History of PacSLRF
The PacSLRF organization was established at the University of Sydney in 1991, primarily through efforts by Manfred Pienemann, then Director of the Language Acquisition Research Center. PacSLRF conferences were begun to provide a forum for dissemination of SLA (Second Language Acquisition) research in the Asia-Pacific region. The conference was patterned after the North American SLRF (Second Language Research Forum), that is to say, to feature data-based studies or theoretical innovations in any area of SLA research. With its special emphasis on SLA work in the Asia-Pacific region, it was expected that PacSLRF would provide a needed complement to SLRF and EuroSLA.
The inaugural PacSLRF conference was held at the University of Sydney in 1992, in conjunction with the Australian Linguistics Society's inaugural summer institute. The conference co-chairs were Manfred Pienemann and Catherine Doughty, both at the University of Sydney at the time. The members of the original PacSLRF Steering Committee were: Edith Bavin, Catherine Doughty, Rod Ellis, Joseph Hung, Michael Long, Howard Nicholas, and Manfred Pienemann.
Since then, two other PacSLRF Conferences have been held (before the present one):
For more information about the PacSLRF organization, we invite you to peruse our PacSLRF Constitution.