Foreword (by Roger Kenner)
We feel naturally proud of the work we have put into creating and maintaining this Interest Section, one which has had its impact both on the TESOL organization and within our field of CALL. Each year, as we move forward, new hands take up the reins from the old and fresh ideas come into our community. Yet we should never lose sight of the work that has gone before. It is for this reason that I have begun this project. I call it the Community History for I intend that the observations and anecdotes of all who have participated will be featured here. I will be contacting, for example, all of the former chairs of CALL-IS, to get their stories.
To start things off, what follows below are my personal observations, to lend flesh to some key facts that I have garnered from past IS Newsletters. It is organized around the Convention Year, which is the key milestone event in our Interest Section’s history.
A few years ago, I produced a document which traced my involvement in the founding of CALL-IS. I urge you to have a look at that story, as I will not repeat below the same detail. (Included there are the results of a members survey taken in 1984.)
- Personal Recollections on the Founding Years (Roger Kenner)
- The Complete Story: 1983-2003
- Stevens, Vance – How the TESOL CALL Interest Section Began – CALL-IS Newsletter (emailed to CALL-IS members, May 2003)