Call for Papers

AN OPEN INVITATION TO COLLABORATION IN ELT

 

Joint Forces for Joint Goals—A Common Platform for High Schools and Prep Departments

Using Resources Efficiently

May 12, 2012
İstanbul BİLGİ University, Dolapdere Campus
İstanbul, Turkey

CALL FOR PAPERS

 

Closing Date for Proposals: April 13, 2012

İstanbul BİLGİ University’s English Language Programs take great pleasure in announcing the 2012 ELT event, the second stage of what we started in 2010. The conference theme is Using Resources Efficiently under the main title, which indicates our overall goal, ‘AN OPEN INVITATION TO COLLABORATION IN ELT: Joint Forces for Joint Goals—A Common Platform for High Schools and Prep Departments.’ The conference will take place at BİLGİ Dolapdere Campus on May 12, 2012.

We selected Using Recourses Efficiently as the theme of this year’s conference because every single day as individuals and professionals we are showered with an immense variety of resources that could be applicable in our classes. Academics continue researching the SLA (Second Language Acquisition) Theory, TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), corpus based studies, and the implications of these in our classes. Their findings are published and reflected in the market’s newest products. Publishers have been producing classroom materials, internet sources, and course books with many supplements for teachers and students such as Interactive White Board ideas, software of the course books that can be used in computerized classrooms, and even Learning Management Systems. Teachers, trainers, and famous methodology writers have been sharing tried and tested tools, websites, and classroom ideas in their blogs every day. The links to wonderful sites, discussion platforms, webinars, assessment tools, and conferences are shared in the social media, and they are welcomed all over the world by thousands of teachers who are seeking professional development opportunities.

There are an incredible number of non-ELT materials that can easily be incorporated to add flavor to our lessons such as short videos, podcasts, and educational websites that are open to public use. Ever-changing digital media presents teachers with quality materials and easily-accessible resources. Along with digital tools and resources, ELT professionals are exposed to traditional materials of all sorts. On the other hand, Dogme ELT advocates teaching “unplugged” promoting teachers and students as the main resource while teaching English.

In short, no one in the world of education can complain that we lack resources. The most important question is, ‘How can we use our resources efficiently?’ BİLGİ ELP would like to create a platform where ELT Professionals from both universities and high schools can discuss this issue from different perspectives, and find ways of selecting and using resources that motivate our learners to be better users of English.

The İstanbul BİLGİ University ELT Conference Committee encourages the following topics to be exploited by the presenters in a 50-minute interactive workshop format and/or a presentation of a tried and tested practice, or a 25-minute paper presentation.

• Implications of Research in ELT into Practice
• How to Make Use of Corpus Based Studies in Language Programs
• How to Incorporate Learning Technologies with Limited Resources
• Effective Ways of Assessing Learning in the 21st Century
• How Turkish Students can Become Better Users/Speakers of the English Language and Find Better Placements in the International, Globalized World
• The Benefits of Personal Learning Networks to an ELT Professional
• How to Evaluate and Choose Resources to Best Match the Lesson Objectives
• Dealing with Resistance while Implementing 21st Century Resources
• Implementing Cost-Effective Methods in ELT
• Innovative instruction techniques or research related to teaching in the topic areas listed above