Pre-KOTESOL

KOTESOL became a reality during the 1992-1993 period through the efforts of many people.

While the declaration of a new teachers association that was to become known as KOTESOL was made at the AETK-KATE Joint Conference at Han Nam University (Taejeon) October 24-25 1992, leaders from those two organizations, and others, were actively encoujraging teacher development long before the 1992 event.*

Among these, KOTESOL proudly identifies the Association of English Teachers in Korea (AETK) and the Korean Association of Teachers of English ("old KATE," not the organization now using that name) as ancestors. Each of these groups has its own history, which we will attempt to briefly review further below.

The Steering Committee for Korea TESOL grew out of the 1992 Joint Conference, charged with the mission of forming a new organization. Members of that committee were:

• Ahn Jung Hun (Pusan National University)
• Bagaason, Steve (Pagoda Language School, Seoul)
• Berlin, Scott (Kyounju University)
• Dusthimer, Carl (Han Nam University, Daejeon)
• Hayes, Elain (Songan Instit for English as a Foreign Lang, Seoul)
• Hunt, Patricia (Yeungnam University, Gyoungsan, Gyungbuk)
• Kim, Andy (Kijeon Women's Junior College, Chonju, Chollapuk-do)
• Kim Jeong-Ryeon (Korea Maritime University, Pusan)
• Kwon Oryang (Seoul National University)
• Mason, Chuck (Yeungnam University, Gyoungsan, Gyungbuk)
• South, Christopher (Seoul Woman's University)
     -- from Language Teaching: The Korea TESOL Journal, vol. 1 no. 1, April 1993.
   

The Steering Committee developed a Constitution and Bylaws and presented a slate of candidates as initial officers. A polling of founding members gained acceptance of these proposals, and so KOTESOL was born in April 1993. The first publication of KOTESOL also came out in April -- Language Teaching: The Korea TESOL Journal.

The first KOTESOL Conference was held at Wonkwang University in Iri (now Iksan), Chollabuk-do October 16-17, 1993, where the new Constitution and Bylaws for KOTESOL were adopted by acclamation of the membership.

AETK was  established in November 1981, and originally centered in Seoul. Active chapters existed in Seoul and Pusan (Busan).

KATE was founded in April 1989, originally centered in Daejeon.

Lower on the page you will find documents from these previous organizations.

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* Spellings on this page follow the usage within the documents from those eras. Inconsistencies were common prior to the official adoption of the new Romanization scheme in 2002.