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.