Held last month in Denver, the 2025 American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) conference offered valuable opportunities for CSU TEFL/TESL graduate students, alumni, and faculty to build professional connections, expand and deepen areas of research interest, and present innovative projects to the applied linguistics community.
Dedicated to amplifying the newest scholarship and service in the field, AAAL provides scholars from around the world a space to share research and relate across disciplines annually. Led by professors Luciana Marques, Tatiana Nekrasova-Beker, and Anthony Becker, the TEFL/TESL program supported the participation of several current students and alumni.
Learn more about the program’s engagement, below.
Building upon mentorship and making connections
This year, Lauren Mangus (M.A., ’23, B.A., ’20) co-presented a project alongside mentors Drs. Tatiana Nekrasova-Beker and Anthony Becker. In “What Makes a Successful Teaching Philosophy Statement: Exploring Genre Characteristics and Linguistic Features,” the team identified and described the most prominent features of successful teaching philosophy statements.
With support from the Marty Bucco Award for Creative Teaching and Scholarship, the project specifically aimed to explore teaching philosophies as a “text type from a rhetorical genre perspective, focusing on the rhetorical goals as well as linguistic features (such as collocations and semi-formulaic patterns) that help realize those goals across various academic disciplines,” explained Nekrasova-Beker.
Mangus shared that the experience was exceptionally impactful to her professional development.
“As an alum it has been an honor to co-present and work with my mentors, as there is continually much more that I can learn from them. Working on this project expanded what I thought possible in the discipline, renewed a deep and passionate love for the work, and taught me not only new things but new ways of interacting with applied linguistics.”
Noting that “the world of specialization can often be lonely in broad academic and corporate environments,” Mangus stressed that AAAL is about global community and the people who make it such a meaningful, inclusive event.
“My favorite part of attending and participating at the AAAL conference was the people. It was people in our field that chose us to be there. It was people who came and supported and listened to us. It was people who engaged with us in questions and comments post-presentation. This level of interaction and support starts at the first application deadline and ends with questions post-presentation, which to me will never fail to stand out as a genuine community support network,” she said.
“I found myself having great conversations, pushing boundaries on what I thought I knew in certain subject areas, and discovering new ways of looking at our work.”
Another project that proved influential was, “What’s in a Profile? Investigating Lexico-grammatical Features of L2 Writing at Advanced CEFR Levels” co-presented by Nekrasova-Beker and Becker.
In this corpus-based project, the CSU professors examined 925 argumentative writing samples produced by English learners from various language backgrounds to identify a set of co-occurring features (e.g., adverbs, nominalizations, hedges, coordinating conjunctions, relative clauses) in their writing.
Nekrasova-Beker said their findings ultimately suggest that there are different profiles (or patterns) of features which are associated with more advanced writing, and that English learners from different language backgrounds show preference for the use of different linguistic features.
Current students gain professional experience
Attending AAAL for the first time, TEFL/TESL M.A. student and graduate teaching assistant Edwin Owade, highlighted several positive takeaways from the experience.
“I had the opportunity to attend sessions that interested me, listen to new research and findings on second language acquisition and sociocultural theories, and learn how they contribute to teaching methodologies and practices that I can incorporate into my teaching,” he said.
Echoing this sentiment, Anna Letova, a second-year candidate in the program, emphasized the value of getting involved and surveying the latest trending topics.
“Participating at AAAL, widened my perspective on career opportunities and different alternatives within the field. I also had the chance to meet some researchers from my home country, which was a great experience. It was eye-opening to see the range of topics being explored and how language education is evolving in different contexts.”
In particular, Letova was struck by the discussions of AI in the classroom.
“Even though it’s not directly my area of research, I’d love to continue watching how teachers and researchers are incorporating and responding to AI in the classroom. It’s fascinating to see how technology can be integrated into teaching, and I’m particularly curious about the balance between human interaction and AI tools in language learning environments. It’s an exciting area that I plan to keep an eye on as it develops.”
Marquita Woods, an English Education M.A. student pursuing her graduate certificate in TESOL Education, agreed that the sessions on AI have inspired her to incorporate this lens into her own work.
“The most exciting thing I learned was the use of AI as a tool to help learners interact with learning English. For my project in Dr. Nekrasova-Beker’s E527, I want to explore using AI to provide real-time feedback on pronunciation, grammar, and fluency, allowing learners to refine their linguistic competence through meaningful, adaptive input,” she said.
Being surrounded by passionate and curious peers and scholars has invigorated current students to dig deeper into linguistics and language education. Owade, Letova, and Woods encourage all TEFL/TESL students to attend AAAL to discover new directions and inspiration.
“Attending AAAL is a game-changing opportunity for all grad students for a few different reasons,” said Woods.
“It gives students exposure to cutting-edge research that shows where the field is heading and how your work fits into larger conversations. Plus, the networking opportunities are impeccable! Whether you are connecting with professors, creators, or other students, you are bound to make a connection with some great people. Lastly, the inspiration and motivation gained is unmatched; even if you don’t see yourself presenting in the future, seeing all the passion, innovation, and advocacy present at AAAL can reenergize your own goals. You’ll leave with new ideas, methods to try and possibly a few connections that can progress your own studies and future endeavors.”
The faculty couldn’t be more thrilled with the program’s AAAL participation.
“We are extremely proud of our current graduate students who made it a priority to attend this conference, so that they could learn more about applied linguistics research and network with colleagues from other institutions,” said Nekrasova-Beker.
“We’re also very happy to see our alumni who are now pursuing doctoral degrees elsewhere and who stopped by to say hello at both sessions. And, finally, we are just overwhelmed by the department’s support—the Chair, the Graduate Committee, and the staff—who made it possible for our students to experience this professional event.”
Finding confidence and community at CSU
Ultimately, Mangus credits CSU’s TEFL/TESL program with helping her expand her skillset, particularly in the area of adaptability.
“The CSU TEFL/TESL program has provided me the tools to act independently in diverse, unique, and challenging situations. As educators we must always be prepared to act in a constantly changing environment while retaining our own morals and values in teaching alongside a common curriculum and requirements,” she said.
“This program helped me gain this power to constantly adapt to new situations and produce an array of educational content while conducting multiple types of research all with the latest tools and resources to ensure success.”
Additionally, Owade commented that the program’s community is rooted in care and collaboration.
“The professors double as mentors and have been helpful and consistent in their guidance on coursework and research undertakings. My peers have been kind, open, and supportive in sharing their candid opinions and learning together.”
Earn your M.A. in TEFL/TESL
The TEFL/TESL graduate program at CSU offers a professional degree that is designed to enable graduate students to:
- Teach English as a foreign or second language
- Evaluate the relative utility and validity of diverse teaching methodologies and assessment procedures
- Adapt and develop materials for unique teaching/learning situations
- Evaluate recent research in applied linguistics and its relevance to EFL/ESL teaching and learning
- Assist in the supervision of classroom teachers and in the administration of EFL/ESL programs
Our program prepares graduates for exciting employment opportunities in the U.S. and abroad, as well as for advanced studies in applied linguistics.