Dear colleagues and friends from Japan and beyond. With great pleasure, we would like to welcome you to the JALT 50th Annual International Conference in Shizuoka this November. Together, JALT celebrates this milestone of being a significant part of language teaching and learning in Japan for five decades. The conference theme, Moving JALT into the Future: Opportunity, Diversity, and Excellence, focuses on embracing diversity of both educators and learners, ensuring that all are included, and drawing on the potential within our professional community to face the challenges and seize the opportunities of the future.
For over nearly half a century, the language education landscape in Japan has evolved in many ways. At the JALT 50th Annual International Conference, along with JALT Junior, we look forward to sessions demonstrating excellence in research, creative teaching methods, practical approaches for our classrooms, and strategies to ensure our association and language learning in Japan continues to respect diversity and ensure inclusivity. The sub-themes of our conference this year include diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, methodology and practice, professional community, technology and language education, and research. We hope that the variety of presentations at the conference will provide an opportunity for all to enhance their knowledge, skills, and understanding in many areas, and provide the stimulus for new and fresh ideas that we can use to work with our learners. We look forward to reconnecting with friends and colleagues and seeing many new faces at Granship in Shizuoka this fall.
This is the first JALT International Conference where there will be three conference chairs present. Richmond Stroupe has been working with university and professional language learners from Asia since 1989, is a former JALT President, and is currently a Professor at Soka University. Naomi Fujishima is the former JALT Vice President and a Professor Emeritus at Okayama University. She has supported JALT in countless roles in her local chapter and in national positions over the years. Emily Choong is a Lecturer at Utsunomiya University and is also a dedicated officer in JALT. As a young language educator in Japan, Emily represents the future opportunities that JALT can share with a new generation of professionals.
We hope that you will join us in Shizuoka and share your diverse backgrounds, along with your unique experiences and perspectives in language education, from across Japan and many other countries and contexts.
We look forward to seeing you there!
—Richmond Stroupe, Naomi Fujishima, and Emily Choong – Conference Chairs, JALT2024
