WE LC O M E !

7 t h An n u a l

LE S LLA

S y m p o s iu m

U n iv e r s it y o f

M in n e s o t a

M in n e a p o l is , U S A

Wh a t d o e s LE S L LA

s t a n d f o r ?

LE S LLA

Low E d ucate d , S e cond Language and

L ite racy A cqu is ition

LE S LLA 2 0 1 1

Q : D o you re ally ne e d your O WN

confe re nce ?

(Who’s go ing to com e to TH AT?? I m e an,

are n’t the re ple nty of language te ach ing

confe re nce s , lite racy confe re nce s , and

ad ult e d ucation confe re nce s?)

Why do we need our own conference?

We n e e d o u r o w n

c o n f e r e n c e b e c a u s e …

• our le arne rs are unique

• our te ache rs work to se rve the ir s tud e nts we ll

ofte n with ve ry lim ite d gu id ance .

• the re se arch base is growing, but sm all, and

m ust be share d ofte n and wid e ly to he lp close

the gap of what we know and what we need to know about how LE S LLA le arne rs acqu ire

lite racy and language .

Wh y d o w e n e e d o u r

o w n c o n f e r e n c e ?

A : Be cause too ofte n in the fie ld of s e cond

language te ach ing to ad ults and ad ole sce nts ,

first language lite racy is assumed.

And whe n we m is take nly assum e som e th ing

that huge about a le arne r, we risk not se rving

our le arne rs in the ways that the y d e se rve to

be s e rve d by our profe s s ion.

An d s o it b e g a n --

• 2005, T ilburg, N e the rland s

• 2006, R ichm ond , Virgin ia, U S A

• 2007, N e wcastle upon Tyne , E ngland

• 2008, Antwe rp, Be lgium

• 2009, Banff, Albe rta, C anad a

• 2010, C ologne , G e rm any

• 2011 , Minne apolis , U S A

C o n g r a t u l a t io n s ,

Je a n n e !• Dr. Jeanne Kurvers, one of

LESLLA’s founders and leaders and a professor at Tilburg University, is the Literacy Woman of the Year 2011 in the Netherlands.

• This honor is a Dutch prize for work on literacy, a prize for people whose work is extraordinarily important for literacy research, policy, and education practice.

T r iv ia q u e s t io n f o r

t o m o r r o w

• Am ong our participants he re at

LE S LLA 2011 , how m any countrie s

are re pre se nte d ?

It t a k e s a v il l a g e …

• C onfe re nce com m itte e

• Volunte e rs

• H am line U nive rs ity-ATLAS : bags & m ore !

• U of M C E H D : pe ns , pad s , we bs ite support

• U nive rs ity H ote l s taff for arrange m e nts

It t a k e s a v il l a g e …

We thank our generous sponsors. We are proud to work within both a university community and a statewide community of educators that support conferences like this one with generous contributions. Please see page 3 in the program for a full list of sponsors.

M a r t h a B ig e l o w & E l a in e

T a r o n eMost of the fie ld of

language te ach ing

and le arning is base d

on re se arch d one on

lite rate le arne rs . As

th is m orning’s ke ynote

spe ake rs wrote in 2004,

“D oesn’t who we study determine what we know?”

A Research Agenda for LESLLA