24 Language Teaching
AsiaTEFL: TEACHING & LEARNING
“Unity Within Diversity, Diversity Within Unity” An Inter view with Dr. Park Joo-Kyung
Those familiar with English language teaching (ELT) are most likely familiar with the international ELT associations TESOL Intl. Assn., centered in North America, and IATEFL, centered in Europe. These two associations have been with us for nearly a half century, leaving Asia underrepresented. To fill this gap, AsiaTEFL was relatively recently formed. The following interview is with AsiaTEFL President-Elect Park Joo-Kyung, a resident of Gwangju, and focuses on what AsiaTEFL is and what it has to offer the ELT community. — Ed.
Gwangju News, July 2022
gwangjunewsgic.com
K
OTESOL: It is great to be able to talk with you, Dr. Park, about AsiaTEFL, an association that many KOTESOL members, and English language teachers in general, may not be familiar with. You are among the founding members of AsiaTEFL. Could you tell us how the association was founded and the rationale for establishing it?
Park Joo-Kyung: To begin with, AsiaTEFL stands for the “Asian Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language.” It was founded in 2003 by Dr. Lee Hyowoong of Korea Maritime University, a former president of the Korean Association of ▲ Park Joo-Kyung, President- Teachers of English (KATE). Elect of AsiaTEFL. As English was being taught in an EFL context in most of the countries in Asia, an international organization for the Asian region had been sought by ELT professionals in Asia. At the time, outside of national ELT associations in Asia,
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the only larger grouping was PAC, the Pan-Asia Consortium, a group of four national ELT groups. However, AsiaTEFL was expected to have the ability to cover the field of English education in the whole of Asia and reach beyond national boundaries for individuals and groups to work together toward commonly held goals of developing TEFL in Asia. With his strong leadership and passion for creating a new organization, Dr. Lee managed to gather 135 like-minded ELT leaders from many parts of Asia who served as the founding committee members of AsiaTEFL, and some of them – including you, David, and myself – have served on the AsiaTEFL executive council since its foundation. You can read about the background of foundation in more detail on the AsiaTEFL website at www.asiatefl.org. As a founding and lifetime member, I have been privileged to serve AsiaTEFL in many important roles and functions including as the association’s first general secretary, as conference executive director, as well as director of both external affairs and financial affairs. I have also served as chair of the 2011 and 2020 international conferences, vice
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