Teacher and Professional Development General Combined SIG AGM/Forum
Reflections on the Past, Projections of the Future
In the slightly more than half a century of TESOL’s existence there have been a cascade of methods and innovations that teachers have been challenged by. The move to an online pedagogy due to the pandemic accelerated trends while forcing all of us to reevaluate fundamentals. In this forum, prompts (both visual and textual) will be provided to elicit discussion on where we’ve been on our journey as language teachers and where we’re headed.
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Andrew is a coordinator of the English Program at Aoyama Gakuin University. His research interests include Intercultural Communication, Materials Design and Media Literacy. He has a PhD in Applied Linguistics and teaches classes on Communication, Comparative Culture and Media Studies. He is from Vancouver, Canada and enjoys cycling, nature and all adventures big and small.
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Joseph Dias co-coordinates the Integrated English Program for the English Department of Aoyama Gakuin University. He also teaches courses on intercultural communication and food culture as well as a professional development course for graduate students. His research interests include computer assisted language learning and autonomy in language learning. He's currently a reviewer for the JALTCALL Journal and the Coordinator of the Lifelong Language Learning SIG of JALT. (http://www.agu4u.org/).
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Kathleen Yamane teaches English and Communication courses at Nara University. Her research interests are primarily in the area of language variation. She is co-author of the Broadcast: ABC World News Tonight textbook series.
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Timothy Gutierrez (he/him) has been teaching in Japan since 1999. After completing a brief stint on the JET program, he has been teaching at the university level ever since. He is actively interested in researching environments conducive to developing second language fluency.
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Taron teaches courses in English communication, cultural studies and second language acquisition. His research interests include intercultural communication, digital spaces and transformative learning.