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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Dear colleagues,<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">The AAAL conference this year saw an unusually high number of submitted proposals.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It appears as though a decision was made to lower the acceptance rate in order to keep the number of presenters similar to previous years rather than increase the size of the conference.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This resulted in what seems to be an unusually high number of rejected proposals.</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">In my conversations with folks, including well established researchers who regularly attend AAAL, many have expressed disappointment at not being able to present their work at the 2012 conference.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This revived an idea that I have long had for an Educational Linguistics Symposium so I thought I would take a poll to see if there might be interest in holding such an event concurrently with AAAL in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Boston</st1:place></st1:City> this March (24-27).<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">If you submitted a proposal for AAAL that was not accepted and would be interested in participating in an Educational Linguistics Symposium, <STRONG>please contact me <U>off-list</U> at Francis.Hult@utsa.edu</STRONG> .<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For the time being, please respond only if you already submitted to AAAL.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We can then discuss whether it would be useful to open an inaugural event to a broader pool of presenters.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">This is just a poll to gauge interest…no specific plans or promises (yet).<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If there is enough interest, we can move forward to explore the logistics and details.</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Please feel free to pass this note along to any other colleagues who might be interested.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Best,<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Francis<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>--</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>Francis M. Hult, Ph.D.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Assistant Professor</FONT></DIV><FONT size=2>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>University of Texas at San Antonio</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Web: </FONT><A href="http://faculty.coehd.utsa.edu/fhult/"><FONT face=Arial>http://faculty.coehd.utsa.edu/fhult/</FONT></A></DIV>
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