Welcome to the 29th Korea TESOL International Conference!
“More Than Words: Teaching for a Better World”
April 30-May 1, 2022
A Word from the Conference Chair
In 2005, Karl Hostetler argued that for education research to be considered “good,” “researchers must be able to make sound and articulatable [sic], if not fully articulated, connections to a robust and justifiable conception of human well-being” (p. 17).
The theme of the 29th Korea TESOL International Conference, “More Than Words: Teaching for a Better World,” seeks to build on this idea—to expand outside the realm of English language teaching to delve more deeply into some of the core philosophical questions underpinning our roles and purposes as educators. Why do we teach? How are we contributing to life and well-being as teachers, researchers, participants in a community of practice, and humans? If we’re not striving to improve the world in some way, then just what are we doing?
This conference invites proposals on a variety of topics exploring this foundational tenet. How does your work contribute to a better world--on an individual, societal, or even global level? How do you make meaningful contributions to the world and pay “careful, ongoing attention to questions of human well-being” (Hostetler, 2005, p. 16)?
Proposals are invited on all topics, but we are particularly interested in sessions exploring a few relevant areas:
- Expanding conceptualizations of what it means to be “educated” or “literate,” which ultimately helps to challenge deficit discourses, promote asset-oriented perspectives, and encourage more open and welcoming views of the many different ways of being in the world;
- Transformative, critical, and equity-oriented frameworks or approaches;
- Humanizing and participatory methodologies and pedagogical practices;
- Research and practice related to improving teachers’, researchers', or students’ well-being in general, or with broader implications for improving our communities and society.
Examples of topics in these areas include (but are not limited to) the following*:
- Affinity spaces, participatory cultures, and imagined worlds
- Civic engagement and public/engaged scholarship
- Code-switching and translanguaging
- Communities of practice
- Critical pedagogy and perspectives
- Culture/Intercultural literacies, multicultural perspectives, & critical cosmopolitanism
- Cutting-edge, novel, or innovative uses of technology for learning
- Environmental justice
- Feminist/LGBTQ+/Race-oriented approaches and perspectives
- Funds of knowledge, multiliteracies, and other asset-oriented frameworks
- Informal learning (e.g., video games, podcasts, YouTube, etc.)
- New and alternate perspectives on theory and practice (e.g., new materialism, embodied learning, rhizomatic learning, other post-structural approaches, etc.)
- Universal design for learning and other ways to increase access
- Peacebuilding/peace studies/peace linguistics
- Postcolonial/decolonial perspectives
- Service learning
- Social justice
- Student/teacher/researcher well-being
* Please note this is NOT meant to be an exhaustive list of acceptable topics; we also welcome the more “traditional” topics likely to be found at an ELT conference, as well!
We encourage presenters to think outside the box; explore areas that connect to the most fundamental concerns, meanings, philosophies, and purposes of education; and let us know how your work helps others “respond creatively, constructively, and humanely” to life—how you are “participat[ing] in rendering [the] world a bit more beautiful as well as hospitable to everyone” (Hansen, 2013, p. 208).
We look forward to seeing you at the conference and sharing ideas, insights, and inspiration! If you have any comments or questions in the meantime, please feel free to contact me.
Lindsay Herron
Chair
The 29th Korea TESOL International Conference
References
Hansen, D. T. (2013). The moral and ethical aims of the school viewed through a cosmopolitan prism. Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, 112(1), 197–215.
Hostetler, K. (2005). What is “good” education research? Educational Researcher, 34(6), 16-21.
Read more thoughts on the theme in the April 2022 issue of Gwangju News here.
