Invited Speakers

Each year, JALT welcomes two speakers who represent the values, work, and vision of two teachers who served as leaders in our association: the Bill Balsamo Asian Scholar and the Kevin Cleary Invited Speaker.
Kalyan Chattopadhyay – Bill Balsamo Asian Scholar
Debbie West – Kevin Cleary Invited Speaker
See the complete list of previous Asian Scholars
Kalyan Chattopadhyay
Coordinator of IATEFL YLTSIG (UK), and the Vice President of AsiaCALL
Bill Balsamo Asian Scholar
Technology enhanced language teaching in India: practices and challenges
Teachers and researchers have been using and examining the use of technology in language teaching and learning since the advent of the World Wide Web twenty years ago. In this presentation, I will deal with Indian English teachers’ use of new technologies with learners inside and outside the classroom, some of the challenges they face, and how these practices are bringing changes in learners’ language learning lives and teachers’ professional lives in the schools, colleges and universities. I will look beyond the individual use of technologies to the pedagogical framework that underpins successful application of technologies within a range of language-learning environments, and examine how far these changes are actually able to make a difference at the ground level. Finally, I will draw on available research and classroom practices to argue for more research into the pedagogical value of technology use for both language learners and teachers, and the need for greater rigour to be exercised by decision-makers in managing change.
Kalyan Chattopadhyay is Associate Professor and Director, English Language Centre, Bankim Sardar College, Calcutta University. A University of Leeds and Hornby Trust alumnus, he has spoken and published on language skills development and the use of new technologies in language teaching. An IELTS research awardee and Cambridge University Press author, he is the outgoing Coordinator of IATEFL YLTSIG (UK), and the Vice President of AsiaCALL.
Debbie West
Immediate Past-President, TESOL France
Kevin Cleary Invited Speaker
Great Teachers Leading to Transformation
Leadership in teaching is the power of ability to lead other people and as a teacher, what is it to be a teacher and how does our leadership transform those around us. It is important for teachers to realize and see the impact of their teaching which is why it is also important to see how leadership, group dynamics, problem solving etc… can enhance the structure of the relationships of the people we work with. At times this dynamic is also affected by other things but there are some practical steps that lead to knowing and understanding that transformation happens in and out of the classroom. It is exciting to see how things and people change who come in contact with teachers as leaders.
From the TESOL France website, “Debbie West, UC Berkeley grad, brought up in a military family, has done almost everything from teaching French to being International Student Advisor in the United States to now teaching English to all levels and ages here in France. An educator at heart she sees education as broader than in a classroom and is definitely not very traditional in her methods. With a love for developing programs and an ever-present bank of ideas, there never seems to be enough time, energy and money to do everything. Being single helps and sometimes doesn’t. Here in France she is an independent (after all the accountants were just “trying to help”) and teach English and do a bit of translation. Debbie is a Representative for the International Business Program at UC Berkeley Extension, and is trying to develop a Total Summer Immersion English Program (in August). She tries to do her part in developing people’s English skills. She can be reached using her website: westlanguage.com.”
JALT Conference Asian Scholars
Year Name Country (Sponsor) Presentation title
1988: Lu Liang-De, PR of China (Kobe Steel) Linguistic Theory and Classroom Reality
1990: Zakia Sarwar Pakistan, (Catena/Komiya Fund) Listening Skills for Large Classes
1990: Jayagowri Shivakumar, India (Catena/Komiya Fund) Teacher Growth by Strengthening Teacher Development Groups
1991: Valentina Mitina, Russia (Catena/Komiya Fund) Peace Education Through FLT in the USSR
1993: Tran van Phuoc and Le thi Huynh Trang, Vietnam (Catena/Komiya Fund) Language Teaching in Vietnam
1995: Liu Daoyi and Tang Dexin, PR of China Ten Years of the National Syllabus for College English: Searching for New Directions
1996: Souksamone Pathammavong and Vilavath Thephithuck, Laos (TLT)
1997: Lilia Maria F. Realubit, Philippines, Teaching English in the Philippines
1998: Hannah Danesvari Pillay, Malaysia (MELTA)
1999: Christianity Nur, Indonesia, Indonesia and its Language Teacher Associations Material Design and Development for Indonesian Learners
2000: In Lee, South Korea
2005: Chamroeun Koun, Cambodia, Students’ Beliefs About the Causes of Their Failure
2006: Wu Zongjie, PR of China, Exploratory Practice for Transforming Teachers’ Professional Discourse
2007: Arifa Rahman, Bangladesh, Training of Teachers in Rural Bangladesh Schools Discovering Grammar
2008: Tran Van Phouc, Vietnam, Is there an Interlingual Vietnamese-English? CLT in Vietnam Schools: Reality and Solutions
2009: Amihan April Mella-Alcazar, Philippines, Functional Literacy and Contextual Learning Theories
2010: Om Soryong, Cambodia, Using Humour: The Spice of Effective Teaching
2011: Milagros Laurel, Philippines, Of Leaves, Moons, & Grasshoppers
2012: Inggy Yuliani Pribady, Indonesia, The Genre-Based Approach to Teaching English
2013: Rubina Khan, Bangladesh, The BELTA Journey: Developments and Challenges
2014: Sonthida Keyuravong, Thailand, Technology and Communication Across Borders
2015: Hà Phạm Việt, Viet Nam, The CEFR in Vietnam: From adoption to adaptation