lexical diversity in integrated tasks—while addressing urgent questions about AI’s disruption of writing practices, including his ongoing work comparing AI-generated and teacher feedback. Dr. Gebril advocates for adaptive, collaborative research in second language writing, urging scholars to balance theoretical rigor with technological fluency—and to prioritize personal well-being in a rapidly evolving field.