2025 Call for Proposals

March 22-25, 2025
Denver, Colorado

The Call for Proposals ended July 15, 2024, 4:00 pm EDT

Acceptance/Rejection emails will be sent out in October 2024.

Theme: Relational Accountability in Applied Linguistics

The 2025 conference of the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) will be held in Denver, Colorado, at the Sheraton Denver Downtown, March 22-25, 2025. The theme of the conference is “Relational Accountability.” Referring to a term widely used by indigenous scholars, relational accountability asks us as researchers to know and center our relations and be accountable to them. This includes considering our human and non-human partners and participants and our relationships with them in terms of power and positionality as we are conceptualizing, conducting, and disseminating our research. The 2025 conference invites presenters from all subdisciplines of Applied Linguistics to share research with a strong consideration of what it means to be in authentic relationship with others.

The annual conference of AAAL attracts diverse presenters both nationally and internationally to exchange comprehensive and stimulating discussions in the forms of one- or two-hour colloquia, paper, poster, and round-table sessions. It also offers thought-provoking plenary presentations, excellent book exhibits, and plentiful opportunities for networking.

Table of Contents

1. Plenary Speaker and Invited Colloquia Information
2. Strands
3. Proposal Policies
4. Proposals
5. Proposal Format
6. Evaluation of Proposals
7. Submission Process
8. Requests for Meeting Spaces
9. AAAL Travel Policy
   You must have a AAAL Account to submit a proposal. Current members, past members, and past guests may log in here. If you are new to AAAL and would like to submit a proposal without becoming an AAAL member, please click here to create a guest account. Please note: Initial AAAL.org account setup requires email verification according to our association management system’s digital security protocols.  This process can take up to 24 hours. Compliance with these protocols requires that access to the proposal system be given after the verification process has been completed. Please email info@aaal.org if you are having difficulty creating your account, logging in, or need additional assistance with account creation. 

Plenary Speaker and Invited Colloquia Information

We have created an exciting program for the 2025 conference, reflecting the wide range of research interests in applied linguistics. Check out the plenary speakers and invited colloquia below: 

Plenary Speakers

Invited Colloquia

Pre-conference Workshops

Strands

Proposals are welcome in the following topic strands:

• Analysis of Discourse and Interaction (DIS)
• Antiracism, Decolonization, and Intersectionality for Systemic Transformation (ADIST)
• Assessment and Evaluation (ASE)
• Bilingual, Immersion, Heritage, and Minority Education (BIH)
• Corpus Linguistics (COR)
• Educational Linguistics (EDU)
• Language and Ideology (LID)
• Language and the Law (LAL)
• Language and Technology (TEC)
• Language Cognition and Brain Research (COG)
• Language, Culture, and Socialization (LCS)
• Language, Gender, and Sexuality (LGS)
• Language Maintenance and Revitalization (LMR)
• Language Planning and Policy (LPP)
• Phonology/Phonetics and Oral Communication (POC)
• Pragmatics (PRG)
• Reading, Writing, and Literacy (RWL)
• Research Methodology (REM)
• Second and Foreign Language Pedagogy (PED)
• Second Language Acquisition, Language Acquisition, and Attrition (SLA)
• Sociolinguistics (SOC)
• Teacher Education, Beliefs, and Identities (TED)
• Text Analysis (Written Discourse) (TXT)
• Translation, Interpretation and Language Access (TRI)
• Vocabulary and Lexical Studies (VOC)

You must select a primary strand for your submission. This is the strand in which your submission will very likely be reviewed and grouped. If applicable, please choose a secondary strand that also characterizes the submission. This will help conference organizers in preparing the conference program and in some instances, balancing the size and coherence of strands. You must choose a primary strand; the selection of a secondary strand is optional (but recommended).

Submission Policies

Submissions are welcome from AAAL members as well as non-members, and from scholars based inside and outside the United States. Graduate students are also welcome to submit.   All proposals must represent original and unpublished work that is not yet available to the AAAL membership (with the exception of material from publications in press).

AAAL 2025 accepts four types of proposals: individual papers, posters, roundtable discussions, and colloquia. An individual will only appear once as a single or first author-presenter on the program, as per the following submission rules:

1. Number of submissions 

Individuals may submit a maximum of one abstract as a single/first author, whether a paper (including papers presented in a colloquium), a poster, or a roundtable discussion. They may play an additional role as a colloquium organizer or discussant or conference workshop presenter. No individual’s name should appear in more than three proposals of any type in the regular academic sessions. 

2. Language(s) of the proposal  

Abstracts for individual papers, posters, roundtable discussions, and colloquia shall be submitted in English with the option to also submit them in one additional language. An abstract in a language other than English should be uploaded as a PDF document. At the top of the PDF document, indicate in English which language is used. Please note that the system automatically re-names your PDF file once you submit it. You will also be asked to type the name of the additional language of your abstract.

3. Language(s) of the presentation 

At the conference, individual papers, posters, roundtable discussions, and colloquia may be delivered in the language(s) or combination of languages of the presenters’ choice. At the time of proposal submission, proposal submitters will be asked to indicate which language(s) they will use during their presentation. If the proposal is accepted, this information will appear in the program to assist the audience in choosing which presentations to attend.

In the case of colloquia, the entire session or any individual papers within the colloquium can be delivered in language(s) other than English. The colloquium organizer is responsible for indicating the languages of presentation for papers within the colloquium.

4. Ensure anonymity of the proposal submitter(s)

Proposals for all presentation formats will be double-anonymous peer-reviewed. In order to minimize reviewers’ bias and increase fairness during the review process, please ensure that any reference made to your previous work does not include self-reference information that clearly identifies you or one of your co-authors. Avoid, for example, statements such as In a previous study, we (YOURNAME, date). 

Registration Upon Acceptance Policies

If your proposal is accepted, you will be asked to register for the conference in order to confirm your participation in the program. You must register for the conference by the date to be announced in order to have a session slot saved for you.

For accepted proposals with more than one author, all authors are encouraged but not required to register, attend the conference, and share in the presentation of co-authored research. For each accepted multi-authored presentation, at least one author must register.

Accepted presenters who know that they cannot attend the conference are asked to withdraw their proposals as soon as possible to give another presenter a place on the program.

The author’s confirmation of attendance and presentation signifies that the author will present the paper on the day and time assigned by the conference program committee. AAAL will not respond to or consider requests for a specific time slot.

Proposals

Proposals are invited for individual papers, colloquia, posters, and roundtable discussions. The deadline for proposal submission is 4:00 p.m. on July 15, 2024 (EDT; UTC-4). To submit a proposal, you must hold your current status as an AAAL member or you must create a guest account if you are not a member. If you need to renew your membership or create a guest account, you should do so at least 3 hours before the submission deadline to allow for changes to take place in the system. Requests relating to membership or guest accounts later than this may mean that you are unable to submit your abstract by the deadline. 

Abstract submissions for our conference, March 22-25, 2025, are invited from June 3 to July 15.  

INDIVIDUAL PAPERS: Papers are formal presentations on a contribution of original knowledge by one or more authors within a thirty-minute period, including 20 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for discussion.

POSTERS: Posters are especially effective for information that can be presented visually (e.g. charts, graphs, tables, diagrams). Prospective presenters are encouraged to consider posters, because of the opportunity they provide for extended discussion with other researchers.

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS: Roundtable discussions provide opportunities for informal and in-depth discussions between presenters and attendees on a specific topic. They are particularly well suited for works-in-progress. They are not meant to be formal paper presentations but rather opportunities for stimulating conversations and networking among participants on shared research interests. 

Each roundtable session is scheduled for 60 minutes, during which three presenters present their work consecutively for 10 minutes each around a table. The remaining 30 minutes are used for the three presenters and the attendees to engage in a group discussion. There will be a time-keeper assigned to each roundtable discussion.  

COLLOQUIA: Colloquia allow for extended discussion on a particular topic, achieved through the organization of individual presentations that are clearly linked to the colloquium theme and to each other.  A number of colloquia are invited by the conference chair, but most are proposed by AAAL members. Proposals for colloquia can be for either a one-hour or two-hour block of time. 

Two-hour colloquia: The number of presenters, the length of each presentation, and the format or structure of the session are left up to the discretion of the colloquium organizer, as is the decision to include one or more discussants. Generous time allowance should be made throughout the colloquium for extended audience discussion of the papers presented. Colloquium proposers should, in addition to describing the content to be discussed and the coherence across the individual papers/presentations, state how time will be allocated across paper presentations, discussant remarks (optional), and audience discussion; this should be done without identifying presenters by name in order to preserve anonymity.

One-hour colloquia: One-hour colloquia is a shorter version of the two-hour colloquia. Although the number of presenters, the length of each presentation, the format or structure of the session, and the inclusion of a discussant are left up to discretion of the colloquium organizer, they typically consist of three individual papers that are closely connected to the same topic. The colloquium organizer should be one of the presenters. Like two-hour colloquia, ample time should be provided for audience questions and discussion of the papers presented.

For both two-hour and one-hour colloquia, their organizers are responsible to submit the proposal on behalf of all colloquium participants and they serve as the liaisons between participants in the colloquium and the AAAL conference program committee. They are also responsible for all communication among the presenters and discussants.

Proposal Format

Please note the following word limits for all proposal types, including the colloquia components. Please note that the proposal shall be submitted in English with the option to also submit it in one or more additional languages.

[English] (required)

Title: 15 words (please use sentence case, with which only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized)
Abstract: 300 words

1. Please note that for a colloquium proposal:
   The colloquium organizer must provide an overview of the entire colloquium, including title (15 words) and abstract (300 words), including information about the format/timing of presentation and discussion as noted above.
2. Each individual presenter within the colloquium must provide the colloquium organizer with title (15 words) and abstract (300 words) for their paper.  
3. Each colloquium submission must be done by the colloquium organizer, who submits the title and abstract for the entire colloquium and the titles and abstracts for the presentations within it. The organizer must collect the names, affiliations, emails, and language(s) of presentation of all presenters in preparation for proposal submission.

[Language(s) other than English] (optional)

Follow the guideline of English above. The length of the proposal should be roughly equivalent to that in English. The proposal should be submitted as a PDF document. At the top of the PDF document, indicate in English in which language the proposal is written. Please note that the system automatically re-names your PDF file once you submit it. You will also be asked to type the name of the additional language of your abstract.

Evaluation of Proposals

All proposals are evaluated through anonymous peer review by several reviewers. Each submission is rated by reviewers independently according to the criteria shown below:

The rationale for these criteria is as follows:

• The topic/issue/problem is appropriate and important
• The research is original and theoretically grounded
• If an empirical study, the research design is of high quality and sufficiently explained, including clearly stated questions, data sources, data collection procedures, and analytic approach
• If a conceptual study, the conceptual framework is of high quality and clearly explained. The author needs to state the importance of the topic, make meaningful connections to the relevant research communities, and present their arguments in a persuasive manner. 
• The research contributes to AAAL’s values of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

As indicated in the criteria above, each reviewer also makes a holistic recommendation to accept, accept if there is space, or reject; and they are encouraged to offer open-ended feedback for the submitter.

Final decisions are made by the Conference Program Team based on: (a) the responses across categories (criteria above) provided by the reviewers on a given submission, (b) the overall global recommendation by Strand Coordinators, and (c) available space at the conference and balance across strands.

Additional Evaluation Criteria by Submission Type

Proposals for Roundtable Discussions will also be evaluated for:

• Clarity of objectives and intended outcomes of the session
• Methods planned to engage participants in the discussion

Proposals for two-hour and one-hour Colloquia will also be evaluated for each of the following categories:

• Appropriateness and significance of the topic
• Presentation of original and on-going research studies OR differing or dissenting perspectives on an important issue
• Coherence and complementarity of the papers
• Format or structure of the session
• Two-Hour Colloquia: clearly indicated schedule of activity with significant amounts of time allocated for audience participation in discussion
• One-Hour Colloquia: i) clearly indicated separate papers, each with content that lends itself to a short presentation; ii) a colloquium organizer (who must be one or more of the authors of the individual papers); and iii) a clearly indicated schedule that allows for a minimum of 20 minutes of discussion following the presentation of the three papers

Please note that if colloquia are accepted, the session format or structure, including the order of presentations, will appear in the conference program as listed in the proposal and must be respected in the actual presentation of papers.

Submission Process

Before submitting a proposal, please read the brief descriptors for each strand, which are available through the Call for Proposals on the AAAL website. Try to submit your proposal to the strand that most closely relates to your main theme. If you are unsure, please ask a colleague, professor, or supervisor who is familiar with AAAL Conference procedures.

Before submitting a proposal, remember to check your membership status, since you need to be either a member or create a guest account in order to submit your proposal. PLEASE REMEMBER: If you need to renew your membership or create a guest account, you must do so at least 3 hours before the submission deadline.  Requests relating to membership or guest accounts later than this may mean that you are unable to submit your abstract by the deadline.

Requests for Meeting Spaces

Individuals or groups wishing to use rooms at the conference venue for meetings outside the conference program should make their requests using the Meeting Request Form, which will be automatically submitted to the conference team, no later than 11:59 p.m. on December 1, 2024 (EST; UTC-4).  Such meeting spaces may be required for closed sessions with journal editors, editorial board meetings, to honor a colleague in retirement or passing, and other networking opportunities. Requests for meetings will be considered within the inevitable constraints of time and space available.

AAAL Travel Policy

AAAL recognizes that much more needs to be done to improve the accessibility of future conferences. The current Standing Rule 17 (see below) is incompatible with an anti-ableist perspective. The JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) Ad Hoc Committee, including members of the AAAL disability community, has been established to continue to understand how the conference, in addition to the association as a whole, can disrupt ableist oppression and access barriers. Informed by feedback from AAAL members, they have been reviewing this policy.

As stated in the AAAL's Standing Rule 17: 

Adjudicated conference presentations may not be done solely by telecommunication procedures; at least one co-author must be physically present at the conference. 

i. Although in-person participation is prioritized, exceptions to this policy will be made in certain cases to allow for submission of a voice over PPT and speaker phone for Q&A segment with the session to be managed by a volunteer designated by the presenter who must be absent. Only if this is not possible, will the Conference Team designate a conference volunteer to do the task. These accommodations may be made in the following circumstances, with supporting documentation of eligibility:

1. Medical circumstance of self or immediate family member which prevents travel
2. Denial or rejection of visa beyond a time frame which reasonably allows for travel accommodations to the conference, at the Conference Chair’s discretion
3. Citizenship of or current residence in a “travel ban” country

In 2025, travel may still pose difficulties for some presenters due to COVID-19. Please read more here.

Questions

For questions regarding the procedural practicalities of how to submit a proposal or other technical questions, please contact info@aaal.org.

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