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Submission Guidelines, 2027 International Conference

2027 KOTESOL International Conference

The 34th Korea TESOL International Conference

The Hidden Dimensions of Educators:
Shining a Light on Identity, Labour, and Well-Being

May 15 - 16, 2027
Sookmyung Women's University, Seoul, South Korea
In-person and asynchronous

Submissions close January 20, 2027

Timeline Overview

The call for conference proposals opens October 1, 2026, and closes January 20, 2027.

  • Early-Bird Proposals Accepted: October 1, 2026 - November 20, 2026
  • Early-Bird Proposal Acceptance Notification: December 7, 2026
  • Regular Proposals Accepted: November 21, 2026 - January 20, 2027
  • Regular Proposal Acceptance Notification:  March 1, 2027 
     

Presenter Registration: March 1 - April 7, 2027 
Conference Dates: May 15 - 16, 2027

The conference schedule should be available in early May 2027. 
 
Submit a Proposal 
SUBMIT HERE: https://koreatesol.org/IC2027-proposal-submission-form
Opens 1 October, 2026 (to view, must be logged in at koreatesol.org)

Proposals on a wide variety of topics are welcome, particularly those in the spirit of the theme.
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Call for Proposal Guidelines

Conference Themes

Proposals are invited on all topics, but we are particularly interested in sessions relevant to our theme. These could include sessions that:

Sustaining our efficacy as educators, our productivity as scholars, and our overall well-being requires a critical examination of current teaching conditions. Structural inequities, invisible labour, institutional cultures, professional identity strains, and job precarity pose significant risks to our physical, mental, and emotional health. These systemic difficulties can no longer be relegated to the margins; they must become a central priority. 

Reflecting the core theme of the conference, the KOTESOL International Conference Committee 2027 seeks to foster a collaborative dialogue. By providing a platform for the diverse voices within our community, we aim to collectively identify, analyse, and confront the hidden dimensions of academic life with optimism, resilience, and assurance. 
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What to Know Before You Submit

On the Submission Form

  • Title (12 words or fewer, following APA title case; check the capitalization here: https://capitalizemytitle.com/)
  • Abstract (up to 150 words). No name or information should be included in the abstract that could be used to identify the possible presenter(s). This includes research grant numbers and university names. No Keywords. The conference will not use keywords; instead, please categorize your submission thoughtfully and ensure a clear and informative abstract.
  • Session Format (workshop, research presentation, panel, etc., plus in-person or video; see below)
  • Session Topic (see below)
  • Presenter Biographical Profile (up to 60 words)
     

 Presentation Formats

  • Research Report/Paper: 25 minutes (in-person or online)
  • Workshops: 50 minutes (in-person only)
  • Dialogues/Roundtables: 50 minutes (in-person only)
  • Panel Discussions: 50 minutes (in-person only)
  • Poster Presentations: 110 minutes (in-person or online [Padlet or PDF])
  • Graduate Student Showcase: 15 minutes (in-person or pre-recorded video; research only; must be enrolled in a graduate program at the time of submission)
  • Graduate Student Panel: 50 minutes  (in-person or pre-recorded video; research only; must be enrolled in a graduate program at the time of submission, arranged as as group)
  • Pecha Kucha: 20 slides, 20 seconds each (pre-recorded video only)
  • Got another idea? Alternative session formats are welcome; contact us!
     

Proposal Topic/Category

Conference Strands 

In the "topic" portion of the submission form, please choose the category that best suits your presentation topic.

  • Teacher Identity, Professional Subjectivities, and Intersectionality
  • Teacher Agency, Professional Autonomy, and Voice
  • Educational Labour, Professional Rights, and Institutional Cultures
  • Mentoring, Communities of Practice, and Professional Support
  • Teacher Well-Being, Mental Health, and Professional Sustainability
  • Physical Health, Safety, and Sustainable Teaching Practice
  • Teacher Education, Professional Learning, and Continuing Professional Development
  • Reflective Practice, Exploratory Practice, and Practitioner Research
  • Sustainability, Critical Pedagogy, Ethics, and Social Justice in EFL
  • Artificial Intelligence Discourse, Educational Technologies, and Digital Literacies
  • Transnationalism, Mobility, Translanguaging, and Global Englishes
  • Emotion, Affect, Care, and Relational Pedagogies
  • Teacher Precarity, Educational Labour, and Changing Professional Landscapes
     

Consider areas of interest, such as:

  • Administration, Management, & Employment Issues
  • Applied Linguistics / Second Language Acquisition (Sociolinguistics / Corpus Linguistics / Learner Corpora / Semantics / Pragmatics)
  • Assessment / Testing
  • Neuro-ELT / Psychology / Psycholinguistics
  • Classroom Management
  • Content-Based Instruction / EMI / CLIL
  • Creativity / Critical Thinking / 4Cs
  • Critical Pedagogy/Perspectives
  • Culture & Cross-/Intercultural Perspectives
  • Drama/Performance in the Classroom 
  • Education Management (Ownership, Administration, Managerial, Employment Issues)
  • English for Specific or Academic Purposes
  • Grammar
  • Informal Learning / Affinity Spaces / Communities of Practice
  • Language Policy / World Englishes / English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)
  • Differentiated Instruction / Special Educational Needs / Learning Differences / Universal Design for Learning
  • Listening
  • Materials / Course / Curriculum Design
  • Motivation / Identity / Agency 
  • Multiliteracies / Multimodality
  • Multiple Skills
  • Peacebuilding / Peace Studies / Peace Linguistics
  • Reading 
  • Reflective Teaching Practice
  • Research Methodologies & Approaches
  • Social Justice Issues (Environmental Justice, Feminist/LGBTQ+/Race-Oriented Perspectives, Funds of Knowledge, Civic Engagement and Public/Engaged Scholarship, Postcolonial/Decolonial Perspectives, Service Learning)
  • Speaking / Conversation / Pronunciation
  • Task-/Project-Based Learning (TBL/PBL)
  • Teacher Education / Professional Development
  • Technology / Online Learning / AI / CALL / MALL
  • Vocabulary
  • Writing
  • Other Issues
     

Please note:

After you submit your proposal, you will be unable to edit it.

Please proofread your proposal carefully; generative AI such as Bard or ChatGPT or a tool such as Grammarly can help with this.

Please include all co-presenters in your proposal. You (the submitter) are considered the lead presenter; as such, you are responsible for making sure your co-presenters receive all the necessary information about registering for the conference, joining KOTESOL, checking the schedule, etc.

Some presentation types can be presented online via pre-recorded video (select in-person or online when you submit your proposal).
If you choose online, you'll provide us with a high-quality pre-recorded video recording of your content (or Padlet or PDF, if you're creating a poster) for sharing online; if you choose in-person, you'll participate at a set time in person (onsite in Seoul). 

All presenters (including co-presenters) must be KOTESOL members before the start of the conference.
You do not have to be a member to submit a proposal; if you're not a member and your proposal is accepted, though, you must order a membership for 50,000 KRW  / 40 USD (domestic member living in Korea), 70,000 KRW / 56 USD (international member living outside Korea), or 30,000 KRW / 24 USD (undergraduate student working on a bachelor's or associate's degree). This membership fee is in addition to the conference fee (to be determined). Note: KOTESOL cannot accept credit cards. Please plan to pay by bank transfer, PayPal, or Wise.com, instead.
Presenters residing in South Korea will be given Korea TESOL's bank account number for payment via bank transfer; presenters coming from outside South Korea are encouraged to utilize PayPal or Wise, online payment services, to facilitate payment transactions. More detailed information regarding payment will be included in accepted presenters' notification emails.

We can provide accepted presenters with an acceptance letter, but we CANNOT provide letters of guarantee or invitation. Please check the visa requirements in your home country before you select an in-person presentation.

All proposals must be for work NOT previously presented at a KOTESOL International Conference.

You may submit multiple proposals; however, we can accept a maximum of two proposals from any one presenter (You may be an additional participant in up to 5 roundtables and panels, however).

All presenters must abide by the KOTESOL Code of Conduct and the KOTESOL Ethical Standards for Research and Publication.

Additional information about the session formats, session subtypes, tips for improving your proposal, and more are available below.
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Additional Details

Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation criteria are dependent on the type of presentation, as they always have been for us. We have, however, made a fundamental change to the vetting process. This year we are adopting a strengths-based approach. This approach focuses primarily on the strong areas of proposals and, via mentoring and feedback, builds on them to increase the likelihood of acceptance—and more importantly, the likelihood of a successful presentation and a positive experience for all. We hope this will encourage the "proposal hesitant" to send us a submission, particularly less-experienced presenters and those who have cited their English level as a deterrent to submitting in past years.

Theme

Presenters often ask if their proposal needs to "fit" the theme of the conference to be considered. The answer to that is, "No, proposals don't need to fit the theme." What we are interested in, more than anything, is having high-quality presentations from many different areas of ELT and education. Some of these areas engage with the theme readily while others do not. We recognize and respect this! If in doubt, submit your proposal. (In the spirit of our theme, though, we strongly encourage "outside-the-box" proposals that challenge and complicate traditional notions of learning and education. Learn more about the theme here.

Publishing Opportunities

Besides being able to submit work (as KOTESOL members) to our research journal, the Korea TESOL Journal, accepted presenters can publish in KOTESOL Proceedings 2027, a post-conference compilation of papers, including both research presentations (2,500-5,000 words) and other presentation reports (2,000 words), all reviewed.
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Detailed Guidelines for Proposals

These guidelines may help you in preparing your proposal for submission. They will explain:

YOUR PRESENTATION TITLE

The title of your presentation should:

  • Accurately and effectively reflect the content of the presentation
  • Be eye-catching
  • Be 12 words or fewer
  • NOT use the term “101” unless it is a “101” presentation (i.e., introducing basic concepts aimed at less-experienced or novice presenters)
  • Follow APA style guidelines for "title case" capitalization: Capitalize the first word of the title and any subtitle; capitalize all “major” words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, and prepositions 4+ letters long) in the title, including the second part of hyphenated major words (e.g., Computer-Assisted, not Computer-assisted); capitalize all words of four or more letters. Please check your title's capitalization here: https://capitalizemytitle.com/
     

1.  RESEARCH REPORTS / PAPERS (25 minutes)

  • These are reports on original research.
  • Usually, these follow the typical format for presenting on a research study: statement of the problem, conceptual/theoretical framework + literature review, research question(s), methodology, data analysis, results, implications, and/or limitations.
  • Typically, presenters will present for about 20 minutes and use the last five minutes of the 25-minute presentation slot for attendee Q&A.
     

2. WORKSHOPS (50 minutes)

  • These are carefully structured, hands-on, interactive professional development activities. The presenter(s) and participants tackle a problem or develop specific teaching or research techniques. These sessions show, not just tell, a technique of practical interest to educators.
  • Attendees should develop knowledge, skills, or techniques they can use in their classroom settings.
  • The presenter may spend a limited amount of time explaining the underlying theory but should spend the majority of the session explaining and demonstrating the practice and its implementation.
  • The workshop format is intended to be highly interactive; extensive audience participation is expected.
     

3.  DIALOGUES / ROUNDTABLES (50 minutes)

  • These are peer-to-peer discussions about a current topic or question relevant to ELT.
  • The dialogue facilitator(s) should have strong knowledge of the designated topic and be able to engage the audience in the discussion.
  • Significant audience participation in the discussion is expected.
  • A maximum of two facilitators is recommended.
     

4.  PANEL DISCUSSIONS (50 minutes)

  • These sessions involve a moderator and three or four panelists talking about one topic or question relevant to ELT.
  • The panelists address the topic and respond to each other to develop and explore the topic.
  • Audience participation in the discussion is encouraged.
  • ONE form is submitted by the moderator, naming all panelists as co-presenters.
  • A maximum of five participants (four presenters and one moderator) is allowed.
     

5.  POSTER PRESENTATIONS (110 minutes, in-person; Padlet or PDF suggested for online, accessible for the duration of the conference)

  • These presentations involve information about a research report or project, presented visually using text and images (and other audiovisual contents permitted by your preferred online tools, if you choose online-only).
  • The poster should be able to stand alone in informing attendees about the topic.
  • Online-only posters can be created on Padlet or as a PDF and “displayed” online for the duration of the conference. Padlet allows a variety of media to be uploaded and shared; we encourage you to be creative and engage the audience by posting links, videos, images, PDF summaries of your poster, and more, creating a dynamic and interactive poster.
  • In-person posters will be displayed during a designated 1-hour timeslot at the conference. Presenters are requested to be present at that time to answer questions from passers-by.
  • Poster presentations are great for first-time presenters! 
     

6.  PECHA KUCHA (20 slides, 20 seconds each)

  • Pecha kucha presentation is a format in which 20 slides are displayed for 20 seconds each. 
  • The slides should be set on an automatic timer so they move automatically as the presenter is speaking. 
  • This format ensures that the speaker is concise and keeps the presentation moving. It’s great for storytelling, and highly visual presentations are encouraged.
     

7.  GRADUATE STUDENT SHOWCASE (15 minutes, but in a larger block of time with other GSS presenters)

  • Current graduate school students are encouraged to present their thesis/dissertation or current research. (You must be enrolled in a graduate program when you submit your proposal.)
  • Synchronous presentations will be grouped together into a single, long time slot; each presentation should be 15 minutes long.
  • Graduate students may choose this option or can be considered in the general pool of abstracts.
  • If you submit a proposal to the GSS, our mentors will be in touch before the conference to guide you through the presentation process, including honing your abstract and strengthening your presentation.
  • GSS proposals will be vetted separately from the regular proposals; however, the guidelines for the title, abstract, etc., are the same as they are for regular proposals.
  • Learn more about the GSS here.
     

YOUR ABSTRACT

Abstracts can be a maximum of 150 words.

Proposals for research reports/papers and poster sessions should:

  • Demonstrate relevance and/or importance of the topic;
  • Include a clear conceptual/theoretical framework from which the research question(s) logically emerged;
  • Include relevant information about the research methodology;
  • Mention specific and relevant conclusions/recommendations/implications for the ELT field.
  • Consider the rubric used by the reviewers in scoring research reports/papers and poster sessions. (see further below)
     

Proposals for workshops, dialogues, and panels should:

  • Demonstrate relevance and/or importance of the topic
  • Have a presentation plan detailing the method, procedure, or plan of action for the session
  • Mention specific tasks or methods used to facilitate session interactivity (i.e., active audience participation)
  • Note the implications (especially practical outcomes) for TESOL professionals
  • Consider the rubric used by the reviewers in scoring workshops, dialogues, and panel sessions.  (see further below)
     

Guidelines for all abstracts

  • Abstracts do not need bibliographical or reference notes. If they are included, they should be formatted according to APA style guidelines (6th or 7th eds.)
  • DO NOT include your name or other personally identifying information in the abstract.
  • Your abstract will be visible to conference participants via our online platform.
  • The abstract is your chance to showcase your work and appeal to conference attendees.
  • Include a reasonable description of what is to be discussed or demonstrated.
  • Attendees should be able to tell if you will give them something new or repeat what they already know.
  • Be explicit. Your audience should not be surprised by your presentation’s contents, just better-informed.
     

The Selection Process

1. Each proposal received by the deadline is sent to three vetters (the proposal review team) for review and is rated according to a rubric. There are two rubrics used: one for scoring research report/paper and poster presentations and another for scoring workshop, dialogue, and panel presentations. 
 
The evaluation criteria for research report/paper and poster presentations include:

  • Topic: Importance, currency, and appropriateness
  • Conceptual/Theoretical Framework: Session informed by theory or approach
  • Research Methodology: Description of research and data analysis
  • Conclusion: Relevance to and implications for the field
  • Proposal Writing Quality: Clarity of proposal as an indicator of presentation quality
  • Rubric: Research Reports and Poster Presentations
     

The evaluation criteria for workshop, dialogue, and panel presentations include:

  • Topic: Importance, currency, and appropriateness
  • Framework: Session informed by theory, approach, action-based research, or classroom experience
  • Presentation Plan: Description of session content and procedure
  • Session Interactivity: Attendee interaction / participation
  • Pedagogical Implications: Relevance to educational settings
  • Rubric: Workshops Dialogues and Panels
     

2. After the proposal review team has finished, the evaluations are returned to the program director, who compares the results and makes final selections based on the proposal review team’s ratings, paying close attention to offering a balance and range of presentations.
 
The final selection of proposals is based on:

  • The quality of the proposal based on scores it receives during the review process;
  • The range of topics within ELT and the relevance and importance of the topic to conference attendees;
  • The number of presentations on the same or similar topic and balanced theme or “strand” coverage;
  • A balanced range of session types;
  • Maintaining a diverse group of presenters (geographically, NEST/NNEST, workplace/level taught, etc.)
     

3. The program director contacts all applicants and notifies them whether their proposal has been accepted, waitlisted, or not accepted.
 
FINAL NOTES

Tips for a Stronger Proposal

In reviewing the proposals, we ask several questions, including:

  • Is the proposal clear? Do we have a solid expectation for what will happen in your session? 
  • Does the proposal show us something new, interesting, or helpful?
  • If it is a workshop, does the abstract show what interactive tasks participants will be asked to do?
  • If it is a dialogue or panel presentation, does the proposal indicate there will be opportunity for attendees to engage in a discussion with the session content matter?
  • If it is a research paper or poster presentation, are the research questions, theoretical framework, methodology, and implications appropriate and clear?
  • Are there any practical outcomes, recommendations, or conclusions to be taken from the session?
  • Is the amount of material to be covered reasonable for the time requested?
  • Does the submission follow the guidelines above (e.g., word-count limits) and properly classify the presentation (e.g., topic, research base, etc.)?
     

Accepted presenters will be sent information about how to submit their full papers for the KOTESOL Proceedings 2027 publication.

Please direct any program-related inquiries to the Program Committee: conference.program@koreatesol.org

We hope this has been helpful to you in planning and submitting your proposal. Good luck with your proposal, and we hope to see you at the conference!

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