International Society for Language Studies

The International Society for Language Studies, Inc. is a Delaware Corporation recognized by the United States Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)6 non-profit trade association. The International Society for Language Studies (ISLS) was created in 2002 by scholars united in their goal to have a forum encouraging and disseminating post-positivistic research in languages matters, broadly conceived. Prior to the founding of ISLS such research was presented in venues primarily designed for applied linguistics, educational studies, language-specific concerns, literary criticism, anthropology, sociology, history, or similar disciplines. ISLS seeks to bring together scholars from research disciplines whose research has been on issues of language studies. The society holds bi-annual conferences and sponsor a number of publication initiatives to strengthen research in critical language studies. [http://www.isls-inc.org/about_us.htm]

History

2002Professors from universities in the United States and Canada began planning a conference to be held in St. Thomas, USVI, with the theme of "The Transformation of Language Education and Research." The discussions led to the suggestion that a new scholarly association, in addition to a mere single conference, was the transformation needed.

2003As the 2003 inaugural conference of the International Society for Language Studies approached, scholars from around the globe began to join the fledgling association. These scholars included members from Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States of America. A number of these members converged in St. Thomas for what was perhaps the most beautiful setting imaginable for a conference. As the summer progressed, the founding membership rolls were filled, and ISLS began to have more new members enroll almost daily as the society was incorporated in the State of Delaware. At the same time, planning was underway for an official journal for ISLS and a 2005 conference in Montréal. ISLS was recognized as a non-profit 501(c)6 corporation by the Internal Revenue Service of the United States.

2004At the start of 2004, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates began publishing Critical Inquiry in Language Studies: An International Journal, the official journal of the society, edited by Terry A. Osborn and Timothy G. Reagan. A journal subscription became an automatic benefit of membership.

2005
Montréal was the site of the 2005 conference. The gathering featured over 200 papers, luncheon, and evening reception, with participants from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Columbia, Denmark, Finland, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Oman, Puerto Rico, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States.

2007
Hawaii was the site of the 2007 conference. Taylor and Francis began publishing the society's journal, Critical Inquiry in Language Studies: An International Journal. Terry A. Osborn and Timothy G. Reagan completed their terms as editors, and the society's executive board named John Watzke of Saint Louis University as the editor for a five year term.

"Information from ISLS website reprinted by permission of Lisa P. Stevens, President, ISLS, 2008"