The "INTERNATIONAL WITHIN AND BEYOND THE CLASSROOM CONFERENCE" brings the 2023-2024 academic year to a momentous close

The "Within and Beyond the Classroom" International Conference, organized by Istanbul Technical University School of Foreign Languages, took place in Istanbul, Türkiye, from May 31 to June 1, 2024. The conference focused on the theme, "The Future of Language Education: Adapting to a Changing Landscape."

The 2024 conference encouraged presenters around the world to share their groundbreaking research that envisions a more dynamic future. This annual event brought together a diverse array of national and international speakers, fostering deep and engaging discussions through academic presentations. It also featured insightful concurrent sessions, notable workshops, and plentiful opportunities for professional networking.

Held internationally for the first time this year, the conference garnered significant attention from foreign language education specialists. It featured four distinguished key note speakers in Teacher and Student Learning. Additionally, it hosted thirty-one concurrent sessions and two fruitful workshops which enabled insightful discussions. The conference's opening session featured the first keynote speaker, Prof. Dr. Derin ATAY from the Department of Applied Linguistics in the Faculty of Educational Sciences at Bahcesehir University. In her speech, titled "Effective Professional Development in Higher Education: Complexities of Teacher and Student Learning," Prof. Dr. Derin ATAY highlighted the prominent theoretical frameworks for defining how teachers learn during PD opportunities on the one side and how PD can change the learning outcomes of students and increase their productive participation in classroom discourse on the other. Afterwards Ms.Atay’s speech, the participants enjoyed various academic discussions and exchanges by selecting academic topics of interest from our concurrent sessions.

Our second keynote speaker, Prof. Dr. Martin DEWEY, centered his presentation on teacher education, delivering a talk titled “Promoting Critical Engagement with Normativity and Perception Bias in Teacher Education”.  He discussed how conceptions of English are evolving alongside the language itself and professional practices. Ultimately, his presentation sought to address the question: As English changes, how do ELT practitioners’ awareness of language and knowledge about language (need to) change? After a fruitful discussion, Assist. Prof. Ufuk Keleş delivered a workshop titled “Autoethnography as the New Paradigm in Qualitative Research in ELT: The Whats, Hows, and Whys”. In this workshop, Mr.Keleş offered a short introduction to autoethnography; its epistemological foundations, definitions, scope, and types. Then, the first day of the conference concluded with other concurrent sessions where we gathered many ideas from one another and refreshed our academic knowledge.

Day 2 began with an increased participation and excitement, starting with Prof. Dr. Gölge Seferoğlu's speech titled ''Leveraging Unfolding Innovations and AI to Enhance Language Learning and Teaching" . In her keynote speech, Ms. Sefereoğlu aimed to spark a holistic discussion that not only celebrates the transformative potential of unfolding innovations and AI but also navigates the ethical and pedagogical considerations inherent in their implementation. She also delved into the core principles guiding the development of AI in education, and she continued her discussion with how these principles can shape effective AI guidance for educators, ensuring that technological advancements align with pedagogical best practices. Finally, common pitfalls and misconceptions, which are on the top mistakes educators often encounter when integrating AI into their teaching practices were addressed. After Prof.Dr. Seferoğlu’s speech, the attendees engaged in insightful scholarly conversations and interactions by selecting areas of interest from Day 2 concurrent sessions.

The final keynote speech was delivered by Assoc. Prof. Anna Lia Proietti ERGÜN with a title of “Finding Joy in Language Learning: The Positive Psychology Perspective”. In this speech, Ms.Ergün aimed to elucidate the evolution of our understanding of the complex emotional dynamics involved in foreign language acquisition and to stimulate reflection among participants on the implications for future research directions. She also highlighted significant empirical findings regarding the pivotal role of teachers' behavior in shaping students' emotional experiences within the foreign language classroom. After that, Assoc. Prof. Francesca Calamita conducted a workshop titled “Feminist Pedagogy, Women's Studies, and SLA: Interdisciplinary Encounters Towards Gender Equality”. This workshop, situated at the intersections of Feminist Pedagogy, Women's Studies, and Second Language Acquisition (SLA), explored how learning spaces that prioritize gender equality can empower both students and faculty, with a focus on Italian Studies and its broader implications. And the second day concluded with the final concurrent sessions, during which all participants gained new interactions, networks, and academic insights.

We are thrilled to have gathered such esteemed academics and speakers from the field of English Language Teaching (ELT) at this year's conference. Their invaluable insights and expertise have enriched our discussions and fostered meaningful connections among participants. As we reflect on the collaborative spirit and shared knowledge cultivated throughout this event, we look forward to seeing how these interactions will inspire future endeavors in the ELT community. Thank you to all speakers and participants who contributed to making this conference a resounding success!

INTERNATIONAL WITHIN AND BEYOND THE CLASSROOM CONFERENCE 

We are excited to announce the upcoming International Conference of Within and Beyond the Classroom, hosted by İstanbul Technical University School of Foreign Languages. It will be held from May 31 to June 1, 2024, at ITU Maçka Campus.

This conference is a hub for educators, researchers, and professionals worldwide to share ideas and insights about English language teaching and learning. Our theme, "The Future of Language Education: Adapting to a Changing Landscape," focuses on innovative approaches and trends in teaching, curriculum design, assessment, and teacher training.

We are honored to share this event with our esteemed keynote speakers Prof. Dewey, Martin Prof. Seferoğlu, Gölge, Prof. Atay, Derin, and Assoc. Prof. Ergün, Anna Lia Proietti from academia who will share their research and insights, enriching our discussions.

For more details, visit https://itueltdays.itu.edu.tr.

We warmly invite you to be part of this enriching experience and contribute to its success.

We're excited to have you join us at this event!

2nd ELT Days "Within and Beyond Classroom" marks the conclusion of the 2022-2023 academic year

Istanbul Technical University (ITU) School of Foreign Languages (SFL) concluded the academic year with its 2nd ELT Days "Within and Beyond Classroom" conference held at ITU Maçka Campus on May 31 and June 1. 

The conference, held for the second time this year, attracted great attention from many SFL instructors and various ELT professionals. It featured eight experts in the field of English Language Teaching from diverse institutions and backgrounds. The opening session of the conference was presented by Associate Professor Nur Yiğitoğlu Aptoula from the English Language Teaching Department at Boğaziçi University. In her speech titled  “Navigating the Complexities of Academic Writing: Implications for Pedagogy and Research”, Assoc. Prof. Nur Yiğitoğlu Aptoula emphasized reexamining some of the foundational assumptions in academic writing instruction in second language (L2) contexts.

The second speaker, Dr. Gökhan Özkan from Kırklareli University, focused on innovative instructional design strategies and best practices for educators to enhance English language teaching. He shared the most recent innovations in tools, applications, and platforms designed to facilitate foreign language learning, with an emphasis on how to integrate these resources into a variety of pedagogical settings.

In the afternoon session, Ass. Director Yusuf Cengiz from Boğaziçi University provided important details about the findings of his study on students’ uptake of written corrective feedback provided through a computer-mediated tool. The next speaker, RA. Dilek Göymen from Boğaziçi University offered her perspective on the role of L1 in EFL classrooms with insights from EMI universities.

We effectively wrapped up the first day of the conference with all these great speeches.

The second day of the conference began with a speech by Dr. Tüge Gülşen from Bilgi University, who shared valuable information about ChatGPT, one of the most intriguing topics in recent times. She introduced some facts and suggestions as a response to higher education practitioners’ apprehensions regarding AI and plagiarism. She contributed to our understanding of how AI technology will influence the way instructors teach, and students learn and contribute to the development of both parties’ mindsets.

The next speaker, Instructor Burcu Şener from Boğaziçi University, focused on the integration of collaborative learning into EFL contexts. She first touched upon CL as a concept and its components. Then, she provided sample CL task designs to analyze and discuss with participants at the conference. The next presentation was delivered by Dr.Ece Genç Yöntem from Yeditepe University. She had language corpora at the heart of her speech and she introduced language corpora to familiarize both in-service and pre-service teachers with various uses of language corpora in ELT and raise their awareness regarding the practical applications that will be suggested through sample corpus-based activities and teaching materials.

TT. Amir Hamidi from Unlimited Educational Services finalized the conference with his engaging speech on enhancing EFL teaching through emerging models in ELT. In his talk, he made the participants examine the intersection of technology and emotions, aiming to enhance the potential for improved teaching and learning. Participants explored a selection of quick-fire activities and concepts to expand their comprehension of creating and executing lessons effectively, taking into account modern tools and human emotions.

After two productive days for all of us, we have concluded our conference, leaving us eager to discuss many more intriguing topics in the coming year. As Istanbul Technical University (ITU) School of Foreign Languages (SFL), we are delighted to have brought together all these esteemed academics and speakers from the field of English Language Teaching (ELT) at this year's conference. 

ELT Days "Within and Beyond Classroom" wraps up 2021-2022 academic year

The conference, joined by SFL instructors in addition to other guests from across the world, hosted eight ELT experts from different institutions and with different backgrounds. The conference-opening session was delivered by Professor Doctor Yasemin Bayyurt from Boğaziçi University English Language Teaching Department. In her speech titled "Changing times, changing linguistic landscapes and the need for a WE/ELF-aware pedagogy in Turkey,” Dr. Bayyurt focused on raising awareness of the concepts of World Englishes - English as Lingua Franca in language teaching contexts and drew attention to changing linguistic landscapes as can be observed in shop names and road signs across Istanbul.

The next speaker, Dr. Yavuz Kurt from Boğaziçi University, elaborated on the results of a study that examined the ELF awareness of students and teachers from 11 preparatory schools across Turkey. He emphasized that the research suggested important implications, including the fact that ELF awareness made students and teachers realize different possibilities to approach the language in their academic studies.

In the afternoon sessions, Saime Kara Duman from Yıldız Technical University and Dr. Merve Selçuk from Altınbaş University offered their insights into teaching listening strategies explicitly and how it could be effective in improving student performance, and what to bear in mind as we assess students' speaking performance, respectively.

Day 2 of the conference started with Roger Cohen from US Embassy. Mr. Cohen talked about "Teaching by the Numbers" and gave an overview regarding what areas of teaching could be considered in terms of numbers, such as the minutes of teacher talking time or selecting the phrasal verbs to teach based on their frequency of occurrence in spoken language. The second presentation was delivered by Dr. Pınar Yeni Palabıyık, who touched upon including 21st-century skills in EFL teaching in a way that promotes learner agency by offering practical activities.

The last two sessions featured Fevzi İşsever from Kadir Has University, who demonstrated how to use Telegram to bring international students together and promote students' language skills, and Dilara Avcı from the University of Arizona, who presented many interesting energizers and showed a station-rotation modal in writing lessons.