The OSU Multilingual Language Education program and the Buckeye Language Education Resource Center hosted the polyglot YouTuber XiaomaNYC (Arieh Smith). We gave Xiaoma a challenge: Can you hold conversations with MLE students in 12 different languages at the same time? We called the event the “Multilingual Grandmaster Showdown!” Xiaoma was also the commencement speaker at our Spring 2025 MLE graduation ceremony.

YouTube link [Grandmaster Showdown coming soon!]

YouTube link for Xiaoma’s Commencement Talk

I was pleased to present at AERA 2025 in Denver on a panel organized by Chaoran Wang and Zhongfeng Tian that on how translanguaging should push us to rethink how we classify multilingual learners. My presentation focused on the EL classification system in Ohio, called Ohio Administrative Code 3301-13-11 Identification, Instruction, Assessment, and Reclassification of English Learners. My talk was titled: Fully English Proficient: A reconsideration of EL reclassification from a translanguaging perspective. 

At the AAAL conference we had an event to honor the contributions and career of my mentor from Arizona State University, Dr. Terry Wiley. Dr. Wiley is one of the leading scholars in language education policy. After leaving ASU, he was the president of the Center of Applied Linguistics (CAL). We just published an edited book which draws on his work. My chapter is:

Sayer, P. (2025). Language policy and ideological tensions in TESOL and bilingual education. In R. Rolstad, W.E. Wright, N. Liu, & MacSwan (Eds.), Language diversity, policy, and social justice: In honor of Terrence G. Wiley (pp. 102-116). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Pictured here are Dr. Wiley’s former students (left to right): Na Liu (CAL), Wayne Wright (Purdue), Jeff Bale (UToronto-OISE), Terry Wiley, Sarah Moore (UMaryland-College Park), Me, Valentina Canese (Universidad de Paraguay), Jeff McSwan (UMaryland-College Park)

AAAL 2025 was in Denver, Colorado this year. The OSU Multilingual Language Education was well represented. MLE PhD student Zeynep Arslan and I organized a colloquium “Chatbots and Language Education: Pragmatics, Ideologies, and Pedagogical Impacts”.

With my MLE advisees (right to left) Onur Ozkaynak, Zeynep Arslan, Andy Seibert, Pitcha Inthiti, and Charlize Wang who presented at the 2025 College of Education & Human Ecology Research Forum.

Looking good Buckeye doctoral grads! With my (now former!) students Dr. Se Hyun Kim and Dr. Bethany Martens.

ELTLT 2024 Handout Sayer

I did a talk entitled “Linguistic Landscape and Its Implication for Language Pedagogy” at the Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni, Universitas Negeri Semarang (UNNES) in Semarang, Indonesia. Special thanks to Dr. Zulfa Sakhiyya for organizing and moderating the event.

For attendees, the materials from the talk are here: UNNES Sayer Linguistic Landscape

I was thrilled to travel to Jakarta, Indonesia with Dr. Francis Troyan, Dr. Ivan Stefano, and Dr. Yuseva Iswandari for the Innovative Pedagogy for Teaching English (IPTE 2024) program. This was a week-long microcredential program for Indonesian primary teachers working with the new Kurikulum Merdeka, and a collaboration between OSU Buckler Center and the Indonesian Ministry of Education.

The OSU College of Education & Human Ecology organized a panel on “Navigating the World of AI in Education,” moderated by Dr. Detra Price-Dennis, director of our Center of Digital Learning and Innovation.