Organization of ELLRA
ELLRA is a non-profit association with four governing bodies:
1. The General Assembly of Members
It is composed of all the members of the Association in good standing.
2. The Executive Committee
It is made up of three committee members elect: the Chair, the Treasurer, and a Member. Together, they oversee the executive running of the Association with six co-opted members who perform specific functions. The co-opted members include: a Vice-Chair, a Secretary, a Membership Officer, a Communications Director and two other committee members.
3. The Finance Committee
It is the regulatory body of the Association and provides oversight of ELLRA’s accounts and finances. This Committee works closely with the Treasurer and a certified accountant.
4. The Committee of the General Assembly
It presides over the General Assembly and is composed of a Chair and two Committee members. It is also responsible for coordinating the electoral process every three years.
Role descriptions for Governing Committee members will be available by end 2023.
The following illustration represents the Association’s structure, and shows how the committees nest within the membership and their interdependency.
The first ELLRA Governing Committees
(2023 - 2026)
The Executive Committee
Executive Committee Elect
Sandie Mourão
Sandie Mourão (PhD) is a senior researcher at CETAPS, Nova University Lisbon, Portugal. Her research interests include foreign languages in early childhood education and care, intercultural learning, picturebooks in language education and classroom-based assessment.
Nayr Ibrahim
Nayr Ibrahim (PhD) is Associate Professor of English Subject Pedagogy at Nord University in Norway. Her research interests include early language learning, learning to learn, bi/multilingualism, multiple literacies, language and identity, children’s literature, children’s language rights.
Caroyln Leslie
Carolyn Leslie (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in Foreign Language Didactics at the Modern Languages, Cultures and Literatures Department, Nova University, Lisbon, Portugal. Her research interests include spoken interaction in early foreign language learning, language assessment and teacher education.
Co-Opted Members
Joanna Rokita Jaśkow
Joanna Rokita-Jaśkow (PhD) is Associate Professor in Applied Linguistics at the Institute of English Studies, Pedagogical University of Cracow, Poland. Her research interests include early foreign language learning, language teacher education and development, multilingualism at school environment.
Sviatlana Karpava
Sviatlana Karpava (PhD) is Lecturer in Applied Linguistics/TESOL at the Department of English Studies, University of Cyprus. Her area of research is applied linguistics, first/second, heritage language acquisition, bilingualism, multilingualism, sociolinguistics, teaching/education, critical digital literacy, family language policy and intercultural communication.
Melanie Ellis
Melanie Ellis (PhD, postdoctoral habilitation) is associate professor of Applied Linguistics at the Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland. Her research interests include early reading in foreign language English, education of teachers of primary EFL learners and design of materials for teacher learning.
David Valente
David Valente is a PhD research fellow in English teacher education at Nord University, Norway where he teaches on pre- and in-service English teacher education programmes for school grades 1–7. He is also the reviews editor for the journal, Children’s Literature in English Language Education and his research interests include children’s literature, interculturality and teacher education.
María-Jesús Inostroza
María-Jesús Inostroza A. (PhD) is an early career researcher at the Faculty of Education, University of Concepción, Chile. Her research interests include foreign languages in primary state-run education, language rights, children's voices and storytelling in language education.
Yan Zhu
Yan Zhu (PhD) is an associate professor at the College of Foreign Languages and Literature, Fudan University, China. Her research focuses on foreign language curriculum innovation, task-based language teaching, language teacher education and ELT textbooks.
The Committee of the General Assembly
Sue Garton
Sue Garton is Professor of Applied Linguistics (TESOL) at Aston University, UK. Her research interests include teaching young learners, language teacher education, primary language policy and classroom discourse.
Danijela Prošić-Santovac
Danijela Prošić-Santovac (PhD) is an Associate Professor and the Head of the Centre for Languages at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, Serbia. Her research interests include teaching English as a foreign language at pre-school and early primary school and using children's literature in teaching, with a focus on fairy tales and nursery rhymes.
Subhan Zein
Subhan Zein (PhD) is an Assistant Professor at Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, Australia, and Visiting Professsor at Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI), Bandung, Indonesia. He is the author of 6 research monographs including 'Language Policy in Superdiverse Indonesia' (Routledge, 2020) and editor and lead editor of 5 academic volumes including 'Early language learning policy in the 21st century: An international perspective' (Springer, 2021).
The Finance Committee
Nils Jaekel
Dr. Nils Jaekel is Senior Lecturer for Foreign and Second Language Education at the University of Oulu, Finland. His main research interests include early foreign language learning, Content and Language Integrated Learning, multilingualism, and individual differences.
Karen Glaser
Karen Glaser (PhD) is associate professor of Teaching English in Primary School at Leipzig University, Germany. Her research interests include early language learning in institutional contexts, L2 pragmatics, classroom interaction research, and teacher professionalization.
María del Pilar García Mayo
María del Pilar García Mayo is Full Professor of English Language and Linguistics at the University of the Basque Country, Spain. Her interests include the study of English morphosyntax (generative perspective) and the role of interaction and attention to form in L2 learning (cognitive-interactionist approach).