The National School of Languages, Linguistics and Translation of the National Autonomous University of Mexico through the Mediateca invites to Independent Learning Association Conference - ILA 2021 in collaboration with the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) & Learner Autonomy Special Interest Group (LASIG) with the theme “Developing Learner Autonomy in Language Learning”.
Due to the COVID 19 outbreak, we had to defer the Independent Learning Association Conference – ILA Conference 2021 “Developing Learner Autonomy in Language Learning”. The ILA Conference Organizing Committee is pleased to announce that the conference will now take place from June 28 to June 30, 2021 in the facilities of the National School of Languages, Linguistics and Translation, if circumstances allow and when we will hopefully be able to travel again. Also, we are opening a new Call for papers in November 3rd, 2020.
This three-day conference will take place in the facilities of the National School of Languages, Linguistics and Translation from June 29 to July 1st, 2021. The main aim of the event is to offer the national and international community of academics and practitioners interested in autonomous language learning an environment for a fruitful exchange of ideas and best practices. It will provide a platform for reflection and the opening of potential future collaborations and professional networks.
The presenter delivers his/her research, explains best practices and experiences, accompanied by a powerpoint presentation.
Maximun number of participants: 2
20 minutes plus 10 minutes Q&As
Pecha Kucha
An individual oral presentation that consists of showing 20 slides for 20 seconds each. Question and answer session will take place in a different room after each presentation.
Maximun number of participants: 1
6 min. 40 s. & 10 minutes Q&A
Panel Discussion
A group of papers in which participants address experiences and visions on the same topic or problem.
Maximun number of participants: 3 to 4
45 min. + 15 minutes Q&A
Workshop
an individual o collaborative participation that includes a set of practical and interactive activities that involve problem-solving and skills training.
Maximun number of participants: 2
90 min.
Asynchronous Virtual Presentations
The presenter records his/her research, or best practices accompanied by a powerpoint presentation or any other digital tool . If accepted, it will be published on the YouTube Channel of the event. The presenter will have the chance to answer questions in a special zoom session one day of the event.
Maximun number of participants: 1
10-15 min. + 10 minutes Q&A (Live)
Themes
The conference will focus primarily on the following themes:
01
Activity design for Learner Autonomy in the classroom
02
Learner Development
03
Language Advising
04
Digital tools / media
05
Material development
06
Reflection on good practices
07
Teacher / Students roles
08
Curriculum / Syllabus design
09
Learning beyond the classroom
Registration rates
SPEAKERS
Before March 31st, 2021
$45 US DLLS SPEAKERS*
*Overseas participants may pay cash on the door
$45 US DLLS Attendants
UNAM - ENALLT - ITESO - IATEFL MEMBERS
$50 US DLLS Attendants
General Public Networking
$20 US DLLS Attendants
Students (send ID to ilac2021@enallt.unam.mx)
Dr. Jo Mynard is a Professor Kanda University of International Studies
Dr. Jo Mynard is a Professor, Director of the Self-Access Learning Center (SALC), and Director of the Research Institute for Learner Autonomy Education (RILAE) at Kanda University of International Studies in Japan. She has an M.Phil. in Applied Linguistics from Trinity College, University of Dublin, Ireland and an Ed.D. in TEFL from the University of Exeter, UK. At KUIS, she advises language learners and oversees research and the general direction of the SALC. She also teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on Learner Autonomy, Effective Language Learning, and Individual Differences (the psychology of language learning). She has co-edited and co-authored several books on learner autonomy and advising and has published over 100 scholarly works. She is one of the founding editors of Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal and the Journal for the Psychology of Language Learning. She is particularly interested in research related to advising, self-directed language learning, language learning beyond the classroom / self-access language learning, and the social and affective dimensions of language learning. https://kandaeli.academia.edu/JoMynard
Dr. Jo Mynard Outside-class language learning environments: How can we help learners to thrive?
In this talk, I will explore ways in which we might support our learners by providing the conditions for them to thrive in self-access or self-directed language learning (SDLL) environments. Using self-determination theory (SDT) as a framework (Deci & Ryan, 1987; Ryan & Deci, 2017), I will explore various ways in which we can enhance students’ autonomous motivation through supporting their basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in out-of-class contexts (Mynard & Shelton-Strong, 2019, forthcoming). I will share examples, underpinned by theory, where learners are taking charge of their language learning, for example, in casual social learning spaces, in student-led group activities, and through following self-directed learning plans. I will explore the role that teachers and learning advisors have in facilitating the process of developing autonomy through the powerful use of dialogue (Kato & Mynard, 2016). I will finish by looking at some ways of researching the process, and some ways in which we might all expand the meaningful learning opportunities available to our students.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1987). The support of autonomy and the control of behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53(6), 1024-1037. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.53.6.1024
Kato, S., & Mynard, J. (2016). Reflective dialogue: Advising in language learning. New York, NY: Routledge.
Mynard, J., & Shelton-Strong, S. J. (2019). Drawing on self-determination theory in order to investigate the autonomy-supportive nature of a self-access centre. LASIG Blog. https://lasigblog.wordpress.com/2019/03/21/83/
Mynard, J., & Shelton-Strong, S. J. (forthcoming). Investigating the autonomy-supportive nature of a self-access environment: A self determination theory approach. In J. Mynard, M. Tamala, & W. Peeters (Eds.), Supporting learners and educators in developing language learner autonomy. Hong Kong: Candlin & Mynard.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Dr. Christina Gkonou Universidad de Essex
Dr Christina Gkonou is Associate Professor of TESOL and MA TESOL Programme Leader in the Department of Language and Linguistics at the University of Essex, UK. She is also Deputy Director of Education in the same Department. She convenes postgraduate modules on teacher education and development, and on psychological aspects surrounding the foreign language learning and teaching experience. She is the co-editor of New Directions in Language Learning Psychology (with Sarah Mercer and Dietmar Tatzl) and New Insights into Language Anxiety: Theory, Research and Educational Implications (with Jean-Marc Dewaele and Mark Daubney), and co-author of MYE: Managing Your Emotions Questionnaire (with Rebecca L. Oxford). Her new book, entitled The Emotional Rollercoaster of Language Teaching (co-edited with Jean-Marc Dewaele and Jim King) will be out in early 2020.
Dr. Christina Gkonou Managing emotions for learner autonomy
Language learning is an emotionally laden experience due to shifts to learners’ identities and a number of face-threatening situations that might occur in language classrooms (Dewaele, 2010; Gkonou, Daubney, & Dewaele, 2017; Gregersen & MacIntyre, 2014; Oxford, 2017). In this talk, I discuss emotions pertaining to classroom language learning and ways of better understanding our learners’ emotions, for example by considering self-reported experiences of emotions gathered through scenario-based tools such as the Managing Your Emotions for Language Learning questionnaire (MYE; Gkonou & Oxford, 2017). I also reflect on the usefulness of differentiated instruction to cater for the affective needs of individual learners and on strategies for helping our learners to become autonomous, both emotionally and academically.
Mtra. María de Lourdes Cuéllar Valcárcel Escuela Nacional de Lenguas, Lingüística y Traducción, UNAM
Egresada de la Maestría en Entornos Virtuales de Aprendizaje por la Universidad de Panamá. Estudió chino en el Instituto de Lenguas de Beijing y ha tomado diversos cursos de actualización y formación docente tanto en China como en México. Es Trabajadora Social y desde 1989 participa en la corriente Humanismo Universalista donde se ha especializado en temas como humanismo, no violencia, y desarrollo humano. Desde el año 2004 y hasta la fecha se desempeña como profesora y asesora de chino en la ENALLT, de la UNAM. Cuenta con el Diplomado Formación de Asesores de Centros de Autoacceso y es profesora de tiempo.
Mtra. María de Lourdes Cuéllar Valcárcel La experiencia del pensar en el aprendizaje autónomo
¿Cómo se registra el pensar? Para aprender hay que pensar, pero el pensamiento no es, como muchas veces se cree, una actividad meramente intelectual. El pensar es intrínseco a lo humano, lo cual está constituido por el entrelazamiento de por lo menos dos factores: lo emocional y lo racional (Maturana 2003). El acto de pensar empieza cuando surge un interés por algo que capta mi atención. Está vinculado con la experiencia humana y produce en nosotros un registro interno, una sensación, una emoción. El pensar nos permite abstraernos del torrente cotidiano, relacionar datos, crear nuevas conexiones neuronales, abrir interrogantes, etc., y, si es coherente, nos permite aprender sin límite.
En esta conferencia-taller, dentro del marco del Método Estructural Dinámico desarrollado por el Centro Mundial de Estudios Humanistas (Silo 1975, León 2014, Pompei 2008) vamos a explorar los registros del pensar a través de ejercicios muy breves que nos servirán para reflexionar sobre
algunos aspectos del pensar. 1) cómo tengo registro de él, cómo se produce, cuáles son sus mecanismos y cómo se puede direccionar intencionadamente hacia un pensar coherente; 2) cómo es que atender a los registros y mecanismos del pensar nos puede llevar al aprendizaje significativo del que nos habla Ausubel; y 3) qué relación tiene el pensar coherente (experiencia personal, abstracta y cargada de emotividad) con la autonomía. Si la autonomía es considerada como la capacidad de autorregular los propios pensamientos, las acciones e interacciones del aprendizaje y, como competencia y afinidad con otros, un apoyo a la motivación intrínseca, (Oxford 2017), entonces vale la pena detenerse un poco en el paso previo. Puedo autorregular mis pensamientos si aprendo a atender a los registros de mi propio pensar, y esto, consecuentemente, me permitirá desarrollar una actitud atenta a mi proceso de aprendizaje, ejercitarme en seleccionar mejor mis intereses y profundizar en mi propósito.
Katherine Thornton Otemon Gakuin University, Japan
I have an MA in TESOL from the University of Leeds, UK and am currently an Associate Professor and Learning Adviser at Otemon Gakuin University, Osaka, Japan. I have worked in the field of self-access language learning for more than 10 years, currently as the Director of a new self-access centre that I established at Otemon Gakuin University in 2013, and previously as a learning adviser under Dr. Jo Mynard at Kanda University of International Studies from 2008. I direct a small team in all aspects of running the self-access centre and design and deliver self-directed learning and EFL study abroad preparation courses. I have published extensively on my research interests of self-access learning, learner identities and learner beliefs, including articles in System and Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal, of which I am also a regular editor.
Katherine Thornton Language policy and multilingual practices in self-access environments: what role for learner autonomy?
While self-access centres have long supported the learning of multiple languages, and encouraged interaction between people of different cultures, the recent multilingual turn in second language acquisition (May, 2014) provides an opportunity for self-access practitioners, and educators more generally, to critically re-examine the linguistic practices of their learning environments and the role of language policy in shaping these spaces. These examinations should be framed by new understandings of the nature of multilingualism, the role of linguistic repertoire in identity construction, and how concepts such as translanguaging (Creese & Blackledge, 2010; Garcia & Li Wei, 2014) can support language learning, while ensuring the preservation of the unique environment of a self-access centre for target language interaction.
In this presentation, I will draw on my own and others’ investigations into language policy in self-access spaces to discuss to what extent self-access is being informed by the multilingual turn, and how it may influence self-access practice in the future. I propose that the intentional reflective dialogue (Kato, 2012) of advising sessions, and other measures employed to foster learner autonomy, both inside and beyond the classroom, can play a vital role in supporting learners to make informed linguistic choices.
Creese, A., & Blackledge, A. (2010). Translanguaging in the bilingual classroom: A pedagogy for learning and teaching? Modern Language Journal, 94(1), 103–115. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2009.00986.x
Garcia, O., & Li W. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.
Kato, S. (2012). Professional development for learning advisors : Facilitating the intentional reflective dialogue. Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal, 3, 74–92.
May, S. (2014) (Ed.) The multilingual turn: Implications for SLA, TESOL and bilingual education. New York, NY: Routledge.
June 27, 2020
Dear ILA2020 participants,
We hope that you and your beloved ones are in good health.
The ILA 2020 Organizing Committee would like to inform that the Independent Learner Association Conference ILA 2020 has been suspended and it will take place in 2021. We are working on the possibility of a hybrid model.
All proposals are reviewed, and the results are available on the site where you registered; there you will also find the acceptance letter. Your presentations will be scheduled for the conference in 2021.
Finally, we are happy to inform you that registration for attendance and proposal submission will open soon.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email: ilac2021@enallt.unam.mx
We appreciate your patience and understanding. We will try our best to inform you on time.
