Leadership Team

Statement of Purpose: The Speech, Pronunciation, and Listening Interest Section (SPLIS) focuses on all aspects of oral/aural skills in English language teaching. We work to increase educators’ awareness of the importance of oral/aural skills for English learners of all ages, from early childhood through adulthood. We help educators recognize the role of spoken English in second language development, social well-being, and academic success. We support educators in all settings to help learners improve their pronunciation and listening skills. We encourage research and scholarship, disseminate information, develop teaching materials, and advance teaching tools and methods.

Leadership Team

Meet the Members:

Jacqueline Dianga is a dedicated English language educator at a government secondary school in Kenya. She is passionate about lifelong learning, teacher professional development, and multilingual pedagogies. She actively explores innovative strategies to enhance inclusive and effective language education. Jacqueline holdsMEd in Educational Leadership and Management from Aga Khan University.

Mohsen Kariman

Kariman Mohsen is an Egyptian teacher trainer and graduate of the Faculty of Languages, Department of English, Ain Shams University. She holds an M.A. in Educational Leadership from the University of Liverpool. She has completed several professional development programs, including FELT (RELO), Professional Development for Teacher Trainers (Arizona State University), and TESOL Methodology (University of Maryland, Baltimore County). She has presented at multiple conferences and published her work at NileTESOL, Africa ELTA, and TESOL CPD. Currently, she serves as the Africa ELTA Membership Coordinator.

Presently, I am honored to serve as the Co-Chair of the Africa ELTA 2026 Conference.

Reza Dalman (PhD Northern Arizona University) is an Assistant Professor of TESOL/Linguistics in the English Department at Winona State University. Reza’s research focuses on second language (L2) speech and intelligibility, speech perception and production, and oral assessment and testing. He has published the findings of his research in various TESOL-and Second Language Acquisition-related journals, including TESOL Quarterly, Language Teaching Research, International Journal of Listening, Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, Advances in Language and Literary Studies, and Asia TEFL, inter alia. Reza is currently working on two grant research projects investigating young learners’ English proficiency gains in EFL contexts.

Agata Guskaroska holds a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics and Technology from Iowa State University (ISU). She has taught EFL/ESL, composition, and online courses, including a MOOC on technology in language teaching. She is the author of the books Teaching Pronunciation with Confidence and Oral Communication for Non-native Speakers of English. Currently, Agata is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at ISU, working on the development and institutional implementation of a new program for International Teaching Assistants. Her research focuses on computer-assisted language learning, pronunciation teaching, and technology acceptance.

Mahdi Duris is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of English at Iowa State University, where his work bridges Applied Linguistics and Artificial Intelligence (AI). He earned his Bachelor’s from George Mason University, his Master’s in TESL from Saint Cloud State University, and his PhD in Applied Linguistics and Technology from Iowa State University. His postdoctoral research focuses on the role of generative AI in language use, particularly in contexts where AI replaces or enhances human communication, advice-seeking, learning, and expressions of empathy, reasoning, and professional judgment. With over 15 years of ESL and EFL teaching experience in the US and Saudi Arabia, he has also led pedagogical training and mentorship initiatives for language educators.

Raju Dhuli, a PhD scholar in English Language Teaching at IIT Bhubaneswar, holds an MA in English from Central University of Andhra Pradesh, excelling in UGC NET in Linguistics in 2019. His research initiated in 2021, targets improving speaking skills among rural secondary school students. His research interests include vocabulary development, speaking skills, second language acquisition, and language assessment and teacher education.

Chris Litten

Chris Litten is a PhD student currently studying at Iowa State University for his degree in Applied Linguistics and Technology. He has been teaching English for over 10 years in both the United States and Japan. His research interests are focused on fluency and AI.

Idee Edalatishams

Idée Edalatishams received her PhD in Applied Linguistics and Technology from Iowa State University (ISU). Her research bridges corpus linguistics and pronunciation, aiming at understanding characteristics of L2 speech to support multilingual speakers' oral communication. She has worked as the faculty ESOL specialist at George Mason University's Writing Center, a Communication Consultant at ISU's Center for Communication Excellence and Writing and Media Center, and a Composition and ESL/EFL instructor in the US and Iran.