CALL FOR PROPOSAL EXTENSION

TELTA 1^ST INTER REGIONAL CONFERENCE ARUSHA, TANZANIA

JUNE 28-30, 2017

“CONNECTING TEACHERS TO NEW METHODS AND TECHNIQUES”

CALL FOR PROPOSAL

The Conference Proposals Committee is delighted to invite you to submit a proposal to its TELTA 1st Inter Regional Conference to be held in Arusha, Tanzania on June 28-30, 2017. Proposals for papers, panel discussions, workshops, app sharing, and teaching ideas are expected to address the conference theme: Connecting Teachers to New Methods and Techniques

TOPIC AREAS

• Teaching Language Components and Skills
• Classroom Applications
• Teaching literature in ELT
• Curriculum, Syllabus and Materials Design
• Language testing and assessment
• Teaching large classes
• Motivation and classroom management
• Teaching with minimum resources
• English as an international language
• Webskills teaching and learning
• Any other topic that has relevance to the theme of the Conference
• Technology In the Classroom
• Assessment And Evaluation
• Language teacher associations 
• Teacher Training, Development & Education
• ELT Management
• Teaching Young Learners
• Teachers’ professional development
• Drama In ELT
• Intercultural Communication
• Teacher Education
• Second Language Acquisition

IMPORTANT DATES

Proposal deadline:                   May 10, 2017 (Extended)

Presenter Confirmation:          May 15, 2017

Conference Dates:                  June 28-30, 2017

PLENARY SPEAKERS

George  Chinney                                             RELO, US Embassy
Dr. Thomas Smith                                           TESOL International member and TESOL Georgia, US

CONFERENCE FORMAT

The conference is designed to provide lots of networking opportunities that will last much longer than the conference as well as some social events/activities allow for more informal interactions among conference attendees, organizers, presenters, and other delegates.

Paper Presentation is a research, theory, concept, and practices. It is 20 minutes long session that describes an innovative idea, research, or a procedure through which the presenter has recently gained awareness of an aspect of language, language teaching and/or learning. It should describe what has been done in relation to theory or practice or may focus on commercial materials or products. Its content should be relevant to the delegates who work outside the presenter’s local context as well. The presenter is requested to allocate time for questions and discussion. The presenters are requested to present their papers with only occasional reference to their notes rather than by reading out previously prepared texts or slides. The summary should be no more than 250 words and should explicitly outline the steps and topics that will be discussed in the paper.10 minutes should be allocated for question and answer.

Panel Discussion is a forum for discussing thematic topics or other relevant topics within a small group. The sessions are 25 minutes long with 15 minutes of Questions and answers.

Workshop Sessions are 50 minutes long. These sessions are interactive with emphasis on group collaborations. A workshop is a 50 minute hands-on session. It should include active audience participation where by participants temporarily take on student roles and later discuss the tasks provided by the presenter. The presenter is requested to allocate   time for questions and discussion.

The summary should be no more than 250 words and should explicitly outline and discuss the steps and procedures that will be followed during the workshop.10 minutes should be allocated for question and answer.

Poster session gives a visual presentation illustrating or summarizing a project, research study, or a feature of language teaching and/or learning. Each poster will be allocated walls pace and there will be a 60 minutes lot in the program solely for the presentation and discussion of the posters by the presenters and delegates. The poster presenters will be expected to be on hand during this slot. Their summary should be no more than 50 words and should explicitly outline and discuss the steps and procedures that they will present in their poster.

Teaching Tips/ sharing Sessions are 30 minutes. They provide useful information, and ideas on teaching and learning.

GUIDELINES FOR PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

1. Proposals should be submitted through the following address; teltdm@gmail.com

2. The proposal must not exceed 250 words.

3. The language should be clear, and precise

The deadline for proposal submissions is extended to May 10, 2017

REGISTRATION DEADLINES & CONFERENCE FEES

TELTA Members                                         Non-Members

On or Before   April 30, 2017  Tshs.20,000   On or Before   April 30, 2017                Tshs.30,000

After April 30, 2017                Tshs.25,000    After April 30, 2017                              Tshs.35,000

Students:                                  Free                Students:                                               Free

                                                                       

                                                                       

*Students will be asked for their ID cards during registration.

*Joint presenters must also register and pay the conference fee individually.

Full registration implies payment of the conference fee (for non members) and submission of the registration form. All participants MUST fill in the registration form before 30 May 2017.

The fee covers the conference folder, the certificate of attendance, the refreshments during coffee breaks, the lunch and the cocktail dinner on June 29, for one conference participant.

Participants are kindly asked to cover all bank transfer costs.

Each participant may present no more than two sessions at the conference.

The fee shall be paid into the following bank account and the name of the participant

Account number: 20110002540

Financial Institution: National Microfinance Bank (NMB), Bank House Branch

Name of the account: Tanzanian English Language Teachers Association (TELTA)

Vendor's Bank Swift Code: NMIBTZTZ

Vendor's Bank Physical and Postal Addresses: NMB Bank House, 160108 Dar es Salaam

The payment confirmation shall be sent to;

teltdm@gmail.com

REGISTRATION FORM

To register, please use the registration form available on the conference page, on our Facebook page Tanzanian English Language Teachers’ Association TELTA or on our blog  TELTA-Tanzania.blogspot.com and be constantly updated with the latest conference news.

VENUE

The conference will be held at Mount Meru University, Arusha, Tanzania from 28 to 30 June 2017.

CONFERENCE ORGANIZATION CHAIRS

If you require further information, please contact the Conference Organization Chairs;

·         Jamal Maringo                         +255 715660776         jamalizer@gmail.com

·         William Mwinuka                     +255 655080505         mwinukawilliam@gmail.com

·         Elimatamu Mwakilasa              +255 755085735         emmwakilasa@gmail.com

VALIDITY

Interpretation of test scores ultimately involves predictions about a subject's behavior in a specified situation. If a test is an accurate predictor, it is said to have good validity. Before validity can be demonstrated, a test must first yield consistent, reliable measurements. In addition to reliability, psychologists recognize three main types of validity.

A test has content validity if the sample of items in the test is representative of all the relevant items that might have been used. Words included in a spelling test, for example, should cover a wide range of difficulty.

Criterion-related validity refers to a test's accuracy in specifying a future or concurrent outcome. For example, an art-aptitude test has predictive validity if high scores are achieved by those who later do well in art school. The concurrent validity of a new intelligence test may be demonstrated if its scores correlate closely with those of an already well-established test.

Construct validity is generally determined by investigating what psychological traits or qualities a test measures; that is, by demonstrating that certain patterns of human behavior account to some degree for performance on the test. A test measuring the trait “need for achievement,” for instance, might be shown to predict that high scorers work more independently, persist longer on problem-solving tasks, and do better in competitive situations than low scorers.

                                          

Reliability refers to the consistency of test scores. A reliable test yields the same or close to the same score for a person each time it is administered. In addition, alternate forms of the test should produce similar results. By these criteria, modern intelligence tests are highly reliable. In fact, intelligence tests are the most reliable of all psychological tests.

Validity is the extent to which a test predicts what it is designed to predict. Intelligence tests were designed to predict school achievement, and they do that better than they do anything else. For example, IQ scores of elementary school students correlate moderately with their class grades and highly with achievement test scores. IQ tests also predict well the number of years of education that a person completes. The SAT is somewhat less predictive of academic performance in college. Educators note that success in school depends on many other factors besides intelligence, including encouragement from parents and peers, interest, and motivation.

Intelligence tests also correlate with measures of accomplishment other than academic success, such as occupational status, income, job performance, and other measures of vocational success. However, IQ scores do not predict occupational success as well as they predict academic success. Twenty-five percent or less of the individual differences in occupational success are due to IQ. Therefore, a substantial portion of the variability in occupational success—75 percent or more—is due to factors other than intelligence.

Validity also refers to the degree to which a test measures what it is supposed to measure. A valid intelligence test should measure intelligence and not some other capability. However, making a valid intelligence test is not a straightforward task because there is little consensus on a precise definition of intelligence. Lacking such a consensus, test makers usually evaluate validity by determining whether test performance correlates with performance on some other measure assumed to require intelligence, such as achievement in school.

John Dewey

Arguably the most influential thinker on education in the twentieth century, Dewey's contribution lies along several fronts. His attention to experience and reflection, democracy and community, and to environments for learning have been seminal.

John Dewey (1859 - 1952) has made, arguably, the most significant contribution to the development of educational thinking in the twentieth century. Dewey's philosophical pragmatism, concern with interaction, reflection and experience, and interest in community and democracy, were brought together to form a highly suggestive educative form. John Dewey is often misrepresented - and wrongly associated with child-centred education. In many respects his work cannot be easily slotted into any one of the curriculum traditions that have dominated north American and UK schooling traditions over the last century. However, John Dewey's influence can be seen in many of the writers that have influenced the development of informal education over the same period. For example, Coyle, Kolb, Lindeman and Rogers drew extensively on his work.

John Dewey's significance for informal educators lies in a number of areas. First, his belief that education must engage with and enlarge experience has continued to be a significant strand in informal education practice. Second, and linked to this, Dewey's exploration of thinking and reflection - and the associated role of educators - has continued to be an inspiration. We can see it at work, for example, in the models developed by writers such as David Boud and Donald Schön. Third, his concern with interaction and environments for learning provide a continuing framework for practice. Last, his passion for democracy, for educating so that all may share in a common life, provides a strong rationale for practice in the associational settings in which informal educators work.