KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Brian Tomlinson

Speech：Humanising the Coursebook

Brian Tomlinson has worked as a teacher, teacher trainer, curriculum developer, film extra, football coach and university academic in Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, UK, Vanuatu and Zambia, as well as giving invited presentations in over seventy countries. He is Founder and President of MATSDA (the international Materials Development Association), an Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of Liverpool and a TESOL Professor at Anaheim University. He has over one hundred publications on materials development, language awareness, teacher development and second language acquisition, and he has recently published Materials Development for Language Teaching (3rd edn) (Bloomsbury, 2023). He has also recently co-authored with Hitomi Masuhara The Complete Guide to the Theory and Practice of Materials Development for Language Learning (Wiley, 2018) and SLA Applied: Connecting Theory and Practice (Cambridge University Press, 2021). At the moment, he is working on Materials Development for L2 Communicative Ability with Hitomi Masuhara and Applied Linguistics and Materials Development (2nd edn) with Freda Mishan. Both these books will be published by Bloomsbury in 2026.

Rod Ellis

Speech: Creativity in Learner Language and Its Implications for Language Teaching

Rod Ellis is a Distinguished Research Professor in Curtin University (Australia), an Emeritus Distinguished Professor of the University of Auckland, a fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and in the top 1% of social and humanities scientists in the world. He has held teaching positions in universities in Zambia, UK, Japan, USA, New Zealand and Australia and has conducted talks and seminars throughout the world on second language acquisition and task-based language teaching.

Haeok Park

Speech: L2 Process Drama: A Powerful Tool for Humanizing Language Learning Materials

Haeok Park is a Professor and Director of the IGSE Education Center at the International Graduate School of Language Education (IGSE) in Seoul, the Republic of Korea. With over three decades of experience in English language education, she specializes in ELT materials development, process drama in L2 learning, and teacher education. Dr. Park holds a PhD in English Language Teaching from Leeds Metropolitan University, with research focused on implementing process drama in EFL classrooms within the Korean language context. She has published journal articles on materials development and drama-based pedagogy and has been invited to speak at numerous teacher training sessions. Her work continues to influence curriculum design, teacher training, and innovative approaches to language teaching in the Republic of Korea and beyond.

SHU Dingfang

Speech: Developing Materials of, by and for the Local FLT Ecosystem: The Shanghai Case

SHU Dingfang, Professor at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU), serves as Chief Expert of the National Research Institute for Foreign Language Textbook Development in Primary, Secondary, and Higher Education (SISU), and Chair Professor at the Shanghai Center for Research in English Language Education (SCRELE). He is also Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Foreign Languages and Vice Chair of the National Advisory Committee for College Foreign Language Teaching under the Chinese Ministry of Education. Specializing in cognitive linguistics and foreign language teaching theories and practices, he has authored numerous books and articles, including: Modern Foreign Language Teaching: Theories, Practices, and Methods (1996, 2008), A Study of Metaphor (2000), Modern Semantics (2000), Foreign Language Teaching: Problems and Suggested Solutions (2004), Cognitive Semantics (2008), The Road to Success in College English Teaching (2010), Research on China’s Foreign Language Strategies (2012) and Research Methods in Cognitive Linguistics (2013). He has also served as the Chief Editor for major textbook series, such as: New Target College English Series (2016), Senior High School English Textbook (SISU Edition, 2020) and Compulsory Education English Textbook (Grades 1–9, Shanghai Education Press, 2024).

Hitomi Masuhara

Speech: Researching the Effects of Humanistic Materials

Hitomi Masuhara is currently an Honorary Research Fellow, ex-Director and a lecturer of Applied Linguistics and TESOL in the Department of English in the University of Liverpool. Her various awards featured excellence in her research, innovation and leadership at institutional and national level. She has given invited conference plenary/keynote presentations and workshops in collaboration with the Ministries of Education in over 40 countries. She is also a founding member and Secretary of the Materials Development Association (www.matsda.org), whose mission is to integrate theory, research and practice through collaboration between researchers, users (learners, teachers, administrators) and producers (materials developers, publishers). Her major research interests include the listening and reading processes in the brain; second language acquisition; syllabus design; teacher, curriculum and materials development. Her recent publications include, co-authored with Brian Tomlinson, SLA Applied: Connecting Theory and Practice (2021) from Cambridge University Press and The Complete Guide to the Theory and Practice of Materials Development for Language Learning (2018) from WILEY Blackwell, as well as chapters in The Routledge Handbook of Materials Development for Language Teaching (2023) and Developing Materials for Language Teaching (2023) from Bloomsbury.

Alan Maley

Speech: Caring and Daring in the Language Classroom

Alan Maley has been involved with English Language Teaching since 1962. He has lived and worked in 10 countries: Yugoslavia, Ghana, Italy, France, China, India, UK, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. He has published over 50 books in the field of language teaching and many articles. From 1988 to 1992, he was President of IATEFL, and in 2012, received the ELTons Lifetime Achievement Award. He was a founder member of The C Group (Creativity for Change in Language Teaching), the IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group (GISIG) and The Extensive Reading Foundation. He currently runs an international creative writing group: Worlds into Words.

YANG Luxin

Speech: Analysis and Use of English Textbooks: Dialogue Between Everyday and Scientific Concepts

YANG Luxin is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Dean of School of English and International Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU), and State Council Special Allowance Expert. She serves as Deputy Director of the National Research Centre for Foreign Language Teaching Materials, a member of the Advisory Committee of Foreign Language Teaching in Vocational Education (China’s Ministry of Education), Secretary-General of Foreign Language Teaching Research Council, China Association of Higher Education, Vice President of Council on Teaching and Researching L2 Writing, CACSEC and Executive Member of Committee on Foreign Language Teacher Education and Development, CACSEC. She is also a NTP (National Training Program) Expert in English Teacher Training (Chinese Ministry of Education). She currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief of English Language Learning, an Editorial Board Member of Language Teaching Research, and a reviewer for renowned international journals such as TESOL Quarterly, Journal of Second Language Writing, English for Specific Purposes, System, Assessing Writing and Language, Culture, and Curriculum.