52nd Annual International IATEFL Conference and Exhibition
Join us in Brighton for the International IATEFL Conference and Exhibition on 10-13 April 2018.
The IATEFL International Annual Conference & Exhibition each spring is one of the main events in the English Language Teaching calendar. Attended by approximately 3,000 ELT professionals from more than 100 countries, it involves a 4-day programme of around 500 talks, workshops and symposiums as well as a vibrant social programme. This offers delegates a unique opportunity to meet leading theorists and writers, and exchange ideas with fellow professionals from all sectors of ELT.
In addition, a large resources exhibition involving around 50 ELT-related exhibitors is your one-stop shop to see the latest ELT publications and services. Plus, the IATEFL Jobs Fair continues to grow in popularity with more and more recruiters and candidates using the conference as an opportunity to discuss and fill some of the best vacancies in ELT.
IATEFL Online
If you’re unable to join us in Brighton, you can still enjoy live coverage and recorded highlights of a variety of our sessions and plenaries online.
IATEFL is able to bring you online coverage with support from our Strategic Partner, the British Council-meaning you don’t have to miss out if you aren’t able to attend! Be part of the discussion during and after the conference by using the hashtag #iatefl2018
Don’t forget you can also watch sessions from past IATEFL Conferences.
Plenary speakers
Lourdes Ortega is a Professor in the Department of Linguistics at Georgetown University. Her main area of expertise is in second language acquisition, and she is committed to investigating what it means to become a bilingual or multilingual language user later in life in ways that can encourage connections between research and teaching and promote social justice. Before moving to the USA in 1993, she taught Spanish as a foreign language at the Cervantes Institute in Athens, Greece, and English as a second language in Hawaii and Georgia, USA. She has published widely and her books include Understanding Second Language Acquisition (2009, translated into Mandarin in 2016), and Technology-mediated TBLT (with Marta González-Lloret, John Benjamins, 2014). She is currently busy finishing The Handbook of Bilingualism for Cambridge University Press (with Annick De Houwer).
Dorothy Zemach holds an MA in TEFL from the School for International Training in Vermont, USA. After teaching ESL for over 25 years, she now concentrates on writing and editing materials and conducting teacher-training workshops. Her areas of specialty and interest are teaching writing, teaching reading, business English, academic English, testing, and humor. A prolific textbook author and editor, Dorothy has penned everything from the Teddy Bear’s Magic Music teacher’s book to the lowest and highest levels of Macmillan’s flagship course Open Mind to the groundbreaking English for Scammers (self-published). In 2012 she founded a micropress, Wayzgoose Press, that publishes fiction, literary non-fiction, and ELT materials.
Brita Fernandez Schmidt is an advocate and promoter of women’s empowerment, women’s rights and equality. She frequently writes about the challenges women face all over the world in the context of poverty and conflict. Brita is a public speaker on these issues. She has lived in and/or worked with over 16 countries spanning three continents. Brita has led several influential women’s organisations and networks. She currently runs Women for Women International-UK as Executive Director. She has grown the organisation from when it first started in the UK to a medium-sized organisation which is helping thousands of women in countries affected by conflict and raising millions through effective and innovative donor relationships and partnerships. Brita holds a MA in Women’s Studies from the University of Sussex. Originally from Germany, Brita went to school in Venezuela. She now lives in the UK with her husband and two daughters.
Barry O’Sullivan is Head of Assessment Research & Development at the British Council, and creator of the Aptis testing service. He has almost 100 publications and delivered over 160 conference presentations around the world (over half as keynote, invited or plenary). His most recent book is English on the Global Stage: the British Council and English Language Testing 1941 to 2016, co-authored with Cyril Weir (Equinox 2017). Barry is active in language testing globally working with ministries, universities and examination boards on test development and validation projects. He is interested in the past and future of language testing, validation theory, communicating validation outcomes, and technology in assessing productive skills. He is the founding president of the United Kingdom Association for Language Testing and Assessment (UKALTA), holds honorary and visiting professorships at the Universities of Reading, Roehampton and Lisbon, and was awarded fellowship of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2016.
John Agard is a Queen’s Gold Medal winning poet who has written widely for both adults and children. He was born in Guyana and moved to England in 1977, becoming a touring lecturer for the Commonwealth Institute. He was appointed Writer in Residence at the South Bank Centre and thereafter Poet in Residence at the BBC and at the National Maritime Museum. His published poetry includes Man to Pan (1982), Weblines (2000) and his new collection Playing the Ghost of Maimonides (Bloodaxe Books, 2016). As a children’s writer Agard has received critical acclaim, writing many works including The Young Inferno (Frances Lincoln, 2009), winner of the Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award 2009 and Book (Walker, 2014) which was longlisted for 2016 CILIP Carnegie Medal. 2017 brings John’s delightful new picture book, Come All You Little Persons (Faber & Faber) and his playful children’s collection The Rainmaker Danced (Hodder).