Doctoral Program in Second Language Acquisition

Katrina Daly Thompson, Department of African Cultural Studies, published the sole-authored book "Muslims on the Margins: Creating Queer Religious Community in North America"

(March 2023) In her new book, Katrina Daly Thompson draws extensively from conversations and interviews conducted both in person in North America and online in several international communities. Writing in a compelling narrative style that centers the real experiences and diverse perspectives of nonconformist Muslims, Thompson illustrates how these radical Muslims are forming a community dedicated to creative reinterpretations of their religion, critical questioning of established norms, expansive inclusion of those who are queer in various ways, and the creation of different religious futures. "Muslims on the Margins" is a powerful account of how Muslims are forging new traditions and setting precedents for a more inclusive community— one that is engaged with tradition, but not beholden to it.readers a comprehensive treatment of the theoretical and pedagogical dimensions of a Design orientation to L2 writing that will be of particular interest for L2 researchers, teachers, and teacher educators.

Three graduate students, Kazeem Sanuth, Sara Farsiu, and Kathryn Mara, received funding from the SLA PhD Program to assist Thompson with transcription and data analysis for this study.

Dianna Murphy, Language Institute, to receive 2023 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Leadership

(March 2023) This highly competitive academic staff excellence award recognizes demonstrated exceptional organizational leadership. In their review of nominations, the members of the Academic Staff Professional Development and Recognition Committee considered nominees' outstanding achievement and performance, personal interaction, and initiative and creativity, among other criteria. Thank you to Monika Chavez, SLA PhD Program director, who submitted the nomination and to SLA and other colleagues for their support!

Heather Willis Allen, Department of French and Italian, signs contract for the sole-authored book "A Design Orientation to Second Language Writing Instruction"

(Feb. 2023) The book "A Design Orientation to Second Language Writing Instruction" extends New Literacy Studies scholarship on multiliteracies pedagogy and Learning by Design and elaborates five principles of a Design orientation to second language (L2) writing instruction. The book examines topics including L2 writing as a multidimensional Designing process, multimodality and intertextuality as affordances for writing, and the roles of creativity and collaboration in writing and communicating about texts in a learning community. Presenting an approach to L2 writing instruction relevant for today’s diverse, multilingual educational contexts and ever-changing literacies, this book provides readers a comprehensive treatment of the theoretical and pedagogical dimensions of a Design orientation to L2 writing that will be of particular interest for L2 researchers, teachers, and teacher educators.
(Routledge's Multiliteracies and Second Language Education book series, Gabriela Zapata, editor)

Jacee Cho, Department of English, received Vilas Associates Award 2023-24

(Feb. 2023) The Vilas Associates award supports faculty research at UW-Madison in a wide variety of disciplines. Awardees are chosen from a pool of applicants based on a detailed research proposal. Professor Cho’s project title is “Multilingual Acquisition: Kazakh–Russian bilingual speakers’ L3 English Acquisition.” Thank you to Rajiv Rao, Language Sciences who submitted and to SLA colleagues for their support of the nomination!

Diego Román, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, recognized with Distinguished Teacher Award

(Jan. 2023) Twelve UW-Madison faculty members have been chosen to receive this year’s Distinguished Teaching Awards, an honor given out since 1953 to recognize some of the university’s finest educators. A ceremony will take place at 5 p.m. April 25 in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union.