Elif Kemaloglu-Er has loved learning, teaching, doing research and writing all her life. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Translation and Interpreting at Adana ATU Science and Technology University. She is also the Department Head. She has 21 years of teaching experience as an instructor of English for Academic and Specific Purposes at reputable Turkish universities. She received her BA degree from Translation Studies at Bogazici University. She completed her MA in Teaching English as a Foreign Language at Bilkent University and she received her PhD degree in English Language Education at Bogazici University. She has several academic publications on the subjects of Applied Linguistics and ELF and presented her papers at multivariate conferences. Her research interests include applied linguistics and ELF and World Englishes.
email: ekemalogluer@atu.edu.tr

Integrating ELF into English Classes at Tertiary Level: Novel Perspectives, Novel Practices
Assist. Prof. Dr. Elif Kemaloğlu-Er

An attempt to define English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) should first start by appreciating the complexity and variability of this construct. Today English is the global language of our planet and every second millions and millions of people from diverse sociocultural and linguistic backgrounds interact using English as one of their means of communication in their professional, academic and personal lives. ELF interactions are thus marked with constant dynamism, fluidity and variability and in its simplest form, ELF can be defined as the discourse produced by non-native speakers of English, typically characterized with possible deviations from the linguistic, pragmatic and cultural norms of Standard English.  ELF can also be taken as a pedagogical perspective which acknowledges the non-native varieties of English in their own right and the non-native users of language with their own unique characteristics (i.e. with their own use of English, L1s, and sociolingual backgrounds). I am an academic specializing in the fields of applied linguistics and ELF. I worked as an instructor of English at universities in Turkey for 20 years and the ELF perspective is in line with my egalitarian and humanistic worldview. In this talk, I am going to introduce how ELF can be integrated into English classes at the tertiary level. Accordingly, ELF in real life English teaching practices will be explored through the ELF-focused classroom applications, research and views of mine as a non-native teacher-researcher. The advantages and challenges of ELF-aware pedagogy will also be presented along with suggestions for further practice.

Aybike Oğuz received her BA on ELT at İstanbul University and her MA on Management in Education at Bilkent University. She started her career by teaching general and academic English classes at Bilkent University Prep School where she also held different roles in middle management and on curriculum development between 2002-2008. In 2008, she joined Özyeğin University Prep School’s startup team as the Deputy Director. During her journey of starting a prep school, she discovered social entrepreneurship in a small village in Southeast Turkey, which changed her journey forever. In 2012, she started working as an English teacher at Robert College where, with her students, she founded the first Social Entrepreneurship Club at the high school level in Turkey. She has been designing and giving workshops on social entrepreneurship and design thinking in a variety of changemaking workshops and peace education camps for the youth in Turkey and abroad. In 2017, she took a gap year to rediscover herself. During her gap year, she co-authored a guidebook with a team from Ashoka Turkey aiming to introduce changemaking skills to university students to start their social entrepreneurial movements on their university campuses.
She shared her insights into a gap year in a TEDx Talk entitled ‘What if I leave it all behind?’ She is now back at Robert College accompanying her students in their journey of becoming and changemaking and constantly asking herself the question: ‘What if?’

Invited Panel Discussion: Transformative Pedagogies in the ESL Classroom: Reading the Word and the World
Aybike Oğuz, Jennifer Sertel, Aylin Vartanyan

Peace Education aims at creating a dialogical learning space in formal or non-formal educational settings in order to create an awareness about direct or indirect violence as well as equipping students/participants with the necessary nonviolent skills and strategies to address issues ranging from micro to macro aggression to gender differentiation, racial exclusion, environmental issues and migration.  An ESL classroom with a curriculum emphasizing critical inquiry as well as reflective reading and writing practices, may allow students to achieve a critical awareness about social, economic and political realities in the World.  It can also enhance literacy in a new language that may invite students to speak their own words rather than repeat accumulated knowledge, which is believed to be the core of transformative pedagogy.  In this panel, the speakers who have been integrating transformative pedagogical approaches in their ESL classroom practices will share the foundational concepts of peace education and social entrepreneurship, the importance of promoting social and emotional skills as ESL teachers, the value of curriculum development from a rights-based perspective, and how tools such as Human Centered Design can motivate ESL learners to come up with their authentic ideas and projects.  Short interactive activities will also be introduced in this panel so as to inspire the audience to participate in the discussion.

Perihan SAVAŞ is an Associate Professor in the Department of Foreign Language Education, Faculty of Education at Middle East Technical University in Turkey. She received her B.A. degree in Foreign Language Education and M.A. degree in English Language Teaching from Middle East Technical University. She received her Ph.D. degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a major in TESOL, a cognate in Educational Technology, and a minor in Educational Administration from the University of Florida, USA. She has taught English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners at different levels of proficiency at Bilkent University and University of Florida Institute of Foreign Languages. She has worked as a coordinator, an editor, and an author in the development of national curricula and textbook design for high schools and preparatory schools. She has also participated in the organization and delivery of in-service EFL teacher training sessions on technology use, curriculum design, and textbook design in collaboration with Turkish Ministry of National Education. Her research interests include integrating technology into EFL curriculum, mobile assisted language learning (MALL), teacher training/faculty support in online education, EFL curriculum/material/task design, and situational leadership in education

Increasing Teachers’ Technology Use in ELT Classrooms
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Perihan Savaş

English Language Teaching (ELT) classrooms have gone through several technological and pedagogical transformations to meet the demands of the digital era that we live in. Use of instructional technology in language classes has gained growing interest among learners and teachers as there are many benefits of integrating technology into ELT classes. Instructional technology use in ELT classrooms can lead to an increase in learner motivation and success, provide learners with real life experiences, and present authentic use of the target language. The benefits of technology in ELT classes can be maximized only with active participation and effective implementation of teachers. To promote and sustain ELT teachers’ use of instructional technology, there is a need to have a coordinated, dynamic, and productive support system for teachers. In this talk, different types of institutional and departmental support systems to increase ELT teachers’ use of instructional technology will be reviewed. In addition, frameworks and models for training ELT teachers in integrating technology into ELT classes will be discussed by referring to sample applications and tasks. The changing roles, necessary skill sets, and competencies of the 21st century ELT teachers as well as the learners will also be presented in light of the new trends and current developments in the field of instructional technology in ELT.

Jennifer Mansur Sertel is the co-author of the book, “Activities to Promote Nonviolence and Social and Emotional Competencies: Peace Starts Within” with Guliz Kraft. She is a founding member of BUPERC [Bosphorus University Peace Education Application and Research Center] and has been an organizer and trainer in the WINPEace conflict resolution camp for Greek, Turkish and Cypriot youth for 20 years. Jennifer taught English and film studies at Robert College for over 30 years. She believes education should go beyond academics to include social and emotional development. With this in mind, she set up the Robert College Community Involvement Program, (CIP) in which students must be active participants in community service projects for at least 70 hours in order to graduate. She currently teaches a course in Community Involvement in the Education Sciences Department of the school of Education Faculty in Boğaziçi University. This course is based on manuals written with Elif Sonmez and Izzet Şengel.

Invited Panel Discussion: Transformative Pedagogies in the ESL Classroom: Reading the Word and the World
Aybike Oğuz, Jennifer Sertel, Aylin Vartanyan

Peace Education aims at creating a dialogical learning space in formal or non-formal educational settings in order to create an awareness about direct or indirect violence as well as equipping students/participants with the necessary nonviolent skills and strategies to address issues ranging from micro to macro aggression to gender differentiation, racial exclusion, environmental issues and migration.  An ESL classroom with a curriculum emphasizing critical inquiry as well as reflective reading and writing practices, may allow students to achieve a critical awareness about social, economic and political realities in the World.  It can also enhance literacy in a new language that may invite students to speak their own words rather than repeat accumulated knowledge, which is believed to be the core of transformative pedagogy.  In this panel, the speakers who have been integrating transformative pedagogical approaches in their ESL classroom practices will share the foundational concepts of peace education and social entrepreneurship, the importance of promoting social and emotional skills as ESL teachers, the value of curriculum development from a rights-based perspective, and how tools such as Human Centered Design can motivate ESL learners to come up with their authentic ideas and projects.  Short interactive activities will also be introduced in this panel so as to inspire the audience to participate in the discussion.

Aylin Vartanyan Dilaver holds an MA degree in German Literature from Columbia University and she is pursuing a doctoral degree at the European Graduate School in the Expressive Arts for Social Change Program. Her subjects of interests are gender and postmemory, conflict transformation, Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed practice and narrative transformation through the arts. She has been a member of Bogazici University School of Foreign Languages since 1994. Currently she is teaching Critical Reading and Writing courses in the Advanced English Unit. Since 2006 she has been an active member of the Bogazici University Peace Education Application and Research Center organizing conferences, preparing curricula and facilitating workshops for educators, counselors, students and NGO workers on conflict transformation from an expressive arts perspective.

Invited Panel Discussion: Transformative Pedagogies in the ESL Classroom: Reading the Word and the World
Aybike Oğuz, Jennifer Sertel, Aylin Vartanyan

Peace Education aims at creating a dialogical learning space in formal or non-formal educational settings in order to create an awareness about direct or indirect violence as well as equipping students/participants with the necessary nonviolent skills and strategies to address issues ranging from micro to macro aggression to gender differentiation, racial exclusion, environmental issues and migration.  An ESL classroom with a curriculum emphasizing critical inquiry as well as reflective reading and writing practices, may allow students to achieve a critical awareness about social, economic and political realities in the World.  It can also enhance literacy in a new language that may invite students to speak their own words rather than repeat accumulated knowledge, which is believed to be the core of transformative pedagogy.  In this panel, the speakers who have been integrating transformative pedagogical approaches in their ESL classroom practices will share the foundational concepts of peace education and social entrepreneurship, the importance of promoting social and emotional skills as ESL teachers, the value of curriculum development from a rights-based perspective, and how tools such as Human Centered Design can motivate ESL learners to come up with their authentic ideas and projects.  Short interactive activities will also be introduced in this panel so as to inspire the audience to participate in the discussion.