Hello, and welcome to another monthly edition of JALT Talk, the announcements newsletter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching. We hope you're looking forward to a nice, relaxing "Golden Week" weekend.
In this issue:
The Election for the Board of Directors and Auditor will end on May 25th. Key dates:
If you have questions or concerns, please contact the NPO JALT National Election Committee Chair, Kinsella Valies, at nec@jalt.org
* Please note that "Approval of the results of the election" at the OGM (Ordinary General Meeting) means that the membership will vote on whether they are satisfied that the election process was done in accordance with our rules, i.e., that the membership accepts the results of the election. This is not a second round of voting for candidates.
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 the JALT Awards and Recognition Committee! JALT has awards for teachers and researchers at various stages of their careers: Early Career Excellence Award, Mid-Career Scholar Award (Teaching / Research), and Lifetime Achievement Award. Any member is welcome to nominate another JALT member for an award—simply complete this Google Form in English or Japanese by Monday, September 28, 2026.
For reference, please see the 2025 JALT Awards Winners page.
JALT International Conference NewsJALT2026 Basic details:
Registration
Registration for JALT2026 will be open by early August. Please watch https://jalt.org/jalt-international-conference/ for links to all necessary information.
JALT2026 Plenary Speakers
Dr. Noriko Ishihara (JALT Junior Plenary)
Professor of Applied Lingustics and TESOL, Hosei University, Japan
https://ishi0029.wixsite.com/norikoishihara
Dr. Loy Lising
Senior Lecturer and Graduate Research Supervision Fellow, Macquarie University, Australia
https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/persons/loy-lising-lising/
Dr. Kazuyoshi Sato
Professor Emeritus, Nagoya University of Foreign Studies, Japan
https://www.yoshi-sato.com/
JALT2026 Invited Speakers
Kevin Cleary Invited Speaker: Kip A. Cates
Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Regional Sciences, Tottori University, Japan
https://tinyurl.com/9p7hddpj
Bill Balsamo Asian Scholar Invited Speaker: Dr. Willy A. Renandya
Principal Lecturer, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
https://willyrenandya.com/
Show up in style! JALT2026 t-shirts, hoodies, bags and more!
Find JALT2026 conference goods on our online shop! Also, JALT 50th Anniversary goods are still available! https://suzuri.jp/JALT/products
JALT receives a number of job advertisements each month. If you're looking for a new position, please check out our job posts on our JALT Publications site: https://jalt-publications.org/tlt/departments/career-development-corner/jobs
PanSIG is an annual conference organized by many of the Special Interest Groups (SIGs) of JALT.
Pre-registration is open until May 12th!
Save up to 5,000 yen by registering online before May 12th! Details: https://pansig.org/registration
Let them know you're attending / presenting!
Get your "I'm attending" or "I'm presenting" images for your social media posts: https://pansig.org/publicity
Plenary Speakers
Plenary speakers at PanSIG 2026 will be Robert Stroud (Saturday, May 23rd, 10 a.m.) and Louise Ohashi (Saturday, May 23rd, 4 p.m.). We will also have a Panel Discussion on Sunday, May 24th, at 2:30 p.m.
Read the full details here: https://pansig.org/plenary
May 22 (Friday) Social Activities
Enjoy these opportunities at the PanSIG 2026 Conference to network and relax with fellow conference attendees in a different setting. On Friday, May 22nd, we will have three activities (listed below) that you can sign up for during registration (first come, first served, so sign up soon while places are still available).
More details here: https://pansig.org/social-events
Koen Meigi 後援
Koen Meigi (a letter of endorsement) was received from the City of Nagoya and the Nagoya City Board of Education. Details: https://pansig.org/koen-meigi
We're looking forward to seeing you at PanSIG 2026!
JALT’s Postconference Publication is currently recruiting reviewers, content editors, and copyeditors for this year’s publication. We welcome volunteers from a wide range of backgrounds, including experienced writers, graduate students, early-career teachers and researchers, and teachers of young learners.
Please fill out the following Google Form to sign up as a reviewer, content editor, and/or copyeditor: https://forms.gle/jdeHvAka1kRXUAAt8
You can find more information about reviewing on our reviewer website:
https://sites.google.com/view/jaltpcp2026/welcome
For more information, please contact Bethany Lacy at blacy.jalt@gmail.com
The CUE & GALE SIG Joint Fall 2026 Conference is now accepting proposals.
We welcome proposals from members and non-members for:
Submissions may address CUE-related topics, GALE-related topics, or areas where both overlap. Possible themes include equity, identity, agency, gender awareness, tertiary education, classroom practice, assessment, professional development, and learner or teacher empowerment.
All presenters will also have the opportunity to publish.
We look forward to receiving your abstracts and welcoming you to Kanazawa in October.
At its heart, CTC 2026 is about bringing together a community of researchers and practitioners to share their findings and experiences related to critical thinking in the language classroom. If you're interested in encouraging deeper thinking in your classes, this is where your ideas, from pedagogical approaches to classroom-ready materials, belong.
Areas of interest may include, but are not limited to, higher-order thinking, evaluating sources, thinking dispositions, viewpoint taking, debate and argumentation, academic writing, and of course, critical thinking. Presenters will receive a 45-minute time slot (35 minutes for their presentations and 10 minutes for Q&A). Presentations will be given in English.
Speakers will also be invited to write a paper on their presentation in the CTC 2026 post-conference publication.
JALT's Kobe Chapter will hold From LMS to Learning: Moodle and Digital Pedagogy on Saturday, June 28 at Kobe Co-Creation Center. The deadline for My Share proposals is May 31st.
The Global Classroom: Navigating East-West Perspectives in Language Education Conference invites language educators to reflect on how culture shapes teaching and learning practices. We welcome proposals for paper presentations and poster sessions that explore how educators engage with materials and technologies and experiment with diverse methods across cultural contexts.
The Art, Research, and Teaching (ART) SIG invites people in the JALT community (both artists and non-artists) to join us for an upcoming workshop: Transmediation of Memory (Transforming personal photographs and memories into language). This ART workshop will examine how to deepen meaning-making and reimagine experiences within the language classroom.
MEES is co-sponsored by the Iwate-Aomori Chapter of JALT and Hachinohe Gakuin University. The MEES presenter lineup is scheduled to be posted on the event site by the end of this week.
Early bird registration discount (50% off) is until May 29.
All details to be updated on the official site at https://meesjapan.wordpress.com/
All JALT members are welcome to join the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) for a big discount! JALT is an Associate Member of IATEFL, so all JALT members are eligible.
Details: https://jalt.org/2026/04/09/jalt-members-join-iatefl-at-a-big-discount/
Seven (7) lucky JALT members will win a complimentary TESOL International Association membership! If you meet the requirements, apply by June 15, 2026!
Details: https://jalt.org/2026/04/30/tesol-2026-membership/
As an Affiliate Member of TESOL International Association, JALT is provided seven (7) one-year complimentary TESOL International Association memberships that we can award to our members.
The Performance in Education Podcast (PIE SIG Podcast) has now surpassed 640 downloads. In Episode 9 (Japanese edition), Professor Saiki Yukari explores how storytelling can be used in the adult classroom to foster creativity and cooperation. In Episode 10, hear how JALTCALL SIG President, Brian Gallagher, weaves together PIE and computer-assisted language learning.
You can listen on the PIE SIG website (https://jaltpiesig.org) or through your preferred podcast platform.
This year marks several major milestones for the PanSIG Journal, including a 50% increase in submissions, the official registration of both print and electronic ISSNs, and the launch of our new on-demand print edition.
For the first time, Volume 11 features two issues, allowing us to accommodate a growing number of high-quality SIG-based research and practice-oriented contributions while maintaining the journal's standards and identity. We extend our sincere appreciation to everyone who contributed to this year's publication and supported the journal's development during PanSIG 2025 under the theme "Agency and Autonomy in Language Education."
You can access the latest issues here:
Printed versions are now available on Amazon.co.jp:
As we look ahead to PanSIG 2026 at Chukyo University in Nagoya (May 23-24), themed "Building Language Competencies Through Community," we encourage presenters to begin preparing drafts for possible publication in future issues of the journal.
For a full list of all of JALT's publications (including SIGs, chapters, and conferences), please see https://jalt.org/jalt-publications/
These are the events coming up in JALT until the end of May. For details as well as events from June, please see https://jalt.org/events
Niigata Chapter
From Guest Lecture to Project-Based Learning: A Collaborative Approach to CLIL
May 2, 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Teaching Younger Learners SIG
[online] Classroom Management Tips for English Teachers
May 10, 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Gunma Chapter
Workshop and discussion: What can we do about AI in the EFL classroom?
May 10, 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Matsuyama Chapter
Empathy-Building in the EFL Classroom
May 16, 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Nagoya & Gifu Chapter
ETJ-Aichi & JALT Tomodachi Event
May 17, 9:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Yokohama Chapter
Preparing to Prepare for Submission, Acceptance, and Rejection by Bethany Lacy
May 17, 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
PanSIG 2026 Conference
May 23-24
https://pansig.org
Sendai Chapter
Entrepreneurial Life in Tohoku and Beyond
May 29, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Fukuoka Chapter
One Umbrella, Many Acronyms: Understanding CLT, TBLT, and CLIL through CBI
May 30, 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM
If interested in representing JALT at one of our international partner conferences, please complete the following Google form (https://forms.gle/ERn7KiYjM4E5QVoHA) and contact international@jalt.org
TEVAL TalkTime is the Testing and Evaluation SIG's informal space for sharing ideas, exploring assessment topics, and connecting with colleagues in a relaxed, collaborative environment. TalkTimes are intentionally flexible and discussion-driven. We welcome (and encourage!) your presentation and/or participation in sessions such as:
Whether you have a fully formed idea or just the beginnings of a question you’d like to think through with others, TalkTime is the perfect space. If you or someone you know would like to host or participate in any of the formats above, please fill out the event form.
The editors of Kobe JALT Journal are looking for previously unpublished research and classroom practice articles for publication in Kobe JALT Journal. Any manuscripts relevant to language teaching and learning will be considered for publication, and manuscripts are accepted on a rolling basis. In addition, the editors are also in search of book review writers. First-time authors are encouraged to submit manuscripts. Submissions and inquiries can be directed to the Kobe JALT Publications Chair at kobe-publications@jalt.org.
The Journal of Literature in Language Teaching, the refereed research journal of the Literature in Language Teaching (LiLT) Special Interest Group, invites research articles and research reports on using literature and creative writing in language classrooms. Further details can be found at https://liltsig.org/publications/
Articles should be written for a general audience of language educators; therefore statistical techniques and specialized terms should be clearly explained.
*Authors are solely responsible for the accuracy of references and reference citations. We accept submissions at any time. Contact the journal editor for more information at liltjournaleditor@gmail.com
JALT Global Englishes SIG welcomes submission to our journal. This is the final call for papers for volume 3 which will be published in 2026. The deadline is 31st May. Please consider publishing with us. 日本語での提出も受付ます。Details here: https://jaltgesig.wordpress.com/journal/
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=229
Best regards,
Bill Pellowe
JALT Director of Public Relations
pr@jalt.org
https://jalt.org