Winter 2016: Fourth Estate, #4

By TexTESOL IV

The Fourth Estate supports TexTESOL IV mission by promote scholarship; sharing information through publication and research, and promote high standards in the field of English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). VISION: The Fourth Estate seeks to facilitate this purpose in each publication by providing timely and relevant articles, information, and communication for each of following Interest Areas. These contributions serve as a means of communication between leaders and members, provide a forum for the exchange of ideas, experiences, questions, and insights, feature dialogue around issues of importance to the specific interest area, and nurture the professional growth of those working within those interest areas.

• Language: English
• Publisher: TexTESOLIV
• Release date: Jan 11, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386930068

TexTESOL IV

TexTESOL IV, one of five Texas TESOL International Association affiliates promotes scholarship the sharing of information and research through discussion and publication to promote high standards in the field of English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). TexTESOL IV Newsletter Editor, Alex Monceaux, is completing doctoral work in Global Educational Leadership at Lamar University. He relies heavily on the TexTESOL IV editorial staff – Rita McClelland, Assistant Editor - Website Publications, Carol Williams, Assistant Editor – Epublications, and Lindsey Pollock – Assistant Editor Marketing. In additionally, the work of the TexTESOL IV Editorial Review Board members Alan Larson, Jahnette Wilson, and Jennifer Guertin, is paramount  to this effort in publishing quality materials from global ESOL scholars.

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MISSION

The Fourth Estate supports TexTESOL IV mission by promote scholarship; sharing information through publication and research, and promote high standards in the field of English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL).

VISION:

The Fourth Estate seeks to facilitate this purpose in each publication by providing timely and relevant articles, information, and communication for each of following Interest Areas.  These contributions serve as a means of communication between leaders and members, provide a forum for the exchange of ideas, experiences, questions, and insights, feature dialogue around issues of importance to the specific interest area, and nurture the professional growth of those working within those interest areas.

Publication Information

ISSN (Print) 2379-5379  –  ISSN (Online) 2378-4822

Call for Papers

Spring 2017 Vol 33 (1): Building Reading Fluency & Writing Proficiency

Submissions Due March 5th, 2017

This edition of the Fourth Estate seeks articles and resources in the following themes:

Reading & Writing skills development

Developing a Reading Culture

Developing a Writing Culture

Discussion on current research and gaps in the research involving reading and writing instruction for ELLS

Formative and Summative Assessment of Reading & Writing skills

Increasing oral fluency when reading

Mitigating comprehension problems in ELLS

Suggestions for grounded research for the ELL classroom

Teaching Reading and Literacy Skills

Teaching Writing Skills

Where are the important resources that practitioners and researchers need?

Action based research summaries, book reviews, reading suggestions, and literature reviews are accepted as well as lesson plans, teaching strategies, and or teaching tips. Submission should follow APA format, contain no more than 10 references, be under 10 pages including resources, tables, graphs, and appendices. Authors should submit profession photos and bios with each article.

Make a Submission Online

The Fourth Estate is offered for free online, as well as for sale in print and e-readers formats through B&N, Kobo, Inktera,  24symbols, and  Scribd at the TexTESOL IV Bookstore.  Each month, the Fourth Estate, Online, receives  in excess of  9500 visitors from  235+ nations.  Additionally, the Fourth Estate is available in more than 39,000+ Academic Libraries and Institutions globally.

Letter from TESOL International

Association President, 2016-17

Greetings TexTESOL IV,

As some of you may know I taught at the University of Houston from 1997-2007, and it is an honor now to write you as President of TESOL International Association. I am particularly pleased to be writing in an issue of the Fourth Estate devoted to leadership and to share some of my thoughts on how we can be effective at it.

Engagement. Effective leadership is a product of cumulative experience. Good leaders know the ins and outs of the group they lead. They understand its structure, its processes, and how its members think. I first became involved with TESOL volunteer leadership in graduate school when I was elected student representative to the Board of Indiana’s TESOL Affiliate, INTESOL. When I was in Houston, I was elected chair of a TESOL International Association Interest Section. Over the years I have served on committees, task forces, and the editorial board of TESOL Quarterly; I have been an Associate Chair for the international convention, and served on the Board of Directors. With each new opportunity, I found that I had a deeper understanding on the one hand of the Association—its rules, entities, and goals—and on the other, a better appreciation for things like a clear agenda, effective use of meeting time, and the importance of clear communication. It is true that you have to start somewhere, but once you start pay attention and learn. Much of what I know about leadership did not come from a book or a seminar; I learned it from sustained engagement.

Perspective. For a leader to be effective, they need to understand that the views of the people they are leading are heavily influenced by the engagements those people have had – their perspectives. In associations especially, the people we lead are involved in the association out of choice and a desire to contribute. We should never assume that critical comments or puzzling actions are coming from a desire to undermine or damage the association. We have to think carefully, therefore, about what are the experiences and goals that shaped perspectives that are different from our own. Most of my teaching experience has been in Higher Education, so I tend to take for granted a relatively high degree of job security and control over how I spend my time. I have to be careful to realize that people working in K-12 settings, for example, have less control over their time and more fixed job performance criteria that they must satisfy. Colleagues working in Community Colleges or private institutes, on the other hand, are often employed contingent on enrollment and so become very concerned about factors that affect enrollment. Similarly, within the Association, members may have engaged primarily through a single Interest Section or by attending the convention; therefore, it may be harder for them to think about the need for other Association programs such as online courses and publications and that those programs’ costs must be balanced with the needs of their own constituency. If we are to be effective leaders, we must first listen and understand the perspectives that motivate our group members’ comments and actions and where appropriate be ready to share other perspectives that will help them broaden their views.

Mission. TESOL International Association has a Mission:. Advancing the quality of English language teaching through professional development, research, standards, and advocacy. As a leader in the Association, this mission along with TESOL’s Core Values and Vision  provide me with a sense of direction for decision-making. When multiple perspectives emerge with respect to a possible new project, the mission provides me with a criterion that I can invoke, a basis for arguing for a particular option. If we are evaluating a current activity, it provides me with a ready question: how does this activity advance the quality of ELT? Collectively TESOL’s mission, values, and vision remind me that I am accountable to the greater good of the Association and cannot be guided solely by my own opinions or perspective. They also provide me with a ready benchmark when I begin to think about my success as a leader.

Individual Vision. TESOL’s Mission, Values, and Vision establish useful guidelines, but they should be complemented by individual vision. Last October I attended the Society of Pakistani English Language Teachers conference in Karachi. In a plenary devoted to leadership there, Dr. Nasreen Hussain shared a saying that really stuck with me: "a leader does the right thing; a manager does things right." There are many people who may be good at managing a charge; they know what past people in their position have done; they have metrics for success; and they see their role as simply making sure that what is supposed to happen happens. I would argue that such people are great managers, but not necessarily leaders.

Leaders go beyond what has been done to what can be done. They know the group because they have been engaged in a meaningful and sustained way. They understand and value the individual perspectives of the people they are working with while maintaining a sense of the whole. They also know the mission and strategic direction that the group has established as goals and boundaries for action. Equipped with these