This first international conference on language teacher education brought together over 200 practitioners and researchers from around the world, including participants from Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Colombia, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Paraguay, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The conference addressed the education of teachers of all languages, at all instructional and institutional levels, and in all of the varied national and international contexts in which this takes place, including:

ESL/EFL;
foreign/modern/world language teaching;
bilingual education;
immersion education;
indigenous and minority languages; and
the teaching of less commonly taught languages

The conference brought together research, theory, and best practices from all these contexts, and initiated meaningful professional dialogue across languages, levels, and settings.

Conference Themes

Theme I: The Knowledge Base of Language Teacher Education

A central issue in language teacher education is the question of what constitutes the knowledge base of language teaching and how it relates to the processes and content of teacher education. This theme focused on:

teachers' knowledge and beliefs;
teacher learning in formal and informal contexts;
teachers' ways of knowing;
teacher socialization;
professionalism;
the nature of disciplinary knowledge.

Presenatation Summary:
Donald Freeman & Karen E. Johnson, Towards a new knowledge-base of second language teacher education

Theme II: Socilal, Cultural, and Political Contexts of Language Teacher Education

Language Teacher Education takes place in multiple contexts and with diverse populations, where language, culture and identity are intricately bound together. In recognition of these diverse contexts, theme papers provided critical and analytical perspectives on:

institutions, communities, and discourses within which teacher education practices are situated;
power, status, and authority and language teacher education;
diversity and equity in language teacher education, including issues of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and language;
the socially situated nature of language and learning.

Presenatation Summaries:

Pat Chaput, Whose Field Is It, Anyway? Controlling Definitions of Language Study
Kris Gutierrez, Sociocultural Perspectives of Language and Literacy
Nancy Hornberger, Educational Linguistics at Penn

Theme III: Language Teacher Education Policy

Presenters focused on the formal and informal policies that influence the directions of teacher education, even though they may or may not involve the participation of teacher educators, at the local through the national level. Presentations examined: