Hawai‘i Association of Language Teachers (HALT)
TEACHING LANGUAGES:
STRATEGIES FOR A NEW CENTURY
Saturday, March 8, 2008
University of Hawai‘i at Manoa
Center for Hawaiian Studies

Pre-register Deadline is Feb. 26! Download form, print, and mail with a check to reserve your lunch today.
Walk-in registrations (without lunch) are welcome on the day of the conference. You are welcome to bring your own lunch, too.

HALTRegistration2008.doc
HALTRegistration2008.pdf

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Sandra McKay, San Fransicso State Univ.
The Role of Culture in Foreign Language Pedagogy
The goal of this presentation is to explore the role of culture in foreign language (FL) pedagogy. The presenter will begin by exploring what is meant by the concept of a target culture, arguing that the more widely spoken a language, the more problematic a definition of target culture. Next the presenter will discuss various definitions of culture in FL pedagogy and delineate several ways in which culture plays a role in language learning. This will be followed by an examination of the ways in which the background of the students and teachers can affect the presentation of cultural content in a classroom. In closing, the presenter will argue that the goal of culture learning in FL classrooms should always be to promote a sphere of interculturality and a recognition of the diversity that exists within a culture.

Sandra McKay received her M.A. in American Studies and Ph.D. in English education from the University of Minnesota. Prior to coming to SFSU, she taught in Guatemala and at Stanford and Georgetown University. At SFSU Professor McKay teaches sociolinguistics, theory and methods courses for teaching reading/writing and speaking/listening, the teaching practicum, and writing courses. She also offers elective courses in teaching English as an international language and in language, literature, and culture. Professor McKay has been involved in teacher education programs in a variety of countries as a Fulbright scholar and as an academic specialist for the U.S. Dept. of State. Through these programs she has worked in Chile, Japan, Hong Kong, Hungary, Laos, Latvia, Morocco, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, and Uruguay. Professor McKay was editor of the TESOL Quarterly from 1994 to 1999. She has published articles in the Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, the Harvard Educational Review, the Journal of Second Language Writing, the Modern Language Journal, TESOL Quarterly, and TESOL Journal. She has written and edited numerous books. Her books, Teaching English Overseas: An Introduction, and Teaching English as an International Language: Rethinking Goals and Approaches (both published by Oxford University Press), reflect her interest in the teaching of English in a global context. Her most recent book is Researching Second Language Classrooms (Lawrence Erlbaum, 2006).

Questions? Contact: 2008 Conference Chairs, Aurelio S. Agcaoili, aurelioa@hawaii.edu
or Tess Lane, tlane@hpu.edu or 341-8175.

Conference Schedule and Presentations

Excellence in Teaching Award

Edith Kuttner Creative Writing Contest

See Past Conference Photos 2005
See Past Conference Photos 2006