Fall Conference Program
Visit this page for conference location and directions.
Click here to download a full conference schedule and session descriptions.
| Friday, Oct. 24 7:00-10:00 |
|
Dalhousie University Club Great Hall |
| Saturday, Oct.258:30-10:00 |
|
Mona Campbell Building (MCB) |
| Saturday, Oct.2510:30-11:45 |
|
Dalhousie University Club Great Hall |
| Saturday, Oct.2512:00-12:45 | Lunch | Dalhousie University Club Great Hall |
| Saturday, Oct. 2512:45-1:15 | TESL NS Annual General Meeting | Dalhousie University Club Great Hall |
| Saturday, Oct. 251:30-2:30 |
|
Mona Campbell Building (MCB) |
| Saturday, Oct. 25
2:45-3:45 |
|
Mona Campbell Building (MCB) |
| Saturday, Oct., 25
3:45 |
Book draw! | Mona Campbell Building (MCB) |
Session Descriptions
| Keynote Session: Let’s Break the Cycle of Non-transformative Reflection: Field-tested Tips on Implementing Critical Learner Reflection Li-Shih Huang |
Description: At one point or another in our learning journeys, we have probably all been asked to reflect on our learning experiences. As a language-teaching professional, you may also have asked your students to engage in reflection. Although educators across disciplines have long recognized its importance and applicability across a wide variety of educational settings, reflection remains a challenging concept for educators across disciplines to firmly grasp in practice. Many language instructors who try to integrate learner reflection in their teaching face the following question or a similar conundrum: How do I foster L2 learners’ abilities to engage in reflection that goes beyond their simple description of what I or they did in class? In this talk, Li-Shih will help you break the cycle of non-transformative reflection that practitioners often encounter by exploring with you (a) what learner reflection entails, (b) why learner reflection is critically important, according to up-to-date theory and research, and (c) how to implement reflection in ways that will help learners reap its benefits and become autonomous learners.Bio: Dr. Li-Shih Huang, Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics and Learning and Teaching Scholar-in-Residence at the University of Victoria, has decades of experience in instruction and curriculum design in English language teaching for general, academic, and business purposes at the undergraduate and graduate levels in Canada and overseas. Her creativity in designing pedagogical materials has been recognized by TESOL with an award for excellence in the development of pedagogical materials. Her teaching and research interests include English for academic purposes, learner strategies in language-learning and language-testing contexts, needs and outcomes assessments, and corpus-aided discovery learning. Twitter: @AppLingProf |
| Keynote Session:The Puzzle of Additional Language Acquisition: Exploring Learner Insights into Additional Language Teaching and Learning
Scott Roy Douglas |
Description: From behaviourist roots, through cognitivist insights, to constructivist understandings and beyond, putting together the puzzle of how learners acquire and use additional languages in the face of a vast number of individual variables can seem to be an increasingly difficult endeavour. By considering some of the puzzle pieces one by one in light of an ongoing research project into additional language acquisition, an attempt is made to create a picture of language learning with insights from additional language learners themselves. Learner contributions point to the relative value of a number of elements connected to the additional language acquisition process including a focus on form, strategies, comprehensible input, interaction, affective issues, motivation, identity, teacher effects, and time. While serving as a link between research and practice, these insights from language learners can help to facilitate educators’ critical consumption of additional language acquisition theory and inform decisions related to additional language teaching and learning.Bio: After having taught around the world from the Middle East to Japan, Scott Roy Douglas is now an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus. In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate level courses in additional language teaching and learning, his research agenda includes exploring novice academic writing, language assessment, vocabulary acquisition, and English for Academic Purposes pathways. His most recent book for EAP students is Academic Inquiry: Writing for Post-secondary Success, published by Oxford University Press. |
| Workshop: Field-tested Strategies for Teaching “Casual Talk” to L2 Learners and Helping Them Reduce Anxiety in L2 Speaking Li-Shih Huang | Description: Does anxiety seem to prevent your students from participating in class, from enjoying practicing speaking with their peers, from doing oral reports individually or as a group, or from engaging in casual talk with other English speakers? Many learners feel some trepidation or even great anxiety about what to say, how to initiate a conversation, how to keep it going, and how to end a conversation in a polite way. This workshop is designed for those who teach L2 speaking and can identify with the above situations, and/or for those who wish to learn ways to help students feel at ease in speaking. In this workshop, the presenter will share classroom-tested pedagogical tasks in relation to casual talk that have been tested, refined, and then re-implemented in real, highly successful academic communication strategies courses and workshops. This sharing will be followed by her top strategies and associated techniques to minimize anxiety in speaking so that students can catch a glimpse of their potential and accumulate positive experiences. Bring your funny bone and sense of adventure to the workshop, and let’s beat learner anxiety in casual talk! |
