BC TEAL 2025 Annual Conference

BC TEAL is proud to present our 2025 Annual Conference: Disruptive Educational Practices: Strategies for Transformation.

Please note that the Friday evening event, the TEAL Charitable Foundation Awards & Fundraiser, requires an additional ticket purchase. Please register here to secure your spot and join us in celebrating the awardees while fundraising for a better cause in TEAL.

Educators shine in times of change to face unexpected challenges. This is when creativity flourishes by combining proven practices with fresh and innovative ideas. These times call for transformation which can be rooted in tradition or experience, or it can arise through unexplored approaches. The synthesis of old and new ideas drives meaningful progress. Join other insightful and creative educators as we flourish within the power of our community.

11:00am PDT

Disrupting Academic Publishing: The Story of the BC TEAL Journal

Friday May 2, 2025 11:00am - 11:45am PDT

Poster Session

The BC TEAL Journal is an open access peer-reviewed publication promoting scholarship related to English as an additional language (EAL) teaching and learning, with articles relevant to a wide range of contexts in British Columbia. Since its inception in 2016, the journal has been disrupting academic publishing and transforming the way English language teaching organizations support their members. Key to this disruption is the variety of topics that find their way into the pages of the journal. An overview of the past nine issues of the journal is provided, with highlights including canine-assisted therapy (Binfet et al., 2016), portfolio-based language assessment (Drew & Mudzingwa, 2018), workplace writing (Hu & Gonzales, 2020), task-based language lessons (Huang, 2022), EAP presentations (Martin, 2023), and care ethics (Baslee, 2024). The free and open dissemination of papers such as these are transforming the building of knowledge, theory, and practice in the field of EAL teaching and learning. The field is further being transformed by opportunities to contribute to the journal as readers, authors, and peer reviewers. Visitors to this poster will become more familiar with the journal and learn how it can support their own continuing professional development. The supports in place for the publication process are described and major steps such as manuscript preparation, peer review, copy editing, proof reading, and layout are outlined in detail. The goal of this poster presentation is to inspire BC TEAL members to continue to engage with local scholarship, volunteer as peer reviewers, and begin to plan their next article for submission.

References

Binfet, J.-T., Trotman, M. L., Henstock, H. D., & Silas, H. J. (2016). Reducing the affective filter: Using canine assisted therapy to support international university students’ English language development. BC TEAL Journal, 1(1), 18–37. https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v1i1.225
Drew, R., & Mudzingwa, C. (2018). The portfolio-based language assessment model: Perceptions of adult immigrant English language learners. BC TEAL Journal, 3(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v3i1.267
Hu, J., & Gonzales, L. (2020). English-as-an-additional-language employees’ perspectives on writing in the workplace. BC TEAL Journal, 5(1), 91–108. https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.343
Huang, L.-S. (2022). The stories of my life: A task-based, oral narrative lesson for employment purposes for learners with refugee backgrounds. BC TEAL Journal, 7(1), 42–54. https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v7i1.459
Martin, J. L. (2023). The problem of presentations: An EAP lecturer’s approach to teaching presentation skills. BC TEAL Journal, 8(1), 29–42. https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v8i1.539
Baslee, S. (2024). A care ethics approach to digital literacies: Supporting language acquisition, identity, and overall well-being of adult EAL learners with refugee experiences in Canada. BC TEAL Journal, 9(1), 49–59. https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v9i1.598

Speakers

Scott Roy Douglas

Professor, University of British Columbia

Scott Douglas is a professor in the Okanagan School of Education, where his focus is on EAL teaching and learning in post-secondary contexts.

Friday May 2, 2025 11:00am - 11:45am PDT
Poster Session

Publishing, Publishing

1:00pm PDT

Anti-Racist Pronunciation Pedagogy for CELBAN: First Nations English Dialects

Friday May 2, 2025 1:00pm - 1:45pm PDT

Poster Session

The goal of this session is to suggest a new chapter in the Centre for Canadian Language Benchmark Assessment for Nurses (CELBAN) listening workbook. CELBAN is designed to assess the English proficiency of Internationally Educated Nurses (IEN). The current CELBAN workbooks have no mention of Indigenous, Aboriginal, or First Nations peoples of Canada. People entering Canada with hopes of working in the medical field need to be aware of First Nations English Dialects (FNED) (Ball, J., Bernhardt, B., & Deby, J., 2006; Ball, J., & Bernhardt, B.M., 2008; Bird, K. R., E., 2011; Fadden, L., & LaFrance, J., 2008) in addition to the Canadian history of colonialism and how this affects Indigenous people in healthcare today. Drawing on theories regarding Anti-Racist Pronunciation pedagogy and the responsibility of the listener (Ramjattan, 2023), this poster session argues that IENs must learn about FNED in order to meet the CELBAN requirements of identifying motivations, purposes, attitudes, and intention of speech. Focusing on sharing phonological resources and using each other’s pronunciation practices, encouraging a desire to understand one another despite barriers, and the creation of strategies for communication breakdown (Ramjattan, 2023, p. 321), the presenters suggest that this transformative approach could play a useful role at the intersection of the two broad communities in question. The presenters suggest an addition to the CELBAN Listening Handbook and Assessment, including audios of different dialects of English in Canada, with a primary focus on FNED, to facilitate an awareness of different pronunciations. By addressing the gap in CELBAN, the presenters are able to make suggestions to promote culturally safe care for the communities within Canada that require it the most. More implicitly, the presenters’ aim is also to help IENs with gaining confidence in their own pronunciations. The poster suggestions are thereby transferable to practitioners’ contexts, since the presenters argue that listening skills should be taught with an emphasis on understanding different accents in Canada with a grounding in APP and theories of decolonization in the EAL classroom.

Speakers

Meghan Jones

Student and Research Assistant, University of Victoria

Meghan Jones works on SSHRC-funded research for the School of Languages, Linguistics, and Culture Applied Linguistics Department at the University of Victoria.

Anna Armanca

Student, University of Victoria

Anna Armanca is a student in the School of Languages, Linguistics and Culture Applied Linguistic department at the University of Victoria

Friday May 2, 2025 1:00pm - 1:45pm PDT
Poster Session

English for Specifc Purposes (ESP), Indigenization

11:00am PDT

Arguments: Their Shape, Flow and Use in the SLA Classroom

Saturday May 3, 2025 11:00am - 11:45am PDT

Poster Session

In its most basic form, an argument is a claim and a reason to accept the claim. Argumentation is the process of clarifying the question at issue, gathering relevant evidence, and formulating the aforementioned reasons and the claim. Although it is a truism to state that arguments are everywhere and that everyone argues, one forum where arguments have yet to find a permanent place is the SLA classroom in Japan, perhaps because argument is conceived as a confrontational, win or lose interaction. This poster shows cooperative argument activities and their underlying concepts that have been used successfully in SLA classrooms.
Another reason for the hesitation to use argumentation activities may be that arguing well is challenging for students. College and high school students have difficulty judging argument quality but do respond positively to various interventions, including engaging in argument with peers, media tutorials and scaffolding (Kuhn, D., Zillmer, N., Crowell, A., & Zavala, J., 2013; Larson, Britt & Kurby, 2009; Wilson, K., & Devereux, L. 2014).
This poster presentation summarizes just such interventions. Following from the concept-based language instruction claim that learners need to internalize the systematic, scientific principles that underpin linguistic phenomena of interest via working with their materializations, salient features of arguments are shown as flow charts, diagrams, pictures and maps, to form SCOBAs, or schema for the orienting basis of action (Gal’perin, 1989; Hadidi, 2021; Lantolf and Thorne, 2006).
These features include common lines of argument (e.g. cause to effect, effect to cause, sign, generalization), their elements (i.e. evidence, claim, warrant, qualifier, etc.), how the elements interact and, most importantly, a variety of arguments relevant to college-aged learners. What is the best book or movie for someone who wants to understand Japanese culture? What is marriage? Is it marriage good or bad? Should people get married? Should I get married?
Participants can see and learn how arguments are structured, how they function, and how they enrich SLA classrooms of almost any level, background and topic.

References
Gal'perin, P. Y. (1989). Mental actions as a basis for the formation of thoughts and images. Soviet Psychology, 27(3), 45-64.
Hadidi, A. (2021). Application of a SCOBA in educational praxis of L2 written argumentative discourse. Language and Sociocultural Theory, 8(1), 68–96. https://doi.org/10.1558/lst.19037
Kuhn, D., Zillmer, N., Crowell, A., & Zavala, J. (2013). Developing norms of argumentation: Metacognitive, epistemological, and social dimensions of developing argumentive competence. Cognition and Instruction, 31(4), 456-496.
Lantolf, J.P. & Thorne. S.L. (2006). Sociocultural theory and the genesis of second language development. Oxford University Press.
Larson, A. A., Britt, M. A., & Kurby, C. A. (2009). Improving students' evaluation of informal arguments. The Journal of Experimental Education, 77(4), 339-366.
Wilson, K., & Devereux, L. (2014). Scaffolding theory: High challenge, high support in Academic Language and Learning (ALL) contexts. Journal of Academic Language and learning, 8(3), A91-A100.

Speakers

Michael Herke

Setsunan University

Michael Herke is an Associate Professor at Setsunan University in Osaka, Japan. Before joining Setsunan, he taught at high school in Vancouver, BC, and at schools and universities around Osaka.

Saturday May 3, 2025 11:00am - 11:45am PDT
Poster Session

Writing, Materials and Curriculum Development

1:00pm PDT

The Voice of Crises in ESL

Saturday May 3, 2025 1:00pm - 1:45pm PDT

Poster Session

Learning Objectives- recognize the importance of sharing and caring for teacher empowerment during challenging times
- value the necessity of building growth mindset for the betterment of an educational environment
- analyze what a trauma- sensitive or trauma-informed environments in the ELT world are
- examine the conditions of the ESL teachers in Ukraine during and after the war and the ESL teachers in Türkiye in the southeast region affected by the devastating earthquake in February, 2023.
- discuss the role and power of photovoicing even in a mini case study

Content Takeaways"The power of photos and how one can voice them" is hoped to be a good example for further studies in ELT education and teacher empowerment.
The method used in this case study is photovoicing, which aims at raising awareness in communtiy development and building the feeling of belonging in a community through empathy.

Other InformationThere will be photos and the related recordings of the teachers on a Padlet wall within the ethical guidelines.I will add QR codes for the links as well. Thank you for your evaluation.

Speakers

Pinar Sekmen

Founder & Academic Coordinator, PS:Professional Support in Education

Pınar Sekmen has been in the ELT world for over two decades. She is thefounder and academic coordinator of PS:Professional Support in Education for teachers and learners. She has been working in the fields of EAL,teacher training, and education management programs. Her interests... Read More →

Saturday May 3, 2025 1:00pm - 1:45pm PDT
Poster Session

Well-being, Well-being

BC TEAL 2025 Annual Conference

From CA$115.47