SLA PhD student Greyson Xiao published an article on translanguaging silence and humor (The Modern Language Journal)
(January 2026) SLA PhD student Gengqi (Greyson) Xiao published an article on "Translanguaging silence and humor: Registering, resisting, and reconstructing identities in an English‐medium classroom in the United States" in the Modern Language Journal. It is based on a study that focuses on how student identities, constructed through silence and humor in a speech event, are used to explain academic concepts through translanguaging in sequential speech events.
K.D. Thompson, Religious Studies, published an article in The Oxford Handbook of Language Socialization
(December 2025) K.D. Thompson’s article “Language Socialization and Stability in Adulthood: Learning and Unlearning Gender and Sexual Normativity” highlights the importance of ongoing socialization and language learning in shaping adult identity and community belonging and argues that understanding the process of adult language socialization is crucial for creating more inclusive and equitable communicative practices around gender and sexuality.
SLA alum Kazeem Kẹ́hìndé Sanuth becomes the NALRC Director
(November, 2025) SLA alum Kazeem Kẹ́hìndé Sanuth has been appointed as the Director of the National African Language Resource Center (NALRC). Serving as the Associate Director of NALRC for five years, Kazeem has played a key role in advancing the NALRC's mission, the success of African language teaching and supporting professional development in the field.
Julia Goetze, Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic+ is featured in the News on the International Division Site
(October, 2025) Julia Goetze, Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic+, is highlighted in the Staff & Faculty News section of the site published by the UW-Madison International Division. The profile, titled “More Than Words: Language, Identity, and the Classroom”, explores Julia’s academic journey, her teaching philosophy and research interests, and her experiences navigating life in the U.S.
SLA PhD student Greyson Xiao published an article on rethinking translanguaging (Applied Linguistics)
(October, 2025) SLA PhD student Gengqi (Greyson) Xiao published an article on "Rethinking translanguaging: (Trans)bordering, spatiality, and academic discourse socialization in a graduate TESOL classroom" in the Applied Linguistics journal. It is based on a study that examines how an applied linguistics graduate course instructor socializes students into academic concepts and norms in a graduate TESOL class in the U.S. through (trans)bordering, a semiotic process in which individuals create, negotiate, and contest boundaries that define acceptable academic practices, identities, and modes of communication.
Julia Goetze, Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic+, published an article on language teachers' classroom emotions
(September, 2025) Julia Goetze's article "The Role of Language Teachers’ Appraisal Disposition and Situated Coping in the Experience of (Un)pleasant Emotion(s)", was published in the Journal for the Psychology of Language Learning. It is based on a study that used an integrated appraisal and motivation framework to examine the role of language teachers’ dispositional appraisal style (i.e., threat and challenge perception) in the self-assessment of their abilities to cope with situation-specific stressors and their experiences of (un)pleasant emotions across three distinct stressful classroom scenarios. Findings highlight the importance of examining situation factors as salient variables in language teachers’ emotion research.
SLA PhD student Thérèse Moua-Jasperson received 2026 AAAL Distinguished Service and Engaged Research Graduate Student Award
(September, 2025) SLA PhD student Thérèse Moua-Jasperson is the recipient of the 2026 AAAL Distinguished Service and Engaged Research Graduate Student Award (DSERG). The purpose of this award is to recognize outstanding scholarship and service by a graduate student that advances JEDI within AAAL and the wider field. Thérèse’s research examines Hmong writing development through a desire-based framework, which acknowledges the hardships and injustices faced by the Hmong while also emphasizing the aspirations, resilience, knowledge, and creativity that sustain them in the face of adversity. The Hmong refugee experience extends beyond physical resettlement; it includes their pursuit of linguistic rights through Hmong writing, which enables them to record and share their own stories in their mother tongue.
SLA alum Michelle Back published an article on translanguaging (The Modern Language Journal)
(September, 2025) Michele Back, SLA alum (currently at the University of Connecticut) published an article on "From Problem to Right: Imaginative Speculation on Translanguaging in the World Language Classroom" in the Modern Language Journal. It is based on a study that analyzed how 15 world language (WL) preservice and in-service teachers in the United States negotiated the concept of translanguaging in an online, asynchronous educational linguistics class.
Heather Willis Allen, Department of French and Italian, published a book on L2 writing instruction (Routledge)
(August, 2025) Heather Willis Allen's book "A Design Orientation to Second Language Writing Instruction" is now available from Routledge. In the book, Allen elaborates an approach to L2 writing instruction relevant for the diverse multilingual educational contexts and ever-changing literacies of the 21st century. A comprehensive introductory chapter which synthesizes recent history and current challenges in writing instruction for languages other than English is followed by chapters that link theory and practice, articulate principles of Design writing, and provide practical guidance for how instructors can implement Design writing instruction in ways that increase the relevance and value of writing for today's diverse learners. As well as being a valuable resource for researchers of second language acquisition and second language instructors at all levels of instruction, the book will also appeal to teacher educators and graduate students.
Julia Goetze, Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic+, published an article on individual psychological and work-related contextual factors in language teachers’ well-being
(August, 2025) Julia Goetze's article "Exploring the role of individual psychological and work-related contextual factors in language teachers’ well-being", was published in the Language Teaching Research. It is based on a survey study that explored the role of three psychological individual factors (trait emotional intelligence, emotion regulation style, and emotion regulation difficulty), one work-related individual factor (teaching experience), and one work-related contextual factor (class size) in different facets of language teachers’ well-being.
SLA PhD students Lilian Abunga and Ruth Adeniyi published a book review on an article by Jungmin Kwon
(August, 2025) SLA PhD students Lilian Abunga and Ruth Adeniyi published a book review in the Anthropology & Education Journal of the article "Understanding the Transnational Lives and Literacies of Young Immigrant Children" by Jungmin Kwon from the Michigan State University.
Gordon West, an SLA alumnus, will be joining the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore
(July, 2025) Gordon West, an SLA alumnus, will be joining the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore as an assistant professor. Starting September 1, Gordon will begin his new role in the Department of English Language and Literature in their National Institute of Education.
Julia Goetze, Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic+, published an article on language teacher anxiety and enjoyment
(July, 2025) Julia Goetze's article "A Longitudinal Examination of Changes in Language Teachers’ Anxiety and Enjoyment Using Growth Curve Modeling", was published in the Language Teaching Research Quarterly. It is based on a study that applies multiple aspects of Peter MacIntyre's work, including his conceptual models for learner ID variables such as willingness-to-communicate, anxiety, and enjoyment; advanced theoretical perspectives and approaches; and pioneered methodological innovations, such as the idiodynamic method, to the empirical investigation of language teacher individual differences.
SLA PhD Student Greyson Xiao published a book review on an article by Nelson Flores
(July, 2025) SLA PhD student Greyson Xiao published a book review in the International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism of the article "Becoming the System: A Raciolinguistic Genealogy of Bilingual Education in the Post-Civil Rights Era" by Nelson Flores from the University of Pennsylvania.
Junko Mori, Asian Languages and Cultures, published a commentary in The Modern Language Journal
(May, 2025) Junko Mori, Asian Languages and Cultures, published a response essay to an anchor article in The Modern Language Journal Perspectives section about the closing of the West Virginia University language department. In the commentary titled "Global Geopolitics, Migration, and Language Education in the United States", Mori discusses her professional journey, the broader geopolitical context, and language education—particularly the teaching and learning of languages other than English (LOTEs)—at UW–Madison and across the United States.
Dianna Murphy, Language Institute, received 2025 Stephen A. Freeman Award for Best Published Article
(April, 2025) Dianna Murphy, Language Institute Director, for being recognized as a co-author of “the most impactful article on teaching techniques published by a professional journal” in 2024! With colleagues from Michigan State University Koen Van Gorp, Emily Heidrich Uebel, and Felix A. Kronenberg, Dianna has been honored with the prestigious 2025 Stephen A. Freeman Award for Best Published Article, which was presented by the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (NECTFL).
The award-winning article, titled “How important is studying languages for undergraduate students and why (not) study languages?” is based on a partial replication of a study originally conducted by the Language Institute at UW-Madison. It explores the value undergraduate students place on proficiency in languages other than English (LOTEs) in terms of their personal interests, major(s), and career plans.
SLA PhD student Martiniano Etchart received 2024 AAAL Graduate Student Award
(February 2025) SLA PhD student Martiniano Etchart is one of only seven recipients of a merit-based 2024 American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL) Graduate Student Award. The award supports the attendance of AAAL graduate student members at the annual conference. Eligibility to apply is based on the quality of an accepted proposal for a poster or paper. Martiniano joins a small group of our program's alumni, including Peter De Costa (graduated 2011), Elizabeth Tremmel (2014), and Bingjie Zheng (2020) who received this award in the past.
WPR interview with K. D. Thompson, Religious Studies Program, on Celebrating African Languages
(August 2024) In their Wisconsin Public Radio interview, SLA director K.D. Thompson discusses their experience with learning, teaching, and researching African languages and cultures. In addition to addressing class, ethnicity, race, and other issues, they make a case for studying African languages at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, including the Multilanguage Seminar, a self-instructional model for learning less commonly taught African and other languages.