MonISLA
Montreal Institute for Second Language Acquisition
Pre-conference workshops
October 1st, starting at 3:00 p.m.
Exact time to be announced
University of Montreal,
Pavillon Jean-Brillant
Caroline Payant, UQAM
Finding Your Place in the Scholarly Community: Networking, Engagement, and Opportunities for Collaboration
Networking is sometimes associated with meeting well-known scholars at conferences, but building a professional community involves much more than introducing yourself to established researchers. This interactive discussion-based workshop invites graduate students to reflect on how they can actively engage with the scholarly community throughout their academic journey.
Together, we will explore practical strategies for making the most of conferences, including preparing in advance, attending sessions beyond one's immediate research interests, participating in pre-conference events, and initiating meaningful conversations with fellow attendees and presenters. We will also discuss how involvement can extend beyond conferences through participation in local associations, graduate student groups, professional committees, and research networks.
Rather than viewing networking as a transactional activity, participants will be encouraged to think about building reciprocal relationships, supporting peers, and creating opportunities for collaboration. Through discussion and the sharing of experiences, this workshop aims to help graduate students identify concrete ways to find their place within the scholarly community and develop a professional network that grows over time.
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This session will be in both English and French.
Mimi Masson,
Université de Sherbrooke
Beyond the Journal Article: Writing About Your Research for Teachers, Communities, and Policymakers
Academic research in applied linguistics and language education has the potential to transform classrooms, inform policy, and empower communities, but only if it reaches audiences beyond the academy.
In this interactive workshop, we will explore how emerging scholars can share their research with non-academic audiences, including teachers, community organizations, and policymakers.
Drawing on my own experiences mobilizing research through open-access publications, videos, and arts-based approaches, I will introduce practical strategies for translating scholarly work into accessible formats without sacrificing rigour or nuance.
Together, we will examine questions such as: Who are my audiences, and what do they need? How do I adapt my voice, language, and format for different readers? What role can multilingual and multimodal dissemination play in reaching diverse communities? Participants will engage in hands-on activities to begin reimagining one of their own research projects for a non-academic audience. Doctoral students at all stages are welcome; no prior experience with knowledge mobilization is required. You will leave with concrete tools, examples, and a draft plan for sharing your research more widely, and more equitably.
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This session will be in both English and French.
Scott Sterling,
Indiana State University
Should I ask GenAI to do that? The questionable research practices of using GenAI for SLA research
As a research group, we have been tackling issues related to questionable research practices (QRPs) within applied linguistics for half a decade. Our first taxonomy of QRPs (Plonsky et al., 2024) included over 50 items related to funding, research design, and research dissemination. However, that taxonomy did not include a single item related to Generative AI (GenAI). This new technology holds the potential to drastically change the academic research landscape and thus its inclusion/exclusion requires serious ethical consideration. There is largely a lack of agreement on best-practices for how to integrate this technology into the research process.
As scholars, should we ask GenAI to review the literature, create research plans, code or analyze data, or assist in the writing process? Can GenAI help us review articles or apply for grants? Where do we draw the line between GenAI as a tool that assists us and one that is contributing ‘too much’ to the research process? As scholars, we cannot, and do not, claim to have the answers for how to ethically use GenAI. Instead, the goal of this workshop is to initiate a conversation about how the field of second language acquisition envisions the usage of GenAI in our own work. We will do this by (1) sharing our previous expertise in QRPs (Larsson et al., 2023; Plonsky et al., 2024), (2) discussing an overview of the findings of our ongoing project related to QRPs in GenAI, and (3) providing a space for attendees to interact with scenarios about the usage of GenAI. By taking part in this workshop, attendees will be able to contribute to an evolving discussion on how to use GenAI during the research process.
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This session will be in English.