2023 Elected Candidate Bios

2nd Vice President

Mari Haneda, Pennsylvania State University

Bio:

Mari Haneda is a Professor of English-Language Learning/World Languages Education and Applied Linguistics at The Pennsylvania State University in the United States. As an interdisciplinary trained applied linguistics scholar and a qualitative researcher, she is committed to improving the education of multilingual learners, particularly issues of educational equity and inclusion of immigrant students in K-12 schools. Her critical applied linguistics work applies theoretical insights to educational problems and conceptual issues in the field.

Mari’s primary areas of research include: (a) critical dialogic teaching, (b) ESL teachers’ advocacy work in K-12 contexts, and (c) the professional development and learning of elementary school teachers who work with school-age multilingual students. Her scholarship has drawn on various theoretical perspectives, ranging from sociocultural theory, critical pedagogy, and post-structural theory to new materialism, and, more recently, Southern Epistemologies. These various influences are evident in Mari’s recent projects. For example, in one project she explores ways in which decolonial theoretical ideas might inform applied linguistics research, and in another she applies critical sociocultural theory to the theorizing of interactional scaffolding strategies used by instructional coaches to foster in-service teachers’ understanding, development, and enactment of equity-oriented pedagogies. Her work has been published in journals such as Applied Linguistics, TESOL Quarterly, Linguistics and Education, Language and Education, and Teaching and Teacher Education. She edited two special issues on dialogic interaction and teaching for Language and Education (2007, 2017), and she also co-edited a volume, Perspectives on Language as Action, with Hossein Nassaji (Multilingual Matters, 2019).

Prior Service to AAAL:

As a long-standing member of AAAL, Mari has participated in various organizational and administrative activities since she was a doctoral student in the second language education program at OISE/University of Toronto in Canada. For instance, she has worked as a colloquium organizer, discussant, committee member (Nomination Committee, Dissertation Award Committee, Resolution Committee), strand organizer and reviewer, and senior mentor. She also has administrative experience at the university level in which she has served as the director of ESL certificate program, a P/T committee member, and a college representative to the university graduate council, to name a few. She supports the recent vote to allow multilingual abstract submissions for the annual conference as well as the association’s recent efforts to become more inclusive (e.g., a new strand - ADIST). Mari views AAAL as her primary professional association, and she is keen on contributing to continuing the development of becoming a more inclusive association.

Member at Large

Xuesong (Andy) Gao, University of New South Wales

Bio:

I am a professor of language and literacy education at the School of Education, University of New South Wales Australia. I have directed teacher education programs at the University of Hong Kong and led professional development seminars on autonomous language learning, language learning strategy and reading for language teachers in places such as Hong Kong and mainland China. My research interests include international students’ educational experiences, language learner autonomy, language education policy and language teacher education. Over the years, I have been promoting sociocultural/ecological perspectives to understand language learners’ strategy use and language teacher agency. Relevant publications have appeared in journals such as Journal of Language, Identity and Education, Language Teaching, Language Teaching Research, Modern Language Journal, Studies in Higher Education, System, Teaching and Teacher Education, and TESOL Quarterly. I edit International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching. I was a co-editor for System: An International Journal of Educational Technology and Applied Linguistics for Elsevier (2013-2021). I also co-edit the English Language Education book series for Springer. In addition, I serve on the editorial boards of journals including Applied Linguistics Review, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Journal of Language, Identity and Education, Language Awareness, The Language Learning Journal, Modern Language Journal, and Teacher Development. I received the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Research, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, University of New South Wales in 2022. I was the Faculty’s Outstanding Young Researcher (2015) at the Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, a co-recipient of TESOL Award for an Outstanding Paper on NNEST issues (2012-2013), and have been named as one of 30 Up and Coming at TESOL International’s 50th anniversary.

Prior Service to AAAL:

I have been a member of AAAL and attending annual conferences since 2007 when I was a final year Phd student. Since 2014, I have been actively involved in reviewing conference abstracts for different strands including the Second Language Acquisition, Language Acquisition and Attrition (SLA) strand, the Educational Linguistics strand, and the Language and Ideology strand. In the last 5 years, I served a variety of roles at AAAL. I am a member of AAAL’s Book Award Committee (2019-) and I was a member of AAAL’s Dissertation Award Committee (2018-2020). I was very proud of having an opportunity to work for the Dissertation Award Committee as I always like to acknowledge the best dissertations from our future applied linguists. In 2020, I was an elected member of the AAAL’s Nominating Committee. This role enabled me to contribute to the healthy growth of the organization by selecting the best people to lead it.

Fund for the Future of Applied Linguistics (FFAL) Trustee

Glenn Martínez, The University of Texas at San Antonio

Bio:

Glenn Martínez is professor of Spanish, Bicultural/Bilingual Studies, and Public Health, Dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts, and Stumberg Distinguished University Chair at The University of Texas at San Antonio. Martínez’s research focuses on the applied linguistics of language in healthcare contexts and language and culture practices as a catalyst for health equity. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Patient-Centered Research Outcomes Institute, the US Department of Education, among others. He has authored and co-authored multiple books on issues related to Spanish in healthcare and Spanish in the United States. His work has also appeared in top journals including Language Policy, Applied Linguistics, Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, Patient Education and Counseling, and Academic Medicine. Martínez serves the applied linguistics profession as associate editor for Applied Linguistics.

Prior Service to AAAL:

Glenn Martínez has served AAAL in various capacities. He has been a member of the Association since 2004, having presented over a dozen times at the conference. He served two terms as chair of the Resolutions Committee working with members and leaders to introduce the 2013 Resolution Affirming Commitment to Promote Diversity in AAAL. Additionally, he served on the Executive Committee as Treasurer of AAAL from 2017-2021. As Treasurer, Martínez worked with the EC to ensure the long term financial stability of the Association in the face of significant pandemic-related challenges. He also worked with the FFAL Trustees to enhance the fund through a strategic development process that has continued up to the present.

Nominating Committee Member

Guofang Li, The University of British Columbia, Canada

Bio:

I am a transnational product: Originally coming from China, being trained as a literacy researcher in Canada, and having worked in different institutions in the U.S. I returned to Canada in 2015 as a Professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Transnational/Global Perspectives of Language and Literacy Education of Children and Youth in the Department of Language and Literacy Education, University of British Columbia. Here, I continue my research and teaching that aims to level the playing field for immigrant and minority learners who are often disadvantaged in education. As an immigrant scholar who has studied, taught and researched in different countries, I see similar educational inequalities between the minority and the majority and between the rich and the poor in these different systems.

My work has centered on addressing some of these shared challenges. Situated in the changing cultural landscapes in today's schools, one strand of my work has highlighted the role of parental culture-specific conceptions of education and cultural identity in affecting home literacy environment and minority children’s engagement with second language literacy and how the dynamics and processes of different cultural models of literacy practices shape qualitatively different home literacy practices.

My work on immigrant children's culturally different literacy practices outside school raise important questions about literacy instruction in school settings--i.e., to what extent and how can mainstream teachers become culturally responsive to minority students' learning styles? My work in this area points to the need for professional development in helping mainstream teachers better serve children from diverse backgrounds. Unfortunately, my recent studies (and many other researchers’) on teachers’ preparation for teaching diverse learners indicated that many pre-and in-service teachers feel under-prepared to support these children. This challenge further speaks to the importance of recruiting and retaining teachers and researchers who are familiar with minority cultures and backgrounds and can serve as role models and advocates for students from underprivileged backgrounds.

AAAL, as a major international scholarly organization, can help promote collective efforts in addressing these educational inequalities. In particular, AAAL can become an important forum where researchers, practitioners, and policymakers can expand the notion of schooled language and literacy, rethink how we improve the literate lives of immigrant and minority students and address the critical questions of teacher preparation for diversity.

Prior Service to AAAL:

Although I have worked in the field of applied linguistics for a long time, my formal involvement with AAAL began in 2018 through my service as a proposal reviewer and participant in the research discussion group and a presenter at the conference. During my short time with AAAL, I have seen increasing presence of linguistically, racially, and culturally diverse scholars, including international scholars, and expanding research and practices that address intersectionality of race, class, gender, and ethnicity in language and literacy education via a variety of research paradigms. Building on these remarkable achievements and momentum, I believe that AAAL will continue to play a leading role in strengthening a justice-oriented moral order in the research community. I am deeply honored and excited about the opportunity to continue to contribute to AAAL in meaningful ways. If elected as a Nominating Committee member, my objective is to work with other members and interested groups to continue to strengthen AAAL’s effort for diversity and increase the presence of minority scholars and teachers; and to support AAAL in its efforts to build the nexus of global-local connections in the field of Applied Linguistics.

Nominating Committee Member

Julieta Fernández, University of Arizona

Bio:

Dr. Julieta Fernández (Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University) is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the doctoral program in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching (SLAT) at the University of Arizona. She researches social interaction within different contexts with a focus on pragmatics. Her work has appeared in the Modern Language Journal, Journal of Pragmatics, the Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, and the Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Pragmatics, among others. She is currently co-editing an open access introduction to Applied Linguistics for language educators supported by the Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language and Literacy (CERCLL), a Title VI Language Resource Center designated by the U.S. Department of Education.

Prior Service to AAAL:

Dr. Fernández has been an active AAAL member since 2011. Throughout the last 12 years, she has attended, presented at, and thoroughly enjoyed learning with and from her colleagues at multiple AAAL annual conferences. Since 2018, she has also served as an abstract reviewer for several strands (Analysis of Discourse and Interaction (DIS), Second Language Acquisition, Language Acquisition and Attrition (SLA); Language, Culture, Socialization, and Pragmatics (LCS); Pragmatics (PRG)). Dr. Fernández strongly believes in the value of recognizing and celebrating her colleagues’ contributions to the field and has made it a yearly commitment to nominate colleagues (especially colleagues from minoritized groups) for different awards in her home institution. She is honored to stand for one of the Nominating Committee Member positions.

Nominating Committee Member

Emma Trentman, University of New Mexico

Bio:

Emma Trentman is an Associate Professor of Arabic and Director of the Language Learning Center at the University of New Mexico. Her research examines language learning during study abroad, virtual exchange, and in the language classroom, with a focus on identity, language ideologies and multilingual approaches. She is co-editor of Language Learning in Study Abroad: The Multilingual Turn (Multilingual Matters, 2021), and her research has appeared in various journals and edited collections including The Modern Language Journal, Foreign Language Annals, The L2 Journal, Study Abroad Research, and System. She directs the Arabic program at the University of New Mexico and is co-editor of the Critical Multilingualism Studies Journal. She received her Ph.D. in Second Language Studies from Michigan State University in 2012. Her qualifications for this position are a long-term participation in the field of Applied Linguistics and the AAAL Conference, a focus on less commonly taught languages, and a commitment to increasing and sustaining diversity in leadership positions.

Prior Service to AAAL:

Emma Trentman has participated regularly in the AAAL Conference since 2007, including co-organizing colloquia on The Multilingual Turn in Study Abroad (2018), Disrupting the Whiteness of U.S. Study Abroad (2019), and Translingual Approaches in World Language Education: Perspective from Arabic Language Contexts (2022). She served as SLA Strand co-coordinator for the 2020 AAAL Conference.

Nominating Committee Member

Jamie L. Schissel, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Bio:

Dr. Jamie L. Schissel is Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA in the Department of Teacher Education and Higher Education where she is the coordinator for the MEd in TESOL and Add-on ESL/Dual Language Education certificate programs. She also holds a joint appointment in the Educational Research Methodology Department. She has a PhD in Educational Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania, MAT in ESL and Bilingual Education from Georgetown University, and a BA in German Language and Literature from the University of Northern Iowa. Her research focuses on assessment, policy, and teacher education with(in) culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Through historical analyses and participatory action research collaborations, these projects emphasize relationship-building to challenge oppressive actions and explore social justice-oriented practices. She is the editor of TESOL Quarterly Forum and her work has been published in journals such as Applied Linguistics, Language Assessment Quarterly, Language Policy, Language Testing, Linguistics and Education, and TESOL Quarterly. Her book “The Social Consequences of Testing for Language-minoritized Bilinguals in the United States” was published in 2019 (Multilingual Matters). Jamie has co-edited special issues of the Journal of Multilingual Theories and Practices, Language Assessment Quarterly, and Language Testing. She is co-PI for Project Ignite (UNCG) and lead evaluator for Project ELEECT (Georgetown University), two 5-year National Professional Development grants from the Office of English Language Acquisition. She co-chairs the Test-taker Insights in Language Assessment SIG for the International Language Testing Association. With Drs. Mario López-Gopar and Constant Leung, she co-facilitates Asociación Mexicana de Evaluación de Lenguas Indígenas. In 2021, she received the AERA Bilingual Education Research SIG Early Career Scholar Award. Across research, teaching, and service, she focuses on the care of those around her.

Prior Service to AAAL:

Jamie Schissel joined AAAL as a graduate student in 2007 and has attended and presented at the annual conference each year. She has co-presented with professors, graduate students, undergraduate students, language teachers, and school administrators. From 2013-2015, she served on the Awards Task Force. This task force created the AAAL Dissertation, Book, and Best Article Awards. For the first two years of the Dissertation Award, she served as chair of the committee. During the 2018 academic year, she contributed to the Family Friendly Policies Task. Many of the task force’s recommendations are now commonplace for AAAL conferences. She has been a strand coordinator for Educational Linguistics and Assessment and Evaluation. She has volunteered as a Conference Connections Mentor for multiple years, and in 2023 she is participating as part of the Inaugural Multilingual Matters Graduate Research Roundtable. Jamie’s ongoing service to the association, professional work collaborating with established and emerging leaders in the field, and scholarly endeavors illustrate the contributions she would bring to the worthwhile work of the Nominating Committee.

Dissertation Award Committee Member

Betsy Gilliland, University of Hawaíi Mãnoa

Bio:

Betsy Gilliland is an Associate Professor in the Department of Second Language Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa. In her current position, she has chaired three completed PhD dissertations and is chairing four in-progress dissertations. She has served as a committee member on 18 completed and 16 in-progress dissertations at UH Mānoa and three doctoral committees for candidates at universities outside the United States.

Dr. Gilliland holds a PhD in Education from the University of California, Davis, with designated emphases in Second Language Acquisition and Writing, Rhetoric, and Composition Studies and an MA in TESOL from SIT Graduate Institute. She taught English and mentored English language teachers at Bukhara State University as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan and has also taught Russian and English to children and adults in the United States, Thailand, and Chile. She received a Fulbright Scholar award to teach and conduct research at the Universidad de Atacama in Copiapó, Chile, in 2018. Her research interests include L2 adolescent literacy, language teacher education, and L2 writing, particularly where these three areas intersect in topics such as teachers’ learning to teach writing or young learners.

Dissertation Award Committee Member

Zhongfeng Tian, Rutgers University- Newark

Bio:

Zhongfeng Tian is currently an Assistant Professor of TESOL/Applied Linguistics in the Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and an incoming Assistant Professor of Bilingual Education at Rutgers University starting Fall 2023. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Boston College. His research examines different ways that teachers can make their classrooms more heterogeneous, humane, and inclusive for all students in ESL and dual language bilingual education (DLBE) contexts, and how to prepare culturally and linguistically competent teachers with social justice praxis. Theoretically, he draws from perspectives of translanguaging and culturally sustaining pedagogies that honor, cultivate, extend, and sustain multilingual learners’ multiple ways of knowing, feeling, experiencing, and meaning-making. Methodologically, he uses participatory qualitative methods to work alongside teachers—prioritizing their voices, values, and perspectives, especially those historically marginalized and minoritized—to co-design and implement critical pedagogies in various classroom contexts.

Dr. Tian has published extensively in the field of ESL/bilingual education and teacher education, including four books (with Multilingual Matters, Springer, and De Gruyter Mouton), five special issues and numerous articles which can be found at International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Journal of Language, Identity & Education, TESOL Quarterly, System, and Applied Linguistics Review, to name a few. Most recently, based on his scholarly contributions in Chinese-English bilingual education, Dr. Tian has received an Early Career Award from ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Research SIG.

Dr. Tian is the recipient of 2022 AAAL Dissertation Award and believes he is an excellent candidate to serve on the Dissertation Award Committee based on his theoretical and methodological expertise in translanguaging, DLBE, teacher education, and participatory qualitative methods. His dissertation also received 2022 AERA Second Language Research SIG Outstanding Dissertation Award, 2022 NABE Outstanding Dissertation Award (Third Place), and 2021 AERA Bilingual Education Research SIG Outstanding Dissertation Award (Second Place).

Prior Service to AAAL:

As an emerging scholar of color, Dr. Zhongfeng Tian has actively sought ways to make service contributions to different professional organizations. He considers AAAL as one of his academic homes and has been a proposal reviewer for multiple AAAL strands including Educational Linguistics (EDU), Teacher Education, Beliefs, and Identities (TED), Bilingual, Immersion, Heritage, and Minority Education (BIH), and Analysis of Discourse and Interaction (DIS) since 2020. Furthermore, he previously served as a member on AAAL Graduate Student Council (GSC) Conference Event Planning Subcommittee (2019-20) and AAAL Graduate Student Awards Committee (2020-21). He was also the strand co-coordinator of AAAL BIH in 2021 (with Dr. Becky Huang). Dr. Tian has been a regular presenter at AAAL since 2018 and has organized a number of colloquia focusing on translanguaging, multimodality, dual language immersion, and teacher education. Currently, he is serving on leadership positions in other international professional organizations, such as the Chair of the B-MEIS (Bilingual-Multilingual Education Interest Section) at the TESOL International Association, the Chair of the AERA Bilingual Education Research SIG Mentoring Working Group, and the Newsletter Editor of the AERA Second Language Research SIG.

Dissertation Award Committee Member

Sara Kangas, Lehigh University

Bio:

Sara Kangas is Associate Professor in the College of Education at Lehigh University. Her program of research has focused on issues of access and equity for multilingual learners (MLs) with disabilities in K–12 schools. In her scholarship, Dr. Kangas uses qualitative methods to investigate how school conditions and language policies shape MLs with disabilities’ multilingual and academic development. Grounded in qualitative methodology and critical theories, her research aims to expand opportunities to learn for MLs with disabilities and to advocate for their educational rights.

Germane to the position, Dr. Kangas has served on numerous doctoral dissertation committees at her university and has experience reviewing doctoral dissertations for professional organizations. In 2019–2020, she served as Co-Chair of the Dissertation Award Committee for the Second Language Research SIG of the American Educational Research Association (AERA; 2019–2020). In addition, Dr. Kangas’ own dissertation was recognized for its empirical rigor and significance; in 2018, an article based on her dissertation research was awarded the James E. Alatis Prize from The International Research Foundation for English Language Education (TIRF), and in 2016, her dissertation study was a finalist for both AAAL’s Dissertation Award and AERA’s Second Language Research SIG Dissertation Award.

Prior Service to AAAL:

Dr. Kangas has previously served AAAL in a variety of capacities. On the AAAL Graduate Student Award Committee, she served both as a Chair (2019) and a Committee Member (2018). For two years, she was the Co-Chair of the AAAL Graduate Student Ad-Hoc Committee (2013–2015). In this role, Dr. Kangas led the effort to have the Ad-Hoc Committee transformed into a permanent entity of AAAL through the development of the Graduate Student Council (GSC). In addition, Dr. Kangas served on AAAL’s 2014 Conference Planning Committee, coordinating the proposal review process and supporting the creation of the conference program. In 2015, she was awarded the Wilga Rivers Graduate Award for both her scholarly accomplishments and service to AAAL.