Jack Richards

Jack C. Richards - Plenary Speaker @ KOTESOL 2023

  Plenary Session

Collaborative Approaches to Teacher Development for Language Teachers

One of the greatest resources a school has is its teachers. In any school, there are teachers with varied experience, knowledge, and skills; and both the school and its teachers can benefit by learning from each other through different forms of collaborative professional development (CPD). Collaborative approaches to learning are central to current pedagogies of second language teacher education. In this presentation approaches to CPD will be discussed, including teacher support groups, lesson study, teacher research, and online professional communities, as well as the opportunities and challenges involved in implementing CPD.

  Invited Second Session

English as an International Language: What It Is and What It Isn't

The spread of English as an international language has challenged traditional understandings of what English is and what the goals of learning and teaching English are. Concepts such as “native English speaker,” “second language learner,” “ESL,” “EFL,” and “communicative competence” have had to be revised as a result of the emergence of English as a global lingua franca. The term “English as an international language” is one of several that have gained prominence as the TESOL profession seeks to adapt to the realities of the spread of English beyond its traditional territories. In this presentation, the nature of English as an international language will be reviewed and the implications it raises for the teaching of English. 

 Special Session

Jack C. Richards and Thomas S.C. Farrell in Conversation

Professors Richards and Farrell to reflect on some of the issues they have explored over the years in their teaching, research, and writing. This session will take the form of an informal question and answer exchange between Jack and Tom as they discuss their understanding of some of the changes that the field of English language teaching has experienced over the years as well as some of the factors that are influencing current directions in both language teaching and teacher education in TESOL. 

  Biosketch

Professor Jack C. Richards has had an active career in the Asia Pacific region and is currently an honorary professor in the faculty of education at the University of Sydney He has also had a long association with the Regional Language Centre in Singapore. He has written over 150 books and articles on language teaching as well as many widely used classroom texts. His recent publications include articles on language teacher identity and English medium instruction. 

Jack Richards also has active interests in music and the arts. He has been awarded an honorary doctorate of literature by Victoria University, Wellington, for his services to education and the arts, and also received the Award for Patronage from the Arts Foundation of New Zealand. The TESOL International Association honored Jack Richards as one of the 50 TESOL specialists worldwide to have made a significant impact on language teaching in the last 50 years.

Select Site
Jack C. Richard's Website: www.professorjackrichards.com
Jack C. Richard's Interview with The English Connection (March 2023; PDF)

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