REPORT ON TESOL 2007, SEATTLE
FOR THE ELL LEADERSHIP TEAM and National Writing Project
Judy Rance-Roney in consultation with Lynn Jacobs
TESOL: Organization Information
TESOL is the professional organization of teachers who are concerned with the teaching of the English language both domestically and globally. The TESOL acronym represents “Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc.” The organization is based in Alexandria, Virginia and comprises a membership of over 13,500 spread throughout the world in 140 countries. It is an NGO, a non-governmental organization of the United Nations Department of Public Information. Its mission is to ensure excellence in English language teaching to speakers of other languages. The website for TESOL is www.tesol.org.
In addition to the national presence, TESOL has country and state affiliates that range from of minimal presence to strong influences in the teaching of ELLs. Within the state affiliates are local affiliates. The state and local affiliates may also hold conferences of teacher educators. Internationally, many countries have strong country affiliates such as MexTESOL, the TESOL affiliate in Hong Kong, etc.
In addition to two serial publications (TESOL Quarterly and Essential Teacher), book publishing and an annual conference, TESOL is very involved in professional development through summer institutes, online training and various local seminars held throughout the year. In addition, TESOL is the representing body for NCATE, the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education programs, now the leading certifying body of schools of education in the United States. The TESOL/NCATE standards which can be accessed at either the TESOL or NCATE websites forms the basis for professional development for TESOL professionals in the U.S.
Membership
The membership of TESOL is by no means homogeneous. The membership represents almost every country on the globe. In a session at the international conference, you may have a kindergarten ESL teacher from Iowa sitting next to a university professor from an English language department from Zimbabwe. The teachers of English may work in preschool settings, k-12 settings, colleges and universities, adult education programs, intensive English programs, corporate English programs, online English education ventures, and just about every other context in which the English language is a presence.
While teachers comprise the majority of the membership, other professionals also are highly involved. Members of the U.S. State Department frequently attend the sessions and do members of the U.S. Department of Education. English language program directors are a potent force in the organization. Teacher educators are also strongly represented. Other professionals in the study of the English language frequently attend; linguists, cultural studies specialists, testing and assessment specialists and technology in language specialists organize their own strands.
The members are asked to join one or more of the 19 interest sections such as ESOL in Adult Education, Applied Linguistics, ESL in Bilingual Education, Computer-Assisted Language Learning, Materials Developers in TESOL, English for Specific Purposes, English as a Foreign Language, etc. One may also join one or more of the special caucus areas such as Christian Educators, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender the Friends caucus, the International Black Professionals and Friends caucus, TESOLERs for Social Responsibility and others.
The Second Language Writing Interest Section
Of special interest to the National Writing Project is the interest section of TESOL that specifically deals with issues of writing. This interest section is a highly educated and high specialized group with a linguistic focus. Some of the academic areas of this group are grammar structures, contrastive rhetorics, composition and rhetoric, university writing, Generation 1.5 studies, technical and scientific writing, genre studies, writing technology, the writing process adapted for ELLs, writing-reading connections, writing styles across cultures and writing research. One of the key factors in designing the NWP strand at TESOL is to examine how our offerings would be different from the sessions of this interest group and also how NWP would be viewed as non-competitive to this group.
TESOL 2007 in SEATTLE
The Annual Conference was held in Seattle from March 21-24. It was entitled “Spanning the Globe: Tides of Change” which accurately reflected the quantum shifts that are occurring in the TESOL profession currently. As a result of change, the conference seemed well attended. On average, 8,000 to 10,000 TESOL professionals attend any given year. This year seemed to signal a rise in international attendance.
Registration
Registration generally costs about $265 for members and more for non-members. This is for the Wednesday to Saturday sessions. If an attendee wants to book a discounted hotel room through TESOL, that decision must be made approximately 45 days in advance of the conference, by the published deadline.
Conference Structure
Typically, the conference structure is broken into two components, the Pre-Conference Institutes on Monday and Tuesday (which must be paid for separately) and the conference itself which begins on Wednesday morning and lasts through Saturday afternoon.
On Wednesday morning of the conference this year, the Hudson Valley Writing Project and the Newburgh EC School District in conjunction with the ELL Leadership Team held a session on the Digital Storytelling Project developed at the site. While the time slot was very early in the conference program, over 70 individuals attended the 90 minute Workshop session. Typically, one can expect 50-100 individuals to attend each session with many sessions being closed out because of full rooms. This year TESOL supplied each presenter with a screen and LCD projector thus encouraging electronic presentations and the use of multimedia.
Once the conference begins, there are sessions from early morning, 7 a.m. to late night, 8 p.m. At 11:30 each day, there is an internationally known keynote followed by a series of poster sessions. There is a large and full exhibit hall where book and material exhibitors set up areas; other groups such as schools of TESOL education and governmental agencies also man smaller tables to pass out information. There is also a Job Marketplace area posting positions available around the world.
Description of Sessions
In order for a session to be accepted at TESOL, the applicant must submit a list of presenters, contact information, a session title and conference program description and a two page abstract of the theoretical underpinnings of the session by the due date. For the TESOL NYC conference in Spring 2008, submissions are due by midnight on June 1, 2007 through electronic submissions.
The presentation acceptance rate is only about 20-25% with many of the slots going to nationally-known experts in the field. Therefore, the conference presentation review is thorough and highly selective. You are not notified of your presentation acceptance until October or later.
Typically, you must choose from one of the following session types (although the Call for Proposals is not yet up on the website for 2008):
Workshops: 90 minutes with a focus on some hands-on or visual presentation formats
Papers: 45 minute readings of written work; some may be more interactive than others
Discussion Sessions: held in early morning, you volunteer to lead a discussion on a hot topic. These last for 45 minutes.
Poster Sessions: You set up a poster presentation on poster board for an hour at mid-day.
Demonstrations: You demonstrate a particular technique or practical application – 45 minutes.
Colloquia: 1 hour and 45 minutes. A panel is convened to address different perspectives of a topic. Often, these are sponsored by Interest Sections.
Exhibitor Sessions: Materials vendors preview their latest catalog offerings.
Next Year: New York TESOL
Next year the conference will be held beginning April 1st in the Big Apple. The conferences held in New York are often very well attended with a greater domestic presence than the West Coast venues. The deadline for conference session submissions is June 1.
Opportunities for NWP
Although the number and structure of the opportunities will change as a result of higher level discussions with TESOL, below is a list of potential opportunity areas for NWP involvement.
1. The opportunity to present a strand using the NWP demo session model on hot topics in ELL writing.
2. The opportunity for the ELL Leadership Team to gain professional development from conference attendance. The conference presents the very latest information in the field with a high level of expertise.
3. The opportunity for the ELL Leadership Team to meet with and collaborate with the NWP international partners. It is likely that the NWP international sites will also be attending TESOL.
4. The opportunity to promote the activities of NWP through a session series and perhaps through a table in the exhibit hall.
Questions to be Addressed with TESOL at Higher Levels
1. There are currently only strands that are hosted by an Interest Section or a caucus, how would NWP interact with these entities?
2. How will the NWP sessions be reviewed? Will the NWP session applicants apply to the particular TESOL interest section related to the topic of the presentation or will NWP review its own?
3. Will we be seen as competing with the Second Language Writing Interest Section? However, this is the part of the organization with the most opportunities for collaboration.
4. Overall, what are the goals of NWP related to TESOL?
