TESOL Connections

TESOL 2023: Inspiring and Empowering ELT Professionals

by TESOL International Association

On 21 March, 2023, the in-person TESOL International Convention & English Language Expo opened in Portland, Oregon, USA, with the virtual convention live 3–4 April. Known for its creative counterculture where art, music, and individuality thrive, Portland was the perfect host city for a convention that welcomed, in person, more than 3,000 professionals. In-person attendees also gained access to the virtual convention, where they joined another 4,750 additional professionals who attended online from all parts of the world, from more than 110 different countries.

Convention Highlights

In addition to academic, InterSection, and Professional Learning Network sessions, there were a number of special events. Preconvention Institutes offered in-depth, hands-on workshops designed and led by experts on high-demand topics, such as addressing newcomer learners, the power of collaboration, and creating equity for vulnerable learners. The Graduate Student Forum offered a place for master’s and doctoral students to support their peers, present their research, network with peers and faculty, and gain teaching ideas. There was also a special research mentoring workshop, organized by the TESOL Research Professional Council, for novice researchers. In Tea With Distinguished TESOLers sessions, attendees were able to gather with a small group of colleagues to discuss a current topic of interest with a leading TESOL expert.

After attending sessions, visiting exhibitors at the English Language Expo, and networking with friends and colleagues, many attendees shared thoughts and feelings about their convention experience. Here are a few of their comments:

It was wonderful! It was well organized with diverse topics and experts in the field. My brain was so happy!
I found the Thursday keynote [Rachel Elizabeth Weissler] so inspiring that I’m now considering going back to school.
I really cherished the friendly atmosphere together with everyone's willingness to share knowledge and experiences.
I got to meet many ELT specialists who I met online only. Meeting them in person was entirely an amazing experience.
Overall, the conference was everything I'd hoped it would be: I learned relevant and helpful information and was inspired with new ideas and visions for the future of my career.

Attendees flocked to the TESOL Bookstore, where they received a special convention discount on books, including new releases like ELT Basics: A Beginner’s Guide to English Language Teaching; Fostering International Student Success in Higher Education, Second Edition; and the TESOL Zip Guide: Welcoming and Supporting Multilingual Newcomers.

New this year was the TESOL Fair, where attendees were able to engage casually with TESOL’s communities of practice (groups formed around professional topics) and professional councils (groups that provide professional expertise to help advance the association’s strategic objectives and activities) and learn about who they are and what they do.

To close the convention, TESOL held its Annual Business Meeting, where TESOL members gathered to hear updates on the association’s growth over the past year. New board members were sworn in, which included the passing of the gavel to the association’s new president, Shelley Taylor, and the installation of Debra Suarez as president-elect. Other new board members included Kisha Bryan and Cynthia Wiseman.

Popular Sessions

The 2023 convention provided attendees with many opportunities to add to their educator toolkits. Seven-hundred fifty in-person sessions and 160 virtual sessions covered strands like advocacy, social justice, and community building; language assessment; content-integrated approaches; and digital learning and technologies.

As always, the keynotes drew the largest crowds. Here were the keynotes in Portland:

Opening Keynote: Sammy Ramsey
Biodiversity and Diversity in Bio: What’s the Point?

Presidential Panel: Joyce Kling
Inspiring the Future of Research in ELT

Thursday Keynote: Rachel Elizabeth Weissler
Language, Power, and The Brain: Linguistics for Social Justice

James E. Alatis Plenary: Asmaa AbuMezied
Demanding Economic Justice for Care Work

For an idea of what else English language professionals found interesting in 2023, here are a few of the most attended and viewed sessions, in no particular order:

Google Translate: How L2 Readers Use It and Its Effects
Using Technology to Teach, Learn, and Assess L2 Speaking
Teacher Leadership for School-Wide English Learning (SWEL)
Meeting the Needs of Newcomer Multilingual Learners
Gamification Approach: Pear Deck and ThingLink as Interactive Teaching Tools
Implementing Flipped Learning to Teach Source-Based Writing
Decolonizing the English Language Classroom: A Guide to Self-Reflexive Practices
Effective Teacher Training Strategies for Reluctant English Speakers
Integrating Social-Emotional Learning Practices Into Daily EL Lessons
Perspectives on Critical Language Awareness: Theory and Practice
Empowering Classroom Teachers to Embrace Differentiated Planning for MLs
From the Ground Up: Building Undergraduate and Graduate Pathway Programs
Leadership Pathways in TESOL
Your AI Tutor: Delivering Adaptive, Interactive Speaking Practice on Demand
Diverse Family Engagement: Families Coming Inspired and Emerging Empowered
Empowering College Faculty to Support and Advocate for International Students
Enriched Language Learning Through Mindfulness and Exercise-Based Brain Boosters
Instructor Fear of Student Plagiarism: Impacts on Instructional Practices
Supporting Young Writers to Thrive in School
Utilizing Reflective Portfolios in the Evaluation of Teacher Training Programs
Incorporating Translanguaging Perspectives Into the ELT Classroom
Overcoming Burnout: Livening Up Your Teaching Career With PD
Ending the War or Ending the World? New Peace Linguistics

TESOLers in Motion

Take a look at some awesome photos from Portland covering just a handful of the many events and sessions—see if you can spot a friend, colleague, or yourself! Check out more convention photos here.

TESOL 2024

It’s never too early to start planning for next year’s convention! The 2024 convention will feature in-person presentations in Tampa, Florida, USA, Thursday through Saturday, 21–23 March 2024 and virtual sessions, 11–12 April. The deadline for all proposal submissions is 1 June 2023.

To learn more about TESOL's support of Florida English language educators, click here.

To become a proposal reviewer, apply here (deadline 5 May 2023).

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TESOL Blogs

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Check out some of the most recent TESOL Blogs:

Revisiting Blogging for English Learners in 2023, by Brent Warner

Years ago, talk about blogging for English learners was all the rage. Teachers were getting their students on Blogger, WordPress, Posterous, Tumblr, and more. One of the most powerful features of blogging was that it was public — anything students wrote could be read and commented on by anyone. We’ll get back to this point later, but as most schools began to move into all-encompassing learning management systems such as Canvas, Edmodo, Google Classroom, and others, the idea of public blogging for students faded away in favor of walled-in writing assignments that only teachers could see. But the value of blogging hasn’t faded! All of the arguments in favor of blogging continue to ring true. Read more.

On Bike Riding, Reading, and Young Learners’ Biliteracy Development, by Spencer Salas

Greetings from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte! This spring, I’ve taken up riding my bike through the neighborhood again. It’s an especially beautiful time of year; and, the azaleas and dogwoods are in full bloom.

I learned how to ride a bike when I was five or six years old in a San Antonio, Texas neighborhood back in the day when we didn’t wear helmets and when small children roamed neighborhoods fearlessly without the protection of their parents. Read more.

Creating Space for Translanguaging for Elementary School-Aged MLLs, by Judie Haynes

Many years ago, when I taught elementary English as a second language (ESL), I created and laminated labels for items in the general education classrooms where multilingual learners were assigned. Since multilingual learners (MLLs) in my school spoke a total of 18 different languages at the time, I tailored my labels to the languages spoken in each classroom. I thought of these labels as both a vocabulary development activity for my MLLs and an introduction to various cultures for their English-speaking peers. I’d never heard the term translanguaging during my graduate studies in ESL and bilingual education. Read more.

TESOL Bookstore

Featured Resources from TESOL Press

ELT Basics: A Beginner's Guide to English Language Teaching

Jan Edwards Dormer

ELT Basics is an invaluable resource for those seeking a straightforward, practical, and foundational understanding of English language teaching. This book covers a broad range of important topics, such as what it means to “know” a language, how people learn new languages, and what teachers can do to teach English effectively. Whether you’re looking for a basic understanding of ELT or considering a career in language teaching but want to know more first, this book will teach you about language acquisition as well as how to plan, instruct, and assess multilingual learners of English.

Fostering International Student Success in Higher Education, Second Edition
Shawna Shapiro, Raichle Farrelly, Zuzana Tomaš

(Copublished by TESOL and NAFSA)

The increase in the number of international students attending English-dominant schools brings benefits as well as challenges for institutions. Shapiro, Farrelly, and Tomaš provide a lively, informative discussion that answers the questions instructors commonly ask when seeking to ensure success for these students: What do I do to help students be successful in U.S. academic culture? How can I ensure that the content for my course is comprehensible to students who are still learning English? How do I design assignments and assessments that are fair while still acknowledging the difficulty of doing academic work in a second or foreign language? How might I treat international students as a linguistic and cultural asset in the classroom, and help them to become institutionally integrated?

TESOL Zip Guide:
Welcoming and Supporting Multilingual Newcomers
Amber Warren, Melissa Hauke, Jan By Ying Hui-Michael, Adrienne Johnson

Newcomers are students who have recently immigrated to a new country, may be learning English as an additional language, and may have varying levels of English proficiency. This guide introduces five key areas of consideration when planning instruction to meet the unique social-emotional, linguistic, cultural, academic, and programming needs of multilingual learners of English who are newcomers. It includes strategies and best practices for language assessment and academic instruction through the proficiency levels, and guidance on how to advocate for effective newcomer education.