The IAFOR International Conference on Language Learning – Dubai 2017 (IICLLDubai2017)

The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) invites you to participate in The Third IAFOR International Conference on Language Learning – Dubai 2017 (IICLLDubai2017) and enjoy the beautiful and exciting city of Dubai. Held alongside The IAFOR International Conference on Education – Dubai 2017 (IICEDubai2017), The IAFOR International Conference on Social Sciences – Dubai 2017 (IICSSHDubai2017), and The IAFOR International Conference on Arts & Humanities – Dubai 2017 (IICAHDubai2017) at The InterContinental Festival City Event Centre, Dubai, U.A.E., from Sunday, February 26 - Tuesday, February 28, 2017. Join us as we discuss this year's conference theme, "Educating for Change" along with IICLLDubai2017 Conference Chairs, Professor Said M. Faiq of American University of Sharjah, UAE, Dr. Christine Coombe Dubai Men's College, UAE and Dr. Sufian Abu-Rmaileh of UAE University, UAE. This IAFOR conference welcomes submissions from all over the world and we encourage you to join us in Dubai, U.A.E. to share your research and knowledge in an international, intercultural and interdisciplinary setting. To submit an abstract for presentation or participate as an audience member, please visit the website or contact us for more information. Submission Deadline: November 1, 2016 Submit an abstract: http://iafor.org/cfp Visit the conference website: http://iafor.org/conferences/iiclldubai2017/ Enquiries: iiclldubai@iafor.org ***Join IAFOR at IICLLDubai2017 to: -Deliver your research findings to a global audience -Have your work published in the conference proceedings and considered for peer-reviewed, open access IAFOR Journals -Benefit from IAFOR's interdisciplinary focus by hearing the latest research on Language Learning -Participate in a truly international, interdisciplinary and intercultural event -Participate in interactive audience sessions -Access international networking opportunities *Discounts on registration fees are available for those able to pay registration fees early. Please see the registration page for details: http://iafor.org/iiclldubai2017-registration/ *If you have attended an IAFOR conference within the past year, or belong to an affiliated university or institution, we offer discounts in appreciation of your support. *See the full schedule of our conferences in Japan, Dubai, Hawaii, Barcelona and the UK on our website. ***The 2017 conference theme The IICLLDubai2017 conference theme is "Educating for Change". Whether we are looking at why we must change, or how education has changed or even how education will change, change affects all of us involved in language education in many ways. Administrators, teacher trainers, teachers, students: we all wear many hats and we all come face-to-face with change, sometimes on a daily basis. Positive change is about improvement: improving proficiency, improving lives, helping learners achieve their goals and dreams and ultimately, broadening horizons. In our work as educators we are often asked to effect change – that we are change-makers can be seen in the new curriculums, new material, and even new techniques or methods that we develop. For those of us who conduct research, our research is often focused on finding "better" or more effective ways of teaching, often measured in outcomes such as 'students entered with an average of X and improved to an average of Y'. In such a case, improvement = change. But change is also an area of research as can be seen by looking at journals such as the Journal of Educational Change, Changes in Higher Education, Culture and Change, and Educational Research for Social Change, to mention four. It is a serious area of study, and one worth our attention. The focus of the last journal mentioned above is worth looking at. Change is not only about test scores or proficiency going up; it is also about lasting change in one's life, life choices, and looking beyond us as individuals, the society we live in. Social change and a focus on improving the societies we live in is another outcome of education. In recent years, there has been a focus on language and identity and there has been an embrace of sociocultural theory and language development. At the same time change for the sake of change is not a good reason for change. There is often a tension between the status quo (which is not always bad) and the desire to change. As invested members of our field, we need to be able to examine change, identifying and applying that which is appropriate and will further our goals while also having the wisdom and gumption to reject change that does not make sense. As Dewey said, "reforms which rest simply upon the enactment of law, or the threatening of certain penalties, or upon changes in mechanical or outward arrangements are transitory and futile." And so we welcome you to this year's conferences, where we can examine change in ways that are important to each of us. What are its challenges, its complexities, and its constraints? It is electrifying to think about the wide-ranging conversations we will have as we consider how we can go about educating for change the world over. In conjunction with our global partners we look forward to extending a warm welcome to you in 2017. ***IICLLDubai2017 Conference Chairs Professor Said M. Faiq 2017 Conference Co-Chair American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates Dr. Sufian Abu-Rmaileh 2017 Conference Co-Chair UAE University, United Arab Emirates Dr. Christine Coombe 2017 Conference Co-Chair Dubai Men's College, United Arab Emirates Mohammed Azaza 2017 Featured Speaker President of TESOL Arabia Professor Donald E. Hall 2017 Keynote Speaker Lehigh University, USA Professor Sue Jackson 2017 Programme Advisor Birkbeck, University of London, UK ***About IAFOR and its events IAFOR welcomes thousands of academics to our conferences each year, which range in size from around 100 to in excess of 500 attendees. They do so because of the supportive and nurturing research environment, because of the unique networking opportunities, and because of the strength of the organization's platform. Our conferences are meticulously planned and programmed under the direction of prominent academics to ensure that they offer programs of the highest level, and are also quite unique in the way in which they are supported by some of the world's leading academic institutions, including the University of London (UK), Virginia Tech (USA), Monash University (Australia), Barcelona University (Spain), Waseda University (Japan), the National Institute of Education (Singapore), and The Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKSAR). IAFOR's credibility has enabled it to become a genuine pioneer, and has grown to be the most respected and trusted organization encouraging international, intercultural and interdisciplinary study. The organization is a formative influence in providing new research avenues and visionary development solutions necessary in our rapidly emerging globalized world. We welcome you to engage in this expanding global academic community of individuals and network of institutions, and look forward to seeing you at one of our future events, as we break new ground, together. To learn more about IAFOR - http://iafor.org ***IAFOR's International events on Language Learning On an individual level the ability to speak and operate in another language opens new worlds of possibilities, and allows unmediated access to peoples, cultures, and both literary and academic works. IAFOR conferences are laboratories of intercultural communication, as a typical conference may contain delegates from anywhere between 30 to 60 different countries. This makes our vision of an academic platform at the intersection of culture, nation and discipline a reality, and makes for an extremely diverse and rich conference environment. Language is a powerful tool, and the prominence given to language learning in the IAFOR programme underscores the crucial role language learning and teaching plays in facilitating and building the many necessary bridges in communication between individuals, cultures and societies within the global context. Our events offer the chance for scholars and practitioners to exchange the latest ideas and approaches, attend workshops and interact with some of the biggest names in the field. What's more, IAFOR's language learning conferences are organised in partnership with some of the world's leading universities and language learning associations, including Birkbeck University of London, Virginia Tech, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, National Institute of Education, Singapore, Moscow State University, Waseda University, Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT), National Association of Teachers of English (NATE), Russia, and National Association of Applied Linguistics, Russia. These partnerships attest to the excellence of our programme, but also mean that our conferences are exceptional platforms to disseminate your research. http://iafor.org/language-learning/