Dudley Reynolds is the 2016-17 President of the TESOL International Association and a Teaching Professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar where he teaches first-year writing. Over his career he has also taught elementary school learners in Egypt, Intensive English students at Indiana University, and MA TESOL candidates at the University of Houston. His research focuses on teacher development and second language literacy issues.

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PLENARY SESSION

Languaging, Teaching, Shaping in a Changing World

The world of ELT is changing. New understandings of language, new technological affordances, and new models for funding education are forcing new conceptualizations of what teachers do and should do. Many of the changes seem to be coming from outside the profession, and many may cause us to worry about our future.

The value of change, however, is that it creates dissonance; it puts our professional identities side-by-side with the identity that others would impose on us. It gives us the opportunity to think about what we can contribute as professionals. In this plenary, we will examine changes occurring in the world of English teaching and how we can shape them into opportunities for professional growth.