Hello, and welcome to another monthly edition of JALT Talk, the announcements newsletter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching.
In this issue:
JALT members: Check your email for one titled "JALT OGM Notice and Ballot." JALT will hold its Annual Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) of 2026 on June 20 from 1 pm to 2 pm. Even if you attend the OGM (online or in person), you should vote ahead of time by absentee ballot.
The NPO JALT Nominations and Elections Committee (NEC) has announced the newly-elected Board of Directors and Auditor. They will serve for two years, starting on January 1st, 2027.
Details: https://jalt.org/2026/05/28/2026_election_report/
The NEC would like to remind us that these election results are subject to the approval of the NPO JALT Ordinary General Meeting (OGM). An email with the OGM absentee ballot has been sent to each JALT member.
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:
Acceptance Notices Coming Mid-June
If you submitted a proposal for JALT2026, please expect to receive notification about your proposal.
Registration Opens Early August
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
"EFL Teacher Development through Collaborative Action Research Projects"
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
Following from the success of last year's online workshops, once again, the TnT/PD Workshops will be online, September 11th.
They will be run in two streams: (1) Technology in Teaching and (2) Professional Development.
The Call for Abstracts runs from June 1 to July 31, 2026. To submit go to https://events.jalt.org/event/96/abstracts/
We accept submissions from JALT members and non-members alike. We want to learn from you!
All sessions will be recorded and made available to attendees for 3 months after they are uploaded.
PanSIG is an annual spring conference organized by many of the Special Interest Groups (SIGs) of JALT.
PanSIG Journal Volume 12 – Call for Papers Now OPEN
The PanSIG Journal Editorial Board is pleased to announce that the Call for Papers for Volume 12 is now OPEN.
All vetted presentations from the PanSIG 2026 Conference are invited to be developed into manuscripts for submission. We welcome both research-based and practice-oriented papers from across the diverse focus areas of the JALT SIGs.
We warmly encourage submissions from both first-time and experienced authors.
PanSIG Journal: Call for Editorial Board and Reviewer Team
As the PanSIG Journal continues to grow, we are currently looking for new members to join our Editorial Board and Reviewer Team.
We welcome volunteers interested in contributing in areas such as:
• Peer review
• Content editing and formatting
• Layout and production
• Web management and technical support
This is an excellent opportunity to contribute to the PanSIG community, support scholarly publication, and gain experience in academic publishing and journal management.
Application Form: https://forms.gle/19Eu3gxTZT95h27LA
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to send an email to: journal@pansig.org
PanSIG 2027
PanSIG 2027 will be held at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) in Beppu City, Oita Prefecture. Dates TBA.
PanSIG Archive
Information about past PanSIG conferences (including photos, conference handbooks, etc.) can be found in the PanSIG Archive.
A new year marks the season of new beginnings! The new academic year means that some of us are moving on to new jobs, perhaps even in new cities.
To ensure you stay connected, we'd like to remind you to update your mailing or email address if it is changing. Keeping your information current ensures you receive JALT publications and news without any interruptions.
Yamagata Chapter is currently recruiting presenter's for its 2026 Fall Mini Conference to be held Saturday September 26. The deadline for submissions is July 31st.
Registration is now open for our Listening SIG Conference.
To register for the event: https://forms.gle/okEw1u5f6RNJF9xJA
The next Listening SIG event will be the JALT Listening SIG Conference on Saturday 11th July. The JALT Listening SIG Conference has been organized together with JALT Kyoto Chapter and JALT Nara Chapter. The whole day event will showcase some of the latest listening research, teaching, and learning presentations from the field.
The conference is scheduled to run from 10am to 4pm with over 15 presentations scheduled in two rooms for the entire day. This is our fifth SIG event and we will be a face-to-face event. There will be a social to wrap up the conference on Saturday 11th July, 2026
JALT's Performance in Education (PIE) SIG Podcast has released its 11th episode! In Episode 11, guest Gordon Rees, Assistant Professor at Yokkaichi University in Mie Prefecture, shares how he was unexpectedly thrown into teaching a drama class with no prior experience--and how performance activities helped him not only survive, but transform his approach to education.
You can listen on the PIE SIG website (https://jaltpiesig.org) or through your preferred podcast platform.
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 proposal for editing (with one or more others) issue 12 of The Learner Development Journal (LDJ12). For full details & guidelines for your proposal, see https://ldjournal.ld-sig.org/issues/ldj12-call-for-editors/
The Teacher Development SIG are thrilled to announce a call for presentation proposals for this year's Teacher Journeys Conference in collaboration with JALT Hokkaido Chapter.
The Teacher Journeys conference focuses on sharing innovate practices and research grounded in educators' professional experiences. We cordially invite you to share your insights and experiences through a presentation. Whether your focus aligns with the theme of teacher/student journeys or encompasses broader language education topics, we eagerly anticipate your contributions.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It is with great pleasure that we invite you to register to our annual face-to-face collaborative conference. This conference will explore how language education serves as a meeting ground for diverse identities, experiences, and perspectives. We will contact you again about social activities, networking gathering and lunch options.
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 in JALT in June 2026. For details and events happening later, please see https://jalt.org/events.
Task-Based Learning SIG
TBLT in Asia 2026
June 5, 2:00 PM - June 7, 5:00 PM
Computer Assisted Language Learning SIG
JALTCALL 2026
June 12, 5:00 PM - June 14, 6:00 PM
Toyohashi Chapter, Nagoya-Gifu Chapter and the LiLT SIG
Using Thinking Routines with Literature, Creative Writing and Beyond
June 13, 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Art, Research, and Teaching SIG
Transmediation of Memory
June 20, 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Okayama Chapter
Where East Meets West, South & North -- Virtual Exchange: Changing How Foreign Languages are Taught Presented
June 20, 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Matsuyama Chapter
Developing a UDL (Universal Design for Learning) Mindset & Optimizing Student Engagement Through UDL
June 20, 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Yokohama Chapter
Teaching Alive: Embodied Approaches to Teacher Well-being and Burnout Prevention by Eucharia Donnery
June 21, 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Other Language Educators SIG
[Online] Cameroon's Multilingualism as a Pathway to Intercultural Adaptation
June 24, 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Iwate-Aomori Chapter
Michinoku English Education Summit (MEES) 2026
June 27, 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Kobe Chapter, CALL SIG, and The Moodle Association of Japan
From Moodle to the Classroom: Digital Tools and Teaching Practices
June 28, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Niigata Chapter
More Than an Assistant: ALTs, Schools, and the Structure of Education in Japan
June 28, 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Sendai Chapter
Level Up Your Communication Skills with the TBLT-Gaming Model
June 28, 2:00 PM - 5:30 PM
Extensive Reading SIG
PresentERs: English for Academic Purposes + Extensive Reading = ?
June 28, 7:00 PM - 8:00 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
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=230
Best regards,
Bill Pellowe
JALT Director of Public Relations
pr@jalt.org
https://jalt.org