2026 Plenary Speakers
2026 Plenary Speakers:
Sible Andringa
Becky Huang
Scott Jarvis
Kimberly Noels
Ruanni Tupas
Towards Equitable Open Access: Reimagining Publishing Practices for Applied Linguistics
In recent years, the field of applied linguistics has made significant strides towards more transparent research practices. Journals in our field almost always offer options for open access publication and wonderful repositories have been developed that allow scholars to share their research instruments, analysis scripts, and datasets. This leads to more transparency and better opportunities to profit from each other’s wisdom. We have also witnessed the creation of databases that make our research accessible far beyond academic communities, such as the OASIS database and the Language Learning Task Bank, which significantly contribute to increasing the impact of the research generated by our field.
These wonderful developments are driven by our desire to be more visible as scholars, to produce better research, and to allow anyone to benefit from our findings. Meanwhile, the publishing industry has recognized these desires and has managed to turn open access publication into a highly profitable enterprise. A recent study estimates that scientists collectively paid $8.349 billion in open access fees to six large publishers between 2019 and 2023, with figures in 2023 tripling compared to those in 2019. Publishing open access has become big business to such a large extent that our goals of increased transparency, equity, and better science are jeopardized. Open access publishing is primarily available to affluent scholars, and so-called ‘predatory’ publishing has emerged, which is driven more by economic concerns than quality concerns. These developments pose serious threats to the diversity and trustworthiness of the research our field generates.
We are increasingly caught in a system where our ideological and personal desires may, in fact, fuel the rapid commercialization of open access publishing, which in turn leads us away from the very goals the open science movement aims to achieve. In this talk, I will delve into these dynamics, discuss the forces at play, and present data that offer insights into how we can move towards publication practices that are truly equitable.
Sible Andringa is a full professor of second language pedagogy at the modern foreign languages department of the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He specializes in second language acquisition and take a keen interest in bi- or multilingual development in educational settings. His research focuses on the role of metalinguistic awareness in language learning. He investigate the cognitive mechanisms underlying language learning, the role of individual differences, and the impact of instructional methods. His work spans a variety of educational settings, including projects on bilingual development in early childhood education and care and emerging literacy in adult education. Sible values transparency and openness in research highly. He was part of the initial OASIS team and is still involved as co-lead (https://www.oasis-database.org). He is also editor-in-chief of the Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics (DuJAL), a journal that flipped from a subscription-based model to a free-of-charge open access model.
Language and Literacy Assessment for Young Multilingual Learners: Myths, Challenges, and Promises
Due to globalization and immigration trends, the number of children growing up learning more than one language has increased rapidly worldwide. These multilingual learners may acquire an additional language through either majority language immersion contexts or formal instructed learning contexts. This growing population underscores the pressing need for fair and effective assessments of their language and literacy development. Assessments of language and literacy development also carry significant implications for educational equity and practice. This talk focuses on the assessment of K-12 multilingual learners, encompassing evaluations of both English and languages other than English. I will begin by addressing common myths surrounding language and literacy assessment for this population, followed by an exploration of three key challenges faced by educators and researchers: (1) the heterogeneity within the young multilingual population, (2) the complex connections between language and content knowledge, and (3) the difficulty of distinguishing between typical multilingual development and language learning difficulties. Finally, I will discuss future directions for multilingual assessment, with particular attention to the role of technology in shaping modern assessment practices.
Becky Hsuanhua Huang is a Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the Ohio State University and a faculty associate at the Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy. She is also affiliated with the East Asian Studies Center and the Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in Second Language Studies. Trained in applied linguistics and educational psychology, Dr. Huang specializes in language and literacy development and assessment, particularly among young multilingual learners. Her research has been supported by federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and the Institute of Education Sciences as well as private foundations such as Educational Testing Service and the Language Learning Journal. She has also received funding from the U.S. Department of Education to support teacher professional development and to lead a summer study abroad program for pre-service teachers. Dr. Huang has published extensively in applied linguistics and education research. She currently serves an Associate Editor for Educational Assessment, and is an active editorial board member for Language Testing, TESOL Quarterly, and other leading journals. Her contributions have been recognized with several awards, including the 2023 Mid-Career Award from the American Educational Research Association (AERA).
Applied Linguistics and the Law: Synergy in Research and Practice
Due in large part to the successes of recent collaborations between applied linguists and legal professionals, lawyers and judges are increasingly recognizing the value of linguistic analysis and seeking expert testimony from applied linguists. Importantly, applied linguists’ participation in legal processes benefits not only the legal system but also the field of applied linguistics. Understanding and attempting to solve language-related problems that arise in the legal domain can lead applied linguists to formulate valuable new research questions, develop new methodological solutions, and generate new empirical findings that will move our field forward.
In this talk, I begin with a brief overview of language and the law, highlighting core areas of forensic linguistics and statutory interpretation. I illustrate the stages of a typical court case and draw attention to the points along that path where linguistic expertise may be relevant, and, when it is, what types of questions linguists attempt to answer. I also offer a few examples of interesting court cases that linguistic experts have been involved in, the methods they have relied on, the evidence they have presented, and the outcomes of these cases.
Building on these themes, I describe how my involvement in court cases and collaborations with fellow linguists, students, and legal professionals has shaped a research agenda where the research priorities of the field of applied linguistics regarding comprehension and comprehensibility intersect with the practical needs of the legal system in relation to Miranda Rights comprehension and the comprehensibility of jury instructions.
Scott Jarvis is a professor in the Department of English at Northern Arizona University, where he holds the title of Stoller-Grabe Endowed Distinguished Chair in Applied Linguistics. Born in Arizona and raised in Missouri, Scott spent two years in Finland as a missionary, where he learned Finnish and developed a keen interest in linguistics. He earned a BA in Linguistics from Brigham Young University, followed by an MA in Applied Linguistics and a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University, with a concentration in second language acquisition.
He has been a faculty member and department chair in the Linguistics departments at Ohio University and the University of Utah. His research focuses on crosslinguistic influence, lexical diversity, and forensic linguistics. In forensic linguistics, his research primarily examines how nonnative speakers of English comprehend the Miranda warning. His work on language and the law also explores linguistic evidence in confessions and the comprehensibility of jury instructions.
He has authored six books and numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of the journal Language Learning.
A Perspective on Language Learning from the Intersection of Psychology, Communication and Applied Linguistics
Abstract coming soon
De-centering Language in Applied Linguistics
Applied Linguistics is fixated on language, and understandably so since our main concern is to investigate language-related problems and find language-related solutions. But at what cost? If our entry point to exploring social phenomena is language – think of ‘What is the role of language in…?’ – what does our de facto privileging of language mean to our research and the production of knowledge in our field? In this presentation, I explore the possibilities of de-centering language in applied linguistics where we begin not with language, but with the people and communities who use ‘language’. This cuts across different research traditions because even with the ones which are immersive, holistic and context-sensitive, ‘language’ remains the entry point of investigation. I then unpack the political and ideological ramifications of such an exploration for citation politics and knowledge production. This talk does not have any illusions of articulating something new or different. My aim is to explore the ontological and epistemological implications for centering — and de-centering — ‘language’ in our work. What does it say about the world we are researching if our entry point to this world is 'language'; and how might things be different in our research practices if we de-centered language from our study of language?
Ruanni Tupas is an Aklanon/Filipino scholar specializing in language education, multilingualism, and the politics of knowledge production. He is an Associate Professor of Sociolinguistics in Education at the Centre for Applied Linguistics, Institute of Education, University College London. He has taught at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, the National University of Singapore, and the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. He has worked extensively in teacher education across Southeast Asia, focusing on Unequal Englishes, multilingual pedagogies, and postcolonial language policies. He is also an Associate Editor of the International Journal of the Sociology of Language. Actively engaged in public scholarship, he has spoken on Unequal Englishes with Michael Rosen on BBC Radio, collaborated on a multilingual advocacy video with Filipino pop group ALAMAT, appeared on podcasts, and is regularly consulted and cited in global op-eds and features on the politics of language. Recently, he co-delivered a master class in Sociolinguistics in Education with the National Educators’ Academy of the Philippines, attended live by over 30,000 educators, with more than 100,000 earning Continuing Professional Development units.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001vsdp