SOLL Researchers Presenting at an International Applied Linguistics Conference 

The Applied Linguistics in Aotearoa New Zealand (ALANZ)-Applied Linguistics Association of Australia-Association for Language Testing and Assessment of Australia and New Zealand (ALTAANZ) Joint Conference was held in Wellington, New Zealand from 25 to 27 November, 2022. It was the first time that the three professional organisations co-organised a conference. A total of 11 SOLL researcher presented their research at this conference. These presentations covered key areas in applied linguistics including second language acquisition, language learning and teaching, language testing and assessment, as well as learner autonomy. 

Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor Gillian Wigglesworth was invited to give a plenary talk on The language/s of Indigenous children living in remote Australia. In the talk, Professor Wigglesworth examined the languages that children from remote communities in Western Australia are speaking. Children who mainly speak Aboriginal English and/or traditional Indigenous languages demonstrated flexibility and sensitivity in their language use. However, children who speak a traditional Indigenous language as their main language faced more challenges in their early years despite the effort to promote bilingualism in their schools.

Menghan Wang presenting at the conference. Photo by Carrie Peng. 

On the morning of the first day of the conference, Dr. Kellie Frost and Dr. Janne Morton gave a talk on Challenging deficit perspectives: International students’ academic literacy socialisation in an Australian postgraduate degree program. In the afternoon, Xingcheng Wang and Dr. Helen Zhao presented a study on The role of affixal neutrality, formedness of derivational relation, and L2 proficiency in L2 derivational awareness. This was followed by Menghan Wang and Dr. Helen Zhao’ presentation titled Schematic Diagrams in the Processing of English Prepositional Phrases.

Xingcheng Wang presenting at the conference. Photo by Carrie Peng.

On the second day of the conference, Jingxuan Wu reported on a study, Proficiency and Topic Extension Sequence in Second Language Mandarin Chinese Discussion, on behalf of himself and Professor Carsten Roever. Leila Zohali presented a paper on Human vs. Automated Feedback: An Exploratory Study of Students’ Perceptions. Xingcheng Wang shared findings from his and Professor Carsten Roever’ research, Interactional competence in online text chat: Realization of entitlement and contingency in L2 requests. 

Jingxuan Wu presenting at the conference. Photo by Niles Zhao.

Leila Zohali presenting at the conference. Photo by Carrie Peng.

On the last day of the conference, Associate Professor Neomy Storch, Dr. Helen Zhao and Dr. Janne Morton gave a talk on Multiple perspectives on group work in a multilingual context. At the same time, Carrie Peng presented her work, Comparing Individual and Collaborative Processing of Teacher Feedback. Concurrently, Niles Zhao presented a paper, “It had good discriminating power’’: Investigating Learners’ Language Assessment Literacy.

Carrie Peng presenting at the conference. Photo by Menghan Wang.

The conference provided a great avenue for SOLL researchers to share their recent projects and network with other scholars in the region.  

Niles, Leila and Carrie to enjoy Beef Wellington in Wellington after the conference.