JALT Talk Newsletter

Hello, and welcome to another monthly edition of JALT Talk, the announcements newsletter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching.

JALT International Conference News

JALT2025 Basic details:

Title: 51st Annual International Conference on Language Teaching and Learning & Educational Materials Exhibition
When: Friday, October 31 - Sunday, November 2, 2025
Note: Unlike previous years, Friday will be a full day of presentations, and we will not have a Monday.
Where: National Youth Olympic Center, Yoyogi, Tokyo
Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/wR973syaJ2PSivbEA
Theme:
LanguageS: Learning, Teaching, Assessing
— JALT 50 Years —
Challenges and Perspectives
Conference website: https://events.jalt.org/event/37/

Childcare

Childcare will be available during the conference. Details will be announced soon. We hope that this encourages parents and caregivers to attend JALT2025.

JALT2025 t-shirts, hoodies, bags and more!

JALT2025 conference goods have been added to our online shop! T-shirts, hoodies, keychains, hats, stickers, more! Show up in style.

See our collections of JALT2025 goods here: https://suzuri.jp/JALT/omoide
See everything (with newest on top), including JALT goods and past conference goods: https://suzuri.jp/JALT/products

Reminder about TNT (Technology in Teaching) and PD (Professional Development) workshops

Instead of holding TNT and PD workshops on the Friday of the conference, these workshops will move online, on a different date in the summer (details TBA). JALT2025 will still be a full 3-day conference; the difference is that we will start with a full day of presentations on Friday, October 31, and finish on Sunday, November 2.

Job listings

Call for Presentation Proposals for the JALT Global Englishes SIG Conference 2025 due Aug. 31 (Online, Dec. 6)

The Global Englishes SIG will hold its third online conference on Saturday 6th December. The deadline for submissions is 31st August. Please see the website for more information: https://jaltgesig.wordpress.com

Call for Presentation Proposals for the JALT Study Abroad SIG Conference 2025 due Sept. 18 (in Nagoya, Oct. 18)

The Study Abroad SIG will be holding its annual conference on Saturday, 18th October at Kinjo Gakuin university in Nagoya. The call for proposals is now open and will close on 18th September. https://www.sa-sig.org/conference-proposals.html

Call for Poster Presentations for Hokuriku JALT Chapter's event on Teaching Practices (in Kanazawa, July 6)

Presenters will have the opportunity to present their topic for 10-minutes each, and then everyone in attendance will be able browse the selections freely and ask presenters questions. Please contact justinllaneza@hotmail.com for all questions and comments regarding the event.

Call for Presentation Proposals for the JALT College and University Educators SIG Conference 2025 due Aug. 1 (in Tokyo, Sept. 13-14)

During these days of strained international relations and breakdowns in long-standing political and business relationships, this year’s conference brings an important collaboration among three organizations involved in tertiary education (CUE), business communication (BizCom), and international peace (PGL). The theme of this conference asks how universities can foster experts in international communication who can tend to peaceful international relations and take their place as captains of industry. Researchers and practitioners in language education and peacebuilding are invited to share their vision for modern international and business communication.

JALT Representation at our International Partner Conferences

If you are interested in representing JALT at an international partner conference, please read through the "Responsibilities of JALT Representatives at Partner Conferences" information sheet by contacting the JALT International Affairs Committee at international@jalt.org, and then fill in the Google form at https://forms.gle/1541dgMdcjVfbXJ76

Preregistration closes Aug. 31 for the 7th Extensive Reading World Congress (Sapporo, September 5-9)

Just a couple of months left before ERWC 7 begins in Sapporo! The ER SIG and the ER Foundation are proudly hosting this Extensive Reading conference in Hokkaido this summer, September 5-9. Check out our plenary speakers, see the full schedule of sessions, and buy your tickets at https://erwc7.edzil.la/. We hope you'll be able to join us!

Preregistration closes June 30 for the JALT Critical Thinking SIG Conference 2025 (in Neyagawa City, Osaka Prefecture, Aug. 2)

Critical Thinking in the Classroom 2025, the annual conference of the JALT Critical Thinking SIG, will be held August 2nd, 2025, at the Neyagawa Campus of Setsunan University (located between Kyoto and Osaka) in association with the JALT Kyoto Chapter and Ludic Language Pedagogy. Featuring nearly 30 presentations on critical thinking in language learning courses, the aim of this conference is to provide an opportunity for researchers and educators to share their research, methods, approaches, materials, and activities for encouraging critical thinking and the use of higher order thinking skills in the language learning classroom. Registration for this conference is now open: https://forms.gle/1VRmQcJmHbm5C6nm6

JALT Testing and Evaluation (TEVAL) SIG Online Talk Time July 31

TEVAL's July TalkTime will be on July 31 at 8pm on Zoom. Heather Woodward will give a presentation/workshop on an app she codeveloped to track and assess L2 learners' spoken fluency. Attendees will have a chance to actually use the app in the second half of the workshop. More information plus the Zoom link can be found at our website: https://teval.jalt.org/

Call for Editors and Themes for Issue 11 of the Learner Development Journal (Deadline July 31)

Team and Theme Needed for Learner Development Journal 11! Interested in forming an editorial team and working together with a group of contributors on developing research and personalised writing into an area of learner development that intrigues and excites you? If so, we'd love to hear from you about your ideas and enthusiasms in a proposal for editing (with one or more others). For full details and guidelines about your 300-500 word proposal for LDJ11, see https://ldjournal.ld-sig.org/issues/ldj11-call-for-editors-theme/

Recent JALT Publications

For a full list of all of JALT's publications (including SIGs, chapters, and conferences), please this page on our "vintage" archive website: https://legacy.jalt.org/jalt.org/main/publications We are looking foward to when this is restored on our new site.

Upcoming JALT Events

Upcoming Conferences from JALT's International Partners

Reminder: Nominations for the 2025 JALT Awards due Sept. 8

Do you know a JALT member who has made important contributions to our field? Be sure to nominate them for one of these awards brought to you by JALT's Awards and Recognition Committee! JALT has awards for teachers and researchers at various stages of their careers:

Any member is welcome to nominate another JALT member for an award--simply complete this form in English or Japanese by 23:59 on Monday, September 8, 2025.

That's all for this month. You can subscribe and / or access back issues here. Alternatively, if you'd rather not receive more information from JALT, you can unsubscribe here: https://hosted.jalt.org/membermail/unsubscribe-success.php?c=216