Plenary speakers

Elouise Botes is a postdoctoral research scientist in the Cognitive Science and Assessment Institute at the University of Luxembourg. She is an inter-disciplinary researcher examining the role of individual differences in language learning, using concepts from both psychology and applied linguistics in her work. She has published widely on individual differences in foreign language learning, with a focus on emotions, personality, and quantitative research methods. She was recently awarded with the Early Career Researcher Award from the International Association for the Psychology of Language Learning and is currently on the editorial board for the Journal of Multicultural and Multilingual Development, as well as a guest editor of special issues at Learning and Individual Differences and Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching.

Majid Elahi Shirvan holds a PhD in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran. He is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Bojnord, Iran. His main research interest is the dynamics of psychological aspects of foreign language learning and teaching. He has published in different leading international journals such as Ecological Psychology, Foreign Language Annals, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Language Teaching Research, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, and Teaching in Higher Education.

María del Pilar García Mayo is Full Professor of English Language and Linguistics at the University of the Basque Country and the director of the research group Language and Speech (www.laslab.org), noted by the Basque Government for excellence in research in the field. She carries out research grounded in generative linguistics theory focusing on second and third language acquisition processes, specifically in bilingual Basque-Spanish speakers and explores various aspects of English grammatical structures including gender agreement, null objects, relative clauses, tense and agreement, among others. She also does research within a cognitive-interactionist framework, examining how conversational interactions impact language development in low-input, foreign language settings. She has published widely in international journals and has been included in the Stanford list of the world’s top 2% most-cited researchers. Additionally, Prof. García Mayo has led several projects funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. She is also involved in various editorial boards and academic associations within the field of Applied Linguistics. She is the editor of Language Teaching Research, the director of the MA program on Language Acquisition in Multilingual Settings and is a member of the Governing Council of the Spanish State Research Agency.

Peter D. MacIntyre is Full Professor of Psychology at Cape Breton University in Sydney, Nova Scotia, CANADA. His research focusses on the psychology of language and communication. He has published over 150 journal articles and chapters on topics such as willingness to communicate, emotions, motivation, and personality. His most cited papers often focus on research methods and methodology, including the idiodynamic method which focusses on fluctuations in affective states using a wholistic N-of-1 approach. He has co-authored or co-edited several books on topics including Positive Psychology in SLA, Motivational Dynamics. Nonverbal Communication, Teaching Innovations, and Capitalizing on Language Learner Individuality. He has been recognized with awards for teaching excellence, the Robert Gardner Award (International Association for Language and Social Psychology), the Mildenberger Prize (Modern Language Association) and the Harwood book prize (International Association for Language and Social Psychology) for contributions to the study of language learning. He is past president of the International Association for the Psychology of Language Learning (IAPLL).

Masatoshi Sato (PhD: McGill University) is Professor at Universidad Andrés Bello, Chile. His research agenda is to conduct theoretical and applied research that facilitates the dialogue between practitioners and researchers. His research interest includes instructed second language acquisition, peer interaction, metacognition, corrective feedback, learner psychology, teacher beliefs, and the research-practice relationship. He is the recipient of the 2014 ACTFL/MLJ Paul Pimsleur Award. He is currently the Editor of Language Awareness.

Lawrence Jun Zhang, PhD, is Professor of Linguistics-in-Education and Associate Dean, Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Auckland, New Zealand. His major areas of research are in learner metacognition, the psychology of language learning and teaching, and teacher education. He has published extensively along these lines in leading international journals. In the Elsevier-Stanford Impact Rankings, he has been listed in the top 2% of Scientists in the world. He was honoured by the TESOL International Association (USA) in 2016 with the award of “50 at 50”, which acknowledged “50 Outstanding Leaders around the world in the field of TESOL”.

Ali Derakhshan is Professor of Applied Linguistics at the English Language and Literature Department, Golestan University, Gorgan, Iran. He is currently a Yunshan Chair Professor at the School of English Education, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS), Guangzhou, China. As authenticated by the Essential Science Indicators (ESI) Database, Clarivate Analytics shows his name among the world’s top 1% of scientists in 2024. His name appeared in Stanford University’s list of the world’s top 2% of most influential scientists in 2022, 2023, and 2024.  His monograph The “5Cs” positive teacher interpersonal behaviors: Implications for learner empowerment and learning in an L2 context was published by Springer in 2022. His co-authored book Instructed second language pragmatics for the speech acts of request, apology, and refusal: A meta-analysis was published in 2023 by Springer. His research interests are positive psychology, technology in language education, teacher education, learner-individual differences, and cross-cultural interpersonal factors in educational psychology.