The 63rd JACET International Convention | Aug 28-30, 2024
The 63rd JACET International Convention (Nagoya, 2024)
Dates: August 28th (Wed.) – 30th (Fri.), 2024
Venue: Aichi University, Nagoya Campus
4-60-6 Hiraike-cho, Nakamura-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi JAPAN 453-8777
Theme: Positioning ELT in Higher Education
Abstract:
English education at colleges/universities in Japan has developed significantly in response to strong social demands such as the expansion of globalization and the urgent need to cultivate global talent. Moreover, the emergence of technologies such as the Internet and smartphones, especially large language model-based artificial intelligence (AI), has radically changed students’ and teachers’ learning and teaching environments. On the other hand, when focusing on the internal aspects of English education, it has been transformed by incorporating insights from various fields of study, including linguistics and pedagogy as well as psychology and engineering. In addition, English for specific purposes has increasingly progressed through collaboration with other disciplines such as medicine, pharmacy, and tourism.
As a result, English education, which has continuously evolved while accepting the influence of society and industry, currently occupies a unique position in higher education. Under the umbrella of English education, there is considerable diversification in terms of objectives and desired directions. In an era of unpredictable VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity), it is crucial to rethink what English education should be and what it should be to remain a constant presence. In this convention, under the theme “Positioning ELT in Higher Education,” we aim to reconfirm the past purposes of English education and engage in discussions from various perspectives on the new purposes and positioning of English education in the VUCA era.