Muscat: Oman International ELT conference was founded in 2001 at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat. It serves as a professional forum for English language teachers and educators from around the world. The theme of this year’s conference, “Twenty years of Oman ELT Conference: Building Upon the Past, Envisioning the Future,” is being held online on October 14 and 15 due to the ongoing global pandemic.
Although there has been a change in the mode of delivery, the event remains a major milestone as it will mark 20 years of the conference’s success to date.The prominent speakers at this year’s conference include Dr Saleh Salim al Busaidi, Dr Joy Smiley Zabala, Dr Chris Boyle, Jonathan Hadley and Nathan Waller.
Dr Al Busaidi is an associate professor of English in the College of Education at Sultan Qaboos University and was also the previous director of the Language Centre at SQU. His presentation will address the ongoing issue of humanisation of English Language Teaching. He will focus on the growth of individualized learning that has been facilitated through the use of technology as well as what the implications of this are for teachers, curriculum developers, and testers.
Dr Zabala has been a world leader over the last three decades in helping improve the lives and educational pursuits of people with disabilities. Her talk will introduce the Student, Environments, Tasks and Tools (SETT) Framework, which is highly useful for families and educators in overcoming barriers on the way to achieving goals. Participants will gain insight into the effective use of Assistive Technologies (AT), how to decide on AT use, and how to determine whether the AT is helping or if further changes are required.
Dr Boyle is an Associate Professor in Inclusive Education and Psychology at the University of Exeter who has published widely in the fields of psychology and education. Dr. Boyle will give two talks. The first talk will discuss the arguments around the definitions of inclusive education, how it might be measured, and what the current state of inclusive education is around the world. The second will focus on use of labels in inclusive and special education, delving into the full complexity of the issue.
Hadley is a consultant for Macmillan Education and has worked in English Language Teaching for 25 years. He currently specialises in far-ranging educational reform programmes in the Middle East. His talk will be a personal reflection on the last 20 years of English Language Teaching and he will be highlighting important developments and issues in the English language classroom. He will also be looking ahead to what may be appearing on the ELT horizon in the not too distant future.
Waller is the teacher trainer for Macmillan Education in the MENA region whose background is in Child Development and Social and Cultural Anthropology. In his session, he will discuss Students with Special Educational Needs (SEN) education and how to build inclusive learning environments given the current state of world affairs. He will look at where we were previously, where we are now, and how we might openly discuss, collaborate, and design practical solutions moving forward for both SEN education and beyond.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
