Murray State Plays Impressive Role at Kentucky TESOL Conference

Faculty and students from Murray State University’s Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) had an impressive presence the Kentucky TESOL Conference (KYTESOL) on Oct. 26 and 27 in Louisville, KY.

When asked about the conference, Dr. Latricia Trites, Director of Murray State’s TESOL program said, “The MSU TESOL program has worked hard to develop a legacy with the Kentucky TESOL Organization. We as a faculty encourage our students to attend and present at every conference, which gives them the chance to present at the state level. Often our students go on to present at our international TESOL conference and to get their papers published.” 

Murray State faculty and students were responsible for five of the 23 presentations at the conference and a Murray State alumna accounts for a sixth.

• Electronic-reading Strategies of EFL Preservice Teachers in the Electronic Age by Ding Zhao & Dr. Ho-Ryong Park
• Using Online Dictionaries for ESL Literacy Tasks: Guidelines and Strategies by Naser Maliar, Christopher Buck, Jiajia Li, & Liliia Shaekhova
• Five Strategies to Use a Free Linguistic Corpus to Teach Lexicogrammar  by Dr. Saihua Xia
• Translanguaging in Language Classrooms: Guidelines and Activities by Liliia Shaekhova, JiaJia Li, Christopher Buck, & Naser Maliar
• Fulbright: Experiences and Opportunities by Dr. Latricia Trites, Lamia Abudaoud, Naser Maliar, & Liliia Shaekhova
• Investigating Interculturality Development of Student Sojourners in the Academic Environment by Ruqayyah Moafa (alumna)

Naswer Maliar, a Fulbright Scholar from Afghanistan and a TESOL Master’s student both volunteered and presented at the conference.  Maliar noted, “Participating and presenting at the KYTESOL conference was a very valuable experience. Our professors encouraged and guided my classmates and me to present in the KYTESOL conference. Presenting in KYTESOL conference motivated me to plan for participating in more academic conferences.

Three Murray State TESOL faculty also served in leadership positions for KYTESOL.  Dr. Ho Park of Murray State served as president at the conference and is now past president.  Dr. Siaha Xia served as past president and was reelected as an at-large member of the board. Dr. Latricia Trites served as both the SETESOL/TESOL liaison and treasurer for the organization.

In addition, four graduate students from the Murray State University TESOL program volunteered at the conference and helped run the event: Naser Maliar (Fulbright Scholar from Afghanistan and TESOL Masters student), Jia Jia Li (TESOL Masters student), Christopher Buck (TESOL Masters student), and Yiding Zhao (DA in English student).

To learn more about the TESOL program at Murray State University, visit murraystate.edu/tesol.