ARTESOL

Dr. Liz England

TESOL Career Path Development – Opportunities in Challenging Times

Our professional lives have undergone extraordinary change in the past several months and it’s not over yet.  TESOL professionals worldwide face both challenges and opportunities as they move ahead.  We can no longer rely only on our educational backgrounds and degrees to guide our goals for teaching excellence. Instead, intentional career path development allows teachers to a) revitalize their sense of satisfaction and enjoyment at work and at the same time, b) maintain high standards of instruction and student learning.  TESOL career path development is a carefully defined description of how we proceed professionally.  In this plenary, I present an evidence-based structure for teachers to revitalize while retaining high standards in these challenging times. 

With an academic career in the United States and on five continents, Dr. England enjoys contributing to projects focusing on educational and instructional program design and project impact assessment for universities, ministries, and private and government agencies in the United States, on three long-term assignments (Egypt, Hong Kong and Indonesia) and on over 30 short-term projects in 20 countries worldwide including Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Venezuela.  Her professional interests focus on teachers’ professional development – knowledge, skills and habits.  A teacher educator and researcher, her publications include the recently released book, TESOL Career Path Development, Creating Professional Success (Routledge, 2019), Online Language Teacher Education:  TESOL Perspectives (2012), as well as several chapters in books and journal articles, and TESOL International Association webinar presentations.   With more than 500 members worldwide, TESOL International Association Career Path Development Professional Learning Network was founded by Dr. England in 2016. 

Zoom Room C

Richard S. Pinner and Richard J. Sampson
Classroom Research and Complexity Perspectives

This plenary talk will focus on the ways that practitioner inquiries are uniquely positioned to provide valuable insights into the complexity of additional language learning. After an introduction to complexity perspectives, the majority of the talk will offer concrete examples of the presenters’ inquiries through action research, exploratory practice, and autoethnography, and how complexity informed or added to the understandings emergent from teaching and research.

Richard S. Pinner is an Associate Professor in the Department of English Literature at Sophia University. He holds an MA in Applied Linguistics and ELT from King’s College London and a PhD from The University of Warwick. He is the author of three books, as well as several articles, which have appeared in international journals such as Language Teaching Research and TESOL Quarterly. His research focuses on the dynamic relationship between authenticity and motivation in language teaching and learning.

Richard J. Sampson is an Associate Professor at Rikkyo University, Japan. He holds a Master of Applied Linguistics from the University of Southern Queensland (Australia) and a PhD from Griffith University (Australia). He is the author and co-editor (with Richard Pinner) of two books dealing with complexity perspectives on additional language learning, and author of numerous research articles published in international journals. He uses action research approaches with his own classes to give voice to the complex, situated experience of language learner psychology and sociality.

Zoom Room C

ARTESOL Virtual Convention 2021 will be delivered via Zoom

Please note that all virtual presentations will be alloted a one-hour-time period 

DEMONSTRATION 

Rather than describing or discussing, a demonstration shows a technique for teaching or testing. Normally the presenter’s statement of the theory underlying the technique takes no more than five minutes. The rest of the time is used for showing, rather than telling. The abstract should include a brief statement of the presenter’s central purpose and a description of what will be demonstrated (e.g. role playing) and how it will be done (e.g. some of the audience participating as students or an unrehearsed lesson with actual students).

WORKSHOP 

In a workshop, one or more leaders work with a group, helping them either to solve a problem or to develop specific teaching or research techniques. There is very little lecturing by the leader (s), the emphasis is, rather, on the participant’s activity which is carefully structured by the leader(s).

The abstract should include a statement of the workshop’s goal, a summary of the theoretical framework, and a precise description of the tasks to be performed during the workshop.

RESEARCH PAPERS 

A research paper summary reports original research. It includes the research issue, the underlying theoretical framework, a description of the methodological tradition in which the study was conducted and research hypotheses or questions. It describes participants and research context and reports data collection and analysis procedures. Results of the study should not be overly interpreted or generalized, causal inferences should be cautiously made and results obtained in the study should be linked to the original hypotheses. If necessary, implications and any limitations of the study should be included.

ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION

A roundtable discussion presents an opportunity for an informal, in-depth discussion between presenters and attendees on a specific topic. It is particularly well suited for works-in-progress and  is not meant to be a formal paper presentation.  A roundtable discussion will be held with several sessions taking place at the same time at different tables (rooms). Each table will be organized around a certain topic. Two to four presenters will collaborate on submitting an abstract for a single roundtable discussion. Each roundtable presenter will spend no longer than 8 minutes speaking on his/her topic. The purpose is not to present on a finished project but rather to address a topic in such a way as to engender whole-group discussion.

Presenters will deliver their talks in turn, after which they will engage in extended discussion with the other attendees at the table. The advantage of roundtable sessions is that they allow for stimulating conversations and networking opportunities among participants on shared research interests. There will be no roundtable session chairs. Presenters at a table will be responsible for facilitating the session together.

POSTER SESSION

A poster session allows for informal discussion with participants during the time that a self-explanatory exhibit is presented on a large display board (Dimensions: 1.50 x 1m.); it includes a title, the name and institutional affiliation of the presenter (s), and a brief text with clearly labeled photos, drawings, graphs, or charts. Presenters must be available for discussion. The hour before the session is reserved for setting up the exhibit and the hour after for its dismantling. The abstract should state the main objective of the presentation whether it is an experience, an on-going project, or a theory the presenters wish to share.