AAAL 2025 Conference - Denver, Colorado

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Relational Accountability as a Framework for Language Work ... Indigenous and Beyond

There is a longstanding practice across language sciences of discussing language separately from the personal lives, communicative practices, and embodied experiences of colonial oppression that members of Native American and other Indigenous language communities have (Davis, 2017). Even in applied language sciences, where sociopolitical context tends to receive stronger focus, engaging with language in academic contexts can still privilege dominant language ideologies, categories, and pedagogies, thereby alienating members of Indigenous communities and scholars who are allied with these communities. Not surprisingly, Indigenous people remain underrepresented in Applied Linguistics, and those who do engage the field often report negative experiences, noting that the field does not adequately include, represent, or help us and our communities. But it does not have to be this way.

What changes when Native American and other Indigenous intellectual approaches serve as the baseline from which language, languaging, and other areas of applied linguistics are approached? The purpose of this presentation is to engage this broad question both with the specific goal of improving how applied linguists engage with Indigenous languages and language communities, and also with the more general objective of probing and shifting disciplinary praxis in Applied Linguistics as a whole. To do this, I draw upon ideas from Indigenous Studies, particularly two core values that are foundational in my Miami community and in many other Indigenous communities. One is relationality, operationalized for this presentation as “the worldview that everything is interrelated, and by extension, interdependent” (Venegas and Leonard 2023, 333). Ensuing is the notion of relational accountability, which calls not only for recognizing and honoring relationships to land, community, and intergenerational knowledge, among other areas, but also provides a framework for applied linguists to responsibly support Indigenous communities and their language efforts. Relational frameworks call for disciplinary praxis that firmly recognizes how community language shift results from disruptions to relationships due to colonial oppressions and dispossessions, and that by extension, language reclamation requires accountability to the linguistic sovereignty that Indigenous language communities already have and to fostering new relationships to language that they seek to have

Wesley Y. Leonard (he/him) is a citizen of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and an associate professor of Native American Studies in the Ethnic Studies department at the University of California, Riverside. Drawing from his PhD in Linguistics (University of California, Berkeley, 2007) and experience as an additional language learner and practitioner in myaamia and other community-based language programs, his research aims to build language reclamation capacity in Native American and other Indigenous communities by cultivating language reclamation praxis, which centers community needs, values, and definitions of language, while also changing the norms of language sciences to facilitate such work. As part of this, he co-developed the Natives4Linguistics project, which promotes Native American needs, research and ethical protocols, and intellectual tools as a basis for doing linguistics. His scholarship appears in a variety of outlets such as Gender and Language, Language Documentation and Description, Dædalus, Language, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, and Language Learning.

Associated colloquia: Barbara Meek and Adrienne Tsikewa

The Asianization of Linguicism: Language Policies as Racializing the Asian Diaspora

The Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) diaspora is often ascribed as the racial community that has achieved relative success compared to other groups of color, yet this model minority myth is used discursively and materially to reproduce Whiteness and anti-Blackness.The racialized romanticization of this Asian model also maps onto language with English being plotted along a continuum of approaching to attaining proficiency, even among AAPIs who claim English as their only language. Such constructions around linguistic authenticity and attainment are grounded in the European ideals of meritocracy assuming that one’s hard work will ultimately generate full inclusion. Yet linguistic and racial ascriptions of AAPIs are co-naturalized, constructing them as incomplete citizens or foreigners, regardless of generational or language identity. Thus, the specialization or customization of treatment within educational and language policy is less necessary, creating the conditions for relative invisibility and erasure. This concocted matrix of hyper success in comparison to other groups of color, coupled with critiques of their full linguistic attainment/performance unsettles the theory of the racial bourgeoise, returning us to historic and contemporary narratives of suspicion and disposability. Visibility or hypervisibility.
Drawing from racial triangulation theory (Kim, 1999; 2018; 2023), raciolinguistic (Alim et. al, 2016; Flores & Rosa, 2015) and LangCrit perspectives (Crump, 2014), this talk traces the history of the Asianization of linguicism. I examine how racial and linguistic visibility and invisibility are co-naturalized, normalizing the conditions for racial and linguistic subjugation of Asian minds and bodies through humor, scapegoating, and emotional and physical violence. Beginning with the Chinese Exclusion Act and moving forward to the educational reforms of the War on Poverty and the language rights case of Lau v. Nichols (1974) to the present, I map how AAPI ethnolinguistic communities are the maleficiaries within educational and language policy. A matrix is furnished for scholars to expand such work within their distinct ethnolinguistic communities and exploration of their claimed and intersecting racial and linguistic identities..

Trish Morita-Mullaney is an Associate Professor in Literacy and Language at Purdue University with a courtesy appointment in Asian American Studies and serves as the Co-Director of the Center for Literacy and Language Education and Research. Her research focuses on the intersections between language, race, national origin, and gender identities and how this informs the identity acts of educators within multilingual communities. Guided by critical and feminist thought, she examines these intersectional identities and how they inform the logics of educational decision making for multilingual individuals and families. As a former ESL and bilingual teacher and administrator, she draws from her experiences and relationships within schools, programs, and communities to understand the assemblages of economic, political, and social capital. Her newly published book with Multilingual Matters, “Lau v. Nichols and Chinese American Language Rights: The Sunrise and Sunset of Bilingual Education” examines the Lau v. Nichols (1974) language rights case as developed, experienced, and implemented by the Chinese American community of San Francisco’s Chinatown. With co-editors Khánh Lê, Zhongfeng Tian, and Alisha Nguyen, she has a forthcoming edited volume entitled, “The long overdue voice: Asian Americans in Bilingualism and Bilingual Education” capturing the narratives of the Asian diaspora within bilingual education. 

Associated colloquia: Chris Montecillo Leider and Kevin Wong

An Intersectional Look at Critical Applied Linguistics: Current Research, Future Directions, and Some Skeptical Remarks 

Critical applied linguists have been engaged in justice-oriented scholarship for decades although this area of research has grown exponentially and received more attention in recent years. It is through this critical scholarship, in the form of empirical research, theoretical engagement, and advocacy that critical applied linguistics brings together different ways of knowing and responds to global injustices and the growing global inequality. In this talk, by amplifying voices of critical applied linguists and maintaining a critical and sometimes highly skeptical stance towards existing critical scholarship and advocacy efforts, I aim to engage in newer theorizations of intersectionality, discuss invisible and left-out intersectionalities in critical applied linguistics, and discuss ways to increase our collective efforts for intersectional advocacy and justice.  I first begin with a short overview of the major lines of research in critical applied linguistics, especially in relation to global migration and related social changes and crises. This critical engagement is guided by intersectionality, a framework that aims to understand the privilege and oppression through an analysis of the complex interplay of identities and intersecting forms of power. Next, I discuss a future research agenda aimed at re-theorizing intersectionality for critical applied linguistics, by challenging but respecting intersectionality’s primary focus on race and the Global North, as well as re-envisioning education from K-12 to teacher professional learning through an intersectional lens. I conclude with interrogating intersectional advocacy within the field, with the goal of promoting intersectional efforts and practices in and for multiply-marginalized bodies and communities.  

Dr. Hayriye Kayi-Aydar is an associate professor of English Applied Linguistics at the University of Arizona, where she teaches in the MA TESL and Interdisciplinary PhD SLAT programs. Often using narrative inquiry and discourse analysis approaches, her research focuses on the intersectional identities and agency of teachers in multilingual contexts. She has served or is serving on editorial boards for various journals including TESOL Quarterly; Journal of Language, Identity, and Education; ELT Journal; and Linguistics and Education. Dr. Kayi-Aydar is the author of Positioning theory in applied linguistics: Research design and applications (Palgrave MacMillan, 2019) and Critical applied linguistics: An intersectional introduction (Routledge, 2024), as well as the co-editor of five books on language teacher education.  

Associated colloquia: Yasmine Romero

Cultivating Togetherness in Applied Linguistics Research: turbulence, in difference, non-racialism

Relational accountability hinges on developing good relationships and bringing into permanency relationalities across the lifespan of practitioners and those who document (to put it simply) what goes on where, how and why. The process that follows such accountability concerns the cultivation of togetherness and a shared understanding of the contribution the applied linguistic researcher and research participant brings to such a process. Such a relationality emerges as part of a process and practice that produces togetherness that though initially begins on an uneven footing is found in how each one establishes a common understanding of togetherness. But relationality requires work. It’s hard work. And relational accountability as the cultivation of togetherness, on equal grounds, can never be critically assumed or taken for granted.   

In this talk, I firstly introduce the notions of turbulence, in difference and non-racialism in an attempt to expand the remit of relational accountability in applied linguistics research. I argue, following on from above, that in our collaborative research efforts, we are confronted with cultivating togetherness as a shared practice and substitute connections and implementations to see and hear non-racial human beings in our research process. Yet, how we arrive at such an endeavor emerges out of (1) ‘disruptive happenings’ (tensions, contradictions and creative disagreements), that is, turbulence; (2) an indexing of in difference, that is, the working out in togetherness of the discourse and practices of difference to manage embodied communication and relationalities; and (3) casting relational accountability in the mould of human mutuality as non-racialism and as foundational to relational accountability in applied linguistics research. These are the binds that make the cultivation of togetherness possible. In the second part of the talk, I illustrate these binds by drawing on several applied linguistic studies of turbulence, in difference and the linking of human mutuality to non-racialism. I conclude the talk by offering several directions on the future of togetherness as a methodological framework in applied linguistics research. 

Quentin Williams is Director of the Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research (CMDR) and Full Professor of Linguistics in the Linguistics Department at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). He was previously the Ghent Chair Professor (Leerstoel Houer) at the Centre for Afrikaans and the study of South Africa at Ghent University (Belgium) in 2022. He is Co-Editor of the journal Multilingual Margins: a journal of Multilingualism from the periphery, founder and chairperson of the Society for the Advancement of Kaaps (SAK), and co-founder of the Heal the Hood Hip Hop Lecture Series, a forum for the African Hip Hop Indaba. His research interests include multilingualism, linguistic citizenship, popular culture (specifically Hip Hop language and culture), youth multilingualism, marginal multilingual practices in markets, the intellectualisation of Kaaps (also known as Afrikaaps), language activism, Kaaps (Afrikaaps) gospel music. He has published in sociolinguistic and applied linguistic journals, including the journals of Applied Linguistics, Applied Linguistics Reviews and Sociolinguistic Studies. His most recent books are Global Hiphopography, with Jaspal Singh (Palgrave, 2023) and Struggles for Multilingualism and Linguistic Citizenship with Tommaso Milani and Ana Deumert (Multilingual Matters, 2022). Previously, he authored Remix Multilingualism (Bloomsbury Press, 2017), and co-edited Neva Again: Hip Hop Art, Activism and Education in post-apartheid South Africa (HSRC Press, 2019, with Adam Haupt, H Samy Alim and Emile YX?), and Making Sense of People and Place in Linguistic Landscapes (Bloomsbury, 2018, with Amiena Peck and Christopher Stroud). He leads the Trilingual Dictionary of Kaaps (TWK) project that will develop the first dictionary of Kaaps (Afrikaaps) (see here: www.dwkaaps.co.za).    

Associated colloquia: Jaspal Singh

Toward an Anticolonial World Language Curriculum

In recent years, antiracist, anticolonial, and justice-centered approaches to the teaching and learning of world languages have gained much momentum and visibility. However, we are at a crossroads. Just as researchers and educators have embraced these pedagogies, the pushback against such ideologies and associated pedagogies has also gained momentum. This pushback has attempted to limit classroom and societal discourse relating even to broad concepts such as race, diversity, and inclusion. In particular, recent reactions from institutions have shown that the consequences for anticolonial solidarity and activism have been severe. So where do we go from here? In this presentation, I turn our attention to the curriculum as a site of activism, as it is a space that reflects the content, voices, perspectives, competencies, and skills that we value and deem worthy of instruction. Although national, state, and local language curriculums often broadly allude to concepts of diversity, cultures, and communities as integral components of a language education, the framing of and focus on proficiencies and competencies reflect a coloniality that is steeped in capitalist pursuits and marketplace ideologies. I argue that an anticolonial, abolitionist perspective enables us to reimagine what the purpose of a language education is, who a language education is for, and what successful language learning entails.

The World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages (The National Standards Collaborative Board, 2015) is the most ubiquitous curricular framework for teaching languages in US contexts, and it also provides the theoretical foundation for state curriculums and textbook content. As such, I use these standards as a starting point for exploring how we got to where we are and how we can move forward. I begin by exploring common ways that the field has conceptualized such notions as proficiency, competency, culture, and community. I then present a framework for an anticolonial language curriculum that 1) recognizes how anticoloniality intersects with other justice-centered frameworks such as racial and linguistic justice, and 2) incorporates the language and ideologies associated with broader social movements for justice and abolition. In line with the conference theme of “relational accountability,” I draw upon Indigenous research and knowledges to guide us as we imagine the possibilities of an anticolonial curricular framework for world language education.

Dr. L. J. Randolph Jr. is an Assistant Professor of World Language Education and affiliate faculty in Second Language Acquisition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Randolph’s teaching career has spanned over 20 years, including a decade as a Spanish and ESL teacher at the secondary level. His research and teaching focus on various critical issues in language education, including teaching Spanish as a heritage, home, or community language; incorporating justice-centered, anti-racist, and anti-colonial pedagogies; and centering Blackness and Indigenousness. He is a co-editor of the book How We Take Action: Social Justice in PK-16 Classrooms (Information Age Publishing). An advocate for abolitionist, liberationist, and transformative language education, Dr. Randolph is the 2024 president of ACTFL and a former president of FLANC and AATSP-NC.

Associated colloquia: Aris Clemons and Tasha Austin

AAAL 2025 is pleased to provide three

pre-conference workshops.

They will be held at the University of Colorado, Denver on Friday, March 21st from 9:00 AM-4:00 PM MST

Creativity in applied linguistics: Drawing on the literary, visual, and performing arts in our research 

Designing and Publishing High Quality Replication Studies in Applied Linguistics

Workshop Abstract

Narrative inquiry methodologies in applied linguistics have gained legitimacy and significant visibility in recent decades, particularly in areas such as language teaching and learning, teacher education, and identity (Barkhuizen, Benson & Chik, 2025; Hiratsuka, 2022). This workshop begins by providing a broad overview of narrative inquiry in applied linguistics, focusing particularly on the types of data collected and methods of analysis. Teacher-researchers, teacher educators, early career researchers in applied linguistics and also more experienced researchers wishing to learn about narrative approaches will gain an understanding of the rationale for using narrative methods in applied linguistics, their main goals, and their limitations. Central to this discussion will be the concept of ‘story’ – what stories are, how they can be used for research purposes, and how sharing stories has implications for researcher reflexivity, including emotional and relational reflexivity. 

Participants will be introduced to a variety of methods for narrative data collection and analysis, including thematic analysis, the analysis of narrative frames, multimodal and digital narrative analysis, short story analysis, and writing as analysis. Participants will have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience using them with authentic data provided in the workshop. They are also invited to bring their own narrative data to share and to collaboratively analyze (details to be provided closer to the workshop). Participants will work in small groups and present the outcome of their work to other participants and the presenters, who will provide constructive feedback throughout the workshop. The workshop will conclude with a discussion on the reporting of narrative findings, such as their representation and format, including in dissertations, and theses. 

Workshop Presenter

Gary Barkhuizen is professor of applied linguistics at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. His teaching and research interests are in the areas of language teacher education, teacher and learner identity, study abroad, and narrative inquiry, and these are reflected in his many publications, conference presentations, and books, which include Narrative Research in Applied Linguistics (2013) (Cambridge), Reflections on Language Teacher Identity Research (2017) (Routledge), Qualitative Research Topics in Language Teacher Education (2019) (Routledge), Language Teacher Educator Identity (2012) (Cambridge), and Narrative Inquiry in Language Teaching and Learning Research (2nd Edn) (2025) (Routledge). In 2017 he won the TESOL International Association’s award for Distinguished Research.

Takaaki Hiratsuka is professor of applied linguistics at Ryukoku University, Japan. His teaching and research interests lie in the areas of teacher education, teacher research, and qualitative research methods (in particular, narrative inquiry). His recent book publications include Narrative inquiry into Language Teacher Identity: ALTs in the JET Program (2022) (Routledge), Team Teachers in Japan: Beliefs, Identities, and Emotions (2023) (Routledge), and Native-Speakerism and Trans-Speakerism: Entering a New Era (2024) (Cambridge). 

>>>Back to AAAL 2025

Requesting ADA Accommodations for the 2025 AAAL Conference

AAAL Travel Policy

AAAL Policy on Harassment

Conference Cancellation Policy

Health & Safety Guidelines

Dependent Children Event Attendance Policy

Photography Waiver

AAAL Privacy & Data Use Notice

Requesting ADA Accommodations for the 2025 AAAL Conference
 

AAAL aims to carve out more accessible spaces and practices during the 2025 Conference in Denver, CO, and at future conferences. Everyone who is interested in attending the 2025 AAAL Conference is welcome to seek accommodations/adjustments to meet your disability and special needs via this form. You are not required to disclose your disability or identity status when making such requests. For issues related to hotel reservation, please contact the hotel directly.

The Conference Organizing Team kindly asks that accommodation requests be submitted by January 16, 2025 so that your request will most effectively be supported. If you have missed this date, feel free to make your requests anyway. The conference team will do their best to accommodate all requests.
 
Among possible accommodations, the 2025 Conference has a limited number of Zoom-enabled slots that allow for the remote delivery of presentations. Presenters for whom in-person participation presents a serious health risk will be prioritized in the allocation of these slots.

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 and is currently under review. A Working Group, including members of the AAAL disability community, has been established to understand how the conference can disrupt ableist oppression and access barriers. 

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. 

1. 1. 1. Although in-person participation is prioritized, exception to this policy will be made in certain cases to allow for video-recorded presentations or online synchronous presentations. The Q&A segment for online synchronous sessions will be managed by a student volunteer. Accommodation requests for the following will be given priority:

1. 1. 1. 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.

AAAL Policy on Harassment

AAAL is committed to providing and maintaining a safe and welcoming environment for all members and participants in all its professional activities and spaces. It does not tolerate discrimination or any forms of harassment based on race, ethnicity, color, gender, sexual orientation, religion, language, national origin, ancestry, disability, appearance, marital status, caste, age, and other constructions of difference. It is the responsibility of the community as a whole to promote an inclusive and positive environment for all association activities. Any violations of this policy should be reported to TellSomeone@aaal.org.

Your message will be relayed by the Business Office to the AAAL President and/or other members of the AAAL Executive Committee as necessary. Reports will be kept as confidential to the extent possible and be investigated thoroughly. Anyone found to be in violation of this policy will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action.

Conference Cancellation Policy

Refunds due to cancellation will be processed as follows:

• Cancellation on or before February 10, 2025 at 11:59 PM EST - Refund 70% of registration fee
• Cancellation on or after February 11, 2025 at 12:00 AM EST - No refund due to cancellation

If registered at a member rate and membership expires prior to the last published date of conference, you will be contacted in advance of conference to either renew membership, or pay the difference between the member registration rate and non-member registration rate. Should renewal not be completed prior to arriving onsite, the membership will need to be renewed onsite or the difference in the non-member and member rate collected prior to entering the conference.

Please note: All cancellation requests must be made in writing to info@aaal.org.

Membership fees are non-refundable.

Health & Safety Guidelines

AAAL 2025 organizers are following the safety guidelines and protocols of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel. The American Association for Applied Linguistics asks for your help to ensure the safety of all attendees at this event, which will operate consistent with CDC, state, and venue guidance and restrictions related to COVID-19. Participants will receive a logistics email one-week prior to the Conference with this and additional information.

These are our expectations for participation based on existing rules and best practices:

• Vaccines: AAAL strongly recommends that attendees are vaccinated or have a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of participation. The AAAL 2025 conference team will not be checking for proof during the conference. 
• Masks: Regardless of vaccination status, masks will be optional for all indoor events.*
• Personal Responsibility: If you are exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms or believe you encountered someone with COVID-19, please get a test and refrain from attending any Conference events.
• Sanitizing Stations: Will be available throughout the hotel, especially in high traffic areas.

The above approach is consistent with current guidelines but may be subject to change. We are looking forward to seeing you in March 2025, and we thank you for your cooperation to enable everyone to have a healthy experience.

*AAAL 2025 is a family friendly event. If you are in one of our family friendly designated spaces (i.e., the family resting area or mother’s room) masks are strongly recommended.

Dependent Children Event Attendance Policy

The AAAL Annual Conference is family friendly. We welcome your children and dependents to attend conference sessions and events. Our utmost concern is for the safety and security of our attendees and their children. For the purposes of this policy, “children” are defined as birth children, step children, adopted children, and dependents. If you are bringing children with you to the AAAL Conference, please note the following:

• There will be a "create your own" name badge station for children who are with a registered attendee of the AAAL Conference.
• For the safety of children attending AAAL, children under 18 years of age must be accompanied by an adult guardian at all times.
• Children may be brought into all conference sessions. If the child becomes a serious distraction to other attendees, we ask that the parent step out to address the needs of the child and then reenter the session.
• For safety reasons, children under 18 will not have access to the exhibition area during the move-in and move-out periods.
• AAAL and the conference hotel are not able to provide childcare during the conference.
• AAAL is not responsible or liable for any child or dependent attendees that are attending the AAAL 2025 Conference Sessions with a conference registrant. Each adult guardian is responsible for the supervision and safety of the accompanying child or dependent.

Photography Waiver

Registration and attendance at, or participation in, AAAL meetings and other activities constitutes an agreement by the registrant to AAAL's use and distribution (now and in the future) of the registrant or attendee’s image or voice in photographs, videotapes, electronic reproductions and audiotapes of such events and activities.

AAAL Privacy & Data Use Notice

For all AAAL Privacy & Data Use Notice, please click here.

Questions?

Please reach out to info@aaal.org if you have any questions about any of these policies.

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