The 14th Annual Seoul KOTESOL Conference

The 14th Annual Seoul KOTESOL Conference 

Pre-Conference Registration is available through March 30th.

President’s Message

Welcome to the 14th Annual Seoul KOTESOL Conference!

“Reinventing a Student-Centered Classroom,” covering technology, reading, writing, speaking, grammar and vocabulary building, second language acquisition, and curriculum and pedagogy remains the theme of the conference this year. The contents of the plenary, workshop, research, and first-time takeaway sessions continue to be relevant to classrooms in Asia and around the world. We hope that by attending this year’s conference, you will be inspired to reinvent and reshape your classroom practices and professionalism as you actively participate in various sessions throughout the day.

The conference presentations have been carefully selected to give new insight in regard to the theme of the conference. With research and practical classroom evidence, Dr. Willy Renandya will be exploring the relationship between student-centered learning (SCL) and extensive reading (ER), and how to bring the two closer together in the classroom by citing the degree of personalized learning, level of student engagement and motivation, and student control over learning. In support, Prof. Eun Sung Park will draw on second language acquisition (SLA) concepts and research findings to address the what (what learners learn) and the how (how learners learn) of learner-centered instruction. In particular, cognitive-interactionist SLA concepts such as intake, interaction, and output will be invoked and exemplified with activities that can be readily incorporated in EFL classrooms. Additionally, with the concurrent workshop and research sessions today, it is our goal that we will be challenged to evaluate and critically analyze our teaching practices to reshape our methodologies of classroom instruction. Finally, the first-time takeaway and open forum sessions will give us more insight on what to offer to students more meaningfully and how to deeply impart the skills needed for their academic and professional excellence.

Without the collective coordination of the committee members, this conference would not have been successful or possible. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to our 2 brilliant plenary speakers, 14 informative workshop presenters, 6 professional researchers, 3 brave first-timers' takeaway presenters, and 1 energetic open forum facilitator for their preparation and inputs. I would also like to thank the Seoul KOTESOL chapter executives, the conference committees, and national level officers headed by David Shaffer in supporting us to arrive at this stage of success. In addition, my thanks goes to the participants who were able to show up and share their practical experience at the various sessions. Finally, I would like to thank Sookmyung Women's University with the help of Dr. Yeum Kyung Sook for allowing us today to run the conference in their beautiful campus.

Finally, please allow me to invite you as members of KOTESOL to practice democracy by voting in the chapter elections that run concurrent with the conference. For more information on the elections, please click here.

Enjoy the conference!

Ian Done D. Ramos, Ed.D.
President, Seoul KOTESOL Chapter
Chair, The 14th Annual Seoul KOTESOL Conference

For more detailed information about directions to the venue, please go here.