Dr. Kilryoung Lee – Featured Speaker @ KOTESOL 2026
Featured Session
Compassion, Is It Central or Marginal in an EFL Classroom?
In the Korean context, English is often treated not as a means of communication but as an object of evaluation. As a result, speaking English tends to be closely tied to an obsession with avoiding mistakes and often leads to intense anxiety. Compassion can play an important role in supporting students’ learning and growth in such a teaching context. Compassion involves recognizing learners’ difficulties, empathizing with them, and moving toward actions that help reduce those difficulties. To practice compassion as a teacher, a key requirement is to build trust through relationship-based engagement, starting from seeing students as people rather than as scores. When teachers take this stance, the goals of instruction shift, and the design of lessons changes accordingly.
Biosketch
Kilryoung Lee is a professor in the Department of English Education at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) in Seoul. He has more than thirty years of teaching experience at the secondary and university levels. Growing up in a family of seven teachers, he was immersed in the world of education from an early age and came to view teaching not just as a career but as a lifelong calling. He earned his PhD in foreign and second language education from the State University of New York at Buffalo. His scholarly interests include teacher education and the teaching of speaking and listening. He served as president of the Applied Linguistics Association of Korea (ALAK) from 2012 to 2013 and of AsiaTEFL from 2021 to 2022.
Web Links
Dept. Bulletin Board https://hufsee.hufs.ac.kr/hufsee/2596/subview.do (in Korean)
Dr. Lee's Faculty Profile: https://hufsee.hufs.ac.kr/hufsee/2670/subview.do?enc=Zm5jdDF8QEB8JTJGcHJ...
Recent Publications
Lee, H., & Lee, K. (2024) Perceptions of learner autonomy in English conversation classes among non-English majors in South Korea. Journal of the Korea English Education Society, 23(3), 55–82.
Lee, K. (2022). Nonnative English-speaking teachers who are foreign nationals in South Korea and Japan: A continuing struggle for inclusion. LEARN Journal: Language Education and Acquisition Research Network, 15(2), 20–29.
Kudaibergenov, M., & Lee, K. (2022). Professional identity tensions in EFL preservice teachers: A collective case study of three international students in South Korea. Journal of Language Identity and Education, 23(5), 689–705. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2022.2038174
Lee, K. (2018). Pre-service English teachers’ motivations for entering English education department and its change in college. Journal of the Korea English Education Society, 17(2), 1–24.
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