Independent Learning Association Conference 2018

We’re now just weeks away from ILA 2018 at Konan Women’s University in the beautiful port city of Kobe, Japan.
The deadline for pre-conference registration is August 10th (so our restaurant knows how many lunches to cater for.) You can register onsite, though we may not be able to guarantee a conference lunch.

The conference starts from the premise that language learning does not entail a static, one-way acquisition of knowledge, but is rather a more dynamic and collaborative process, where “knowledge” is constructed by individuals and/or groups working together - what David Little has referred to as “the inescapably dialogic nature of language and learning.” (Little, 2007:10)

We hope you can join us as we focus on the different voices engaged in this co-construction of knowledge in autonomous language learning, and explore issues relating to agency within the autonomous learning process.

Our programme features:

• 3 Plenary sessions
  • September 6th: James P. Lantolf
  • September 7th: Chika Hayashi and Leena Karlsson
  • September 8th: Jo Mynard
• A tour of three local SACs (September 5th)
• Pre-conference workshops (September 5th)
• A full conference programme**
• A student conference (September 7th) – an innovation for ILA!
• Video Voices – an opportunity for your voice to be heard whether or not you’re at the conference

-- as well as an exciting social programme:

• Welcome Reception (September 5th)
• Networking event; optional Sake tasting (September 6th)
• Conference Dinner (optional, September 7th)

** Our conference programme includes symposia, workshops, short presentations and poster sessions relating to (but not restricted to):

• identity
• assessment
• critical thinking
• motivation, affect
• learner training
• curriculum and material design
• technology
• teacher/learning advisor autonomy
• young learners
• learner/teacher beliefs

Contexts for the research include the classroom, self-access learning spaces, social learning spaces, and virtual learning spaces.

The full programme will be published around the middle of July.

For more information, contact us.

We look forward to seeing you all in Kobe in 2018!

Conference Chairs: Steve Brown, Ann Mayeda, Hisako Yamashita

Little, D. (2007). Introduction: Reconstructing Learner and Teacher Autonomy in Language Education. In A. Barfield and S.H. Brown (eds.) Reconstructing Autonomy in Language Education. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.