The Department of English Language and Linguistics have just returned from Korea after attending the 27th Annual Korea TESOL International Conference.

Held in Seoul, KOTESOL (Korea TESOL) is an annual two-day conference for individuals involved in the research and teaching of English as a second language. This year’s 2019 theme was on ‘Advancing ELT: Blending disciplines, approaches and technologies’.

It was attended by close to 800 participants and there were 200 presenters in all. The University of Birmingham has been a supporter of KOTESOL for many years and are often invited to put forward a Featured Speaker.

Dr Bodo Winter from the Department of English Language and Linguistics was the Featured Speaker this year presenting two papers – ‘New Research on Gesture: implications for language learning teaching’ and ‘How to publish your research in international journals, conference proceedings and books’. Both talks were incredibly well attended (“standing room only” as one participant commented) and described as a “testament to how much attendees benefitted” from Dr Winter’s expertise.

Dr Winter, commented “This is my second time coming to Korea for KOTESOL and I absolutely loved it. The conference brings together a diverse group of English teachers, educational professionals, linguists, and students. It’s such a nice and welcoming community!”

Dr Suganthi John, Head of Department, commented “It is a privilege for us to be invited to share our research expertise in second language learning and teaching with the wider ELT community. The warm welcome we receive each year and the opportunity of presenting at KOTESOL is very valuable to us”.

The University of Birmingham is home to one of the world-leading centres of excellence for both teaching and research in English Language and Linguistics and has recently been ranked as one of the world’s top 50 institutions to study English Language and Literature in the 2019 QS World Rankings.

Find out more about their ‘world leading’ research* and the programmes offered within the department over on the department webpages.

*REF 2014