This conference will feature two parallel workshops (listed in order of presentation), each offering a dynamic and engaging experience. The focuses of the two workshops will be English for Academic Purposes (EAP) classroom teaching and technology-mediated learning, respectively. These topics have been specifically chosen to enrich educators with innovative insights and enhance teaching practices in the ever-evolving field of education. The workshops will provide practical tips and strategies for tertiary level educators through hands-on activities, thinking, and discussion.

• Date: March 22, 2024
• Time: 14:00 – 16:30
• Venue: The Language Training & Testing Center（財團法人語言訓練測驗中心）

This workshop will offer participants practical tips and strategies for enhancing teaching and classroom-based assessment in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) classrooms. The workshop will first explore assessment criteria and backward design, and then it will delve into applications in teaching. It will conclude with positive interactions among English learning, teaching, and assessment.

Through interactive illustrations and hands-on activities, the workshop aims to help participants gain a deeper understanding of what EAP skills entail and how to align EAP teaching and assessment with clear competency indicators. They will also become familiar with the principles of Learning-Oriented Assessment (LOA) for integrating teaching and assessment in the classroom. To help connect theoretical concepts with real-world assessment or classroom task scenarios, the session will use the BEST Test of English Proficiency (BESTEP), an EAP-oriented test designed for college students in Taiwan as part of the Ministry of Education’s Program on Bilingual Education for Students in College (BEST program), for illustration. The inclusion of BESTEP’s performance descriptors, task design, and scoring criteria as practical examples will boost the participants’ skills and knowledge in the field of EAP teaching and assessment.

Henry Chang is an English language researcher at the LTTC. His work at the LTTC includes curriculum development, teacher professional development, and assessment in various areas, including TEFL, CLIL, EMI, EAP, and ESP. Chang has contributed to the LTTC’s teacher-training projects in collaboration with the Taipei City Government, the Ministry of Education, and universities around Taiwan.

Simon Pereira is a coordinator, ESP researcher, and curriculum designer at the LTTC. His work at the LTTC has included designing curriculum for multiple organisations in private industry, government departments, and collaborating with professors to build ESAP courses for multiple university departments. He also regularly gives workshops on aspects of CLIL and EMI at various schools and universities in Taiwan.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has received a lot of attention in recent times and has quickly made its way into educational environments. However, many teachers, educators, students and parents are confused about what AI means, what it can and cannot do and how it will affect them.

This workshop will provide a gentle introduction to AI, how it works and how we can use it to enrich learning and assessment in the classroom. We will look at things like speech recognition, grammatical error correction and automated scoring (to name a few), and explore how we can use them to our advantage. This is a practical workshop, so expect lots of hands-on activities, thinking and discussion.

Mariano Felice is a Senior Researcher and Data Scientist for Language Assessment and Learning at the British Council. His work involves looking at how artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) can be used to improve learning and testing, from mining datasets and building models to supporting colleagues in the adoption of new technology. Mariano is also a Visiting Researcher at the University of Cambridge, where he completed his PhD in Computer Science and worked as a Research Associate before joining the British Council. Mariano has worked extensively on NLP for language learning and assessment and has published many scientific papers in top-tier NLP conferences.