Migrating (again)

I've decided to integrate my blog into my website, so I'm migrating again. The url for the new blog site is http://www.public.asu.edu/~pmatsuda/blog.html, but you can always find my most current blog site at http://blog.jslw.org/.

New Friends

Years ago, during a conversation with one of the colleagues at my home institution, I sensed a slight difference in how each of us referred to people we meet at academic conferences. I said something like "I really enjoy getting together with friends at those conferences."

"Friends?" she questioned. "You mean, colleagues?"

Well, colleagues, yes. But I'd also consider them my friends.

She then mentioned that she wouldn't consider people at conferences "friends" because friends wouldn't be able to critique or challenge each other--and vice versa. We obviously disagreed, but dispite our different views, we remained good colleagues and--yes--friends.

I go to many conferences every year, and one of the reasons that I like going to conferences so much is because I get to know people in ways that I wouldn't be able to know them by reading their work. I find it useful to know people in the field not only as other scholars and teachers but also as people. When I know them as individuals, I feel I can understand their perspectives better when I read and respond to their work.

And even though I have become close friends with some of them over the years, it doesn't stop me from critiquing their work--and them from critiquing mine. We can do that in a civil and friendly ways and still respect each other.

I was recently engaged in a rigorous debate with Paul Stapleton and Rena Helms-Park about the importance of voice in academic writing. It all started with the 2001 special issue of the Journal of Second Language Writing on voice in L2 writing. Shortly afterwords, Paul published an article that, in effect, responded to that special issue; he then collaborated with Rena to further question the role of voice in academic writing.

Since I felt that voice could be defined (as I did in my 2001 article) in ways that has important implications for academic writing, I conducted, in collaboration with Chris Tardy, a study that sought to demonstrate the role of voice in academic writing. Then, Paul and Rena wrote a response to that article, to which Chris and I responded. The conversation on paper, which will soon appear in English for Specific Purposes, was intense.

But then, when Chris and I met Rena at AAAL, we decided to get together and have a drink to get to know each other outside the context of the critical academic conversation. We had a great time. The three of us took some pictures together, and emailed them to Paul Stapleton in Japan.

This week at Asia TEFL in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, I finally had the chance to meet Paul Stapleton. We didn't get to talk too much, but we went to each other's sessions, which I thought complemented each other very well. We also managed to take a picture together.

Changing Higher Education in Japan?

The Chronicle: Daily news: 05/25/2007 -- 08: Japan's New Science Adviser Wants to Shake Up Higher Education

Changing the entrance exam system might be useful. Changing the hierarchical system? Hmm...it would be relatively easy to change the system, but that doesn't address cultural practices, which is much harder to change--especially with a top-down approach.

Dr. Ortmeier-Hooper!

Christina Ortmeier-Hooper has successfully defended her dissertation on Tuesday, May 15, 2007. Congratulations, Christina! Well done!

A New Frontier

I haven't been able to post anything on my blog for a while. It was partly because of many events happening at the same time--teaching, administrative duties, hosting guest speakers (Bruce Horner and Min-Zhan Lu), dissertation defenses and exams as well as CCCC, AAAL, Temple University conference and other speaking engagements. But there was another big reason: I was moving toward a major transition in my professional career.

In January 2008, I will be joining the English Department at the Arizona State University as an Associate Professor. There, I will work with doctoral students in Rhetoric, Composition and Linguistics; master's students in TESOL and Linguistics; and undergraduate linguistics majors. I will also be working with students in the new Ph.D. Program in Applied Linguistics.

I will, of course, have an opportunity to teach advanced graduate seminars on second language writing on a regular basis.

ASU is a great place to pursue my interest in preparing the next generation of second language writing researchers and teachers for obvious reasons: the program structure is ideal for my interdisciplinary work.

It seems that there is already a growing interest among ASU graduate students in second language writing. Over the years, I have met a number of impressive graduate students from ASU with an interest in second language writing, and I am really looking forward to collaborating with them on projects and contributing to their professional development.

It's also exciting to be able to work with a large number of outstanding faculty members in my own fields. Within the English Department, my colleagues in linguistics/TESOL will include Karen Adams, Dawn Bates, Elly Van Gelderen, Mark James and Roy Major; rhetoric and composition colleagues include Philip Bernick, Sharon Crowley, Greg Glau, Maureen Daly Goggin, Peter Goggin, Keith Miller, John Ramage, Duane Roen and Patricia Webb.

Some of my colleagues in other departments and campuses will include Akua Duku Anokye, James Paul Gee, Carole Edelsky, Chris Faltis, Patricia Friedrich, Sarah Hudelson, Jeff MacSwan, Barry Maid, Aya Matsuda, Kellie Rolstad, Bryan Smith and Terry Wiley.

I will be leaving UNH at the end of Spring 2007. In June, I will go to Malaysia to speak at Asia TEFL conference. I will spend the rest of the summer as a visiting researcher at the University of Hong Kong in June and then at the Graduate School of International Development at Nagoya University from July through the end of September.

At Nagoya University, I will teach a course on qualitative research in second language writing. For the rest of the time, I will be working on various research and writing projects while preparing for the Symposium on Second Language Writing, which will take place in September at Nagoya Gakuin University.

What that means, of course, is that my family has to relocate to the Valley of the Sun in May or June. It'll be a challenge, but I'm hoping that it'll somehow work out.

Congratulations, Christina!

Christina Ortmeier-Hooper, one of my doctoral advisees, has accepted a tenure-track position in the School of Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Christina also received the D. Scott Enright TESOL Interest Section Service Award at this year's TESOL. She spearheaded the effort to create the Second Language Writing Interest Section at TESOL and served as its founding chair.

Congratulations, Christina! UMass is lucky to have you!

CCCC/TESOL Future Convention Dates

Here is the latest:

2008
CCCC: New Orleans, April 2-5 
TESOL: New York, April 2-5

2009
CCCC: San Francisco, March 11-14 
TESOL: Denver, March 25-28

2010
CCCC: Louisville, March 17-20
TESOL: Boston, March 24-27

2011
CCCC: Atlanta, April 6-9
TESOL: New Orleans, March 16-19

2012
CCCC: St. Louis, March 21-24
TESOL: TBA

2013
CCCC: TBA
TESOL: Dallas, March 20-23