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Shantou University
Guangdong Province, China
Friday, November 10, 2006

Program Information (PDF)
Overview
Optional Local Program
Photo Gallery
Featured Speakers:

     Donald Freeman
     Jun Liu
     David Nunan

The Li Ka Shing Foundation

  TESOL acknowledges and appreciates the assistance of Shantou University

 

OVERVIEW

Professional development for English teachers around the world is a key factor that directly impacts language learners’ learning outcomes in English as a second or foreign language. Targeted to EFL teachers in Asia, this TESOL symposium offered English language teaching professionals an exciting opportunity to learn from and interact with leading experts in the field. The speakers shared their work and research on English teacher development to help participants develop insights and skills. In the morning, each speaker presented highlights of their work and perspectives on English teacher development.

Each speaker then led an afternoon breakout session. During the closing session, another leading expert summarized the topic, and the speakers interacted with the participants in a question and answer session. TESOL will publish and mail the speakers’ papers and final proceedings to participants after the symposium.

OPTIONAL LOCAL PROGRAM

Shantou University organized a free sightseeing tour on November 11 for symposium participants to the historic city of Chaozhou. Established during the Sui Dynasty in 591 AD, Chaozhou is considered the "hometown of Overseas Chinese."

During this tour, participants visited the Ceramics Museum, which includes many pottery and porcelain masterpieces, and the Kaiyuan Temple, a Buddhist temple built in 738 consisting of four halls: the Hall of Buddhist Warriors, the Hall of Heavenly Kings, the Hall of Sakyamuni, and the Hall of Sutras. Following a vegetarian lunch at the Monk's restaurant, the tour stopped at Xianzi Bridge, which was built during the Song Dynasty and was the first opening bridge in the world, or Hanyu Temple, which was built to commemorate Han Yu, a famous scholar during the Tang Dynasty.

SPEAKERS

A Framework for Teacher learning and Development

This session introduced a framework for planning and carrying out teacher development activities at both the large, project level and the small, seminar or workshop level. The framework is drawn from theories and research into teacher learning and development. It balances both the micro (individual) and the macro organizational or school) perspectives on how people learn to teach over time, throughout their careers, and how peers and organizational structures can facilitate that process. Participants were introduced to and had the opportunity to work with and understand the framework. They were also able to apply it to their own work and receive comments from their colleagues.

Donald Freeman serves as dean of language teacher education and director of SIT's Center for Teacher Education, Training, and Research. He writes widely on teacher learning, professional development, and teacher research, and serves on the editorial boards of the Modern Language Journal and the Educational Researcher. A past president of TESOL, he is a board member of the International Research Foundation on English Language Education and of the International Advisory Council for the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations. He is series editor of TeacherSource, author of Doing Teacher-Research: From Inquiry to Understanding in that series, and coauthor, with Linda Lee and Kathleen Graves, of ICON: International Communication through English, a four-level series that combines student language learning and teacher development. His current work focuses on the interrelations among teacher development, school change, and student learning.

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Empowering Nonnative English Speaking Teachers in EFL Contexts

Most language teachers in EFL settings are Nonnative-English-speaking teachers (NNESTs). Methods and strategies used for training native-English-speaking teachers (NESTs) may not work as well for NNESTs. In this presentation, Liu discussed the challenges, difficulties, advantages, and disadvantages that NNESTs face, and how culturally sensitive training models can be developed to meet the needs of NNESTs in EFL contexts. Liu also introduced a teacher development model used in China to show how NNESTs and NESTs can mutually benefit from working together.

Jun Liu is an associate professor of English in the English Language and Linguistics Program and the Second Language Acquisition and Teaching Program at the University of Arizona. He is also director of the English Language Center at Shantou University in China. Liu's research interests include curriculum development and syllabus design, teacher education, classroom-based second language learning and teaching, and second language reading and writing. He has published extensively in these areas, and is currently series co-editor of Michigan Series on Teaching Multilingual Writers, and editor of Review of Applied Linguistics in China. A recipient of the 1999 TESOL Newbury House Award for Excellence in Teaching, and co-founder and past chair of the Nonnative English Speakers in TESOL Caucus, Liu served on the TESOL Board of Directors (2001-2004) and now serves as TESOL's President (2006-2007).

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Teacher Development Through Reflective Practice

In this presentation, Nunan argued that one defining characteristic of a profession is the practitioners' ongoing commitment to career-long professional development and renewal. Given limited time and resources, this commitment is both challenging and difficult. However, it is one that can be met. After providing a theoretical perspective on his position, Nunan outlined practical ideas for activating ongoing professional development.

David Nunan is chair professor of applied linguistics at the University of Hong Kong, a position he has held since 1994. He also holds concurrent positions as dean of the Graduate School of Education, Newport Asia Pacific University, and senior academic advisor to Global English Corporation. He has also held positions at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok; the Regional Language Centre, Singapore; and Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. He has published more than 100 scholarly books and articles on the impact of English as a global language as well as task-based language teaching, a method he pioneered in the 1990s. Nunan is also the author of several major textbook series for EFL teaching and learning that are widely used in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and China. Recent honours and awards include a 2002 citation by the United States Congress for services to English language education, and the 2003 Thomson Learning TESOL Lifetime Achievement Award. Nunan is a former President of TESOL.

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Closing Session

Qiufang Wen is a full-time professor and Director of the National Research Center for Foreign Language Education at Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing, China. She obtained her master's degree at Bombay University, India, and her doctorate at Hong Kong University. Her research interests include second language acquisition, English language teaching, spoken English testing, EFL learners' corpus, and research methodology.