Letter from the Past Chair

Published on February 27, 2026

Minsun Kim, CALL-IS Past Chair, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA

ELT Tech in Action: A New CALL-IS Tradition at TESOL 2026

Dear CALL-IS Colleagues and TESOLers,

As many of you know, our Electronic Village—long a signature special event at TESOL—concluded with TESOL 2024. In response, and in recognition of the need to carry forward opportunities for hands-on exploration and dialogue around educational technology, I was pleased, as Past Chair of CALL-IS, to submit a proposal on behalf of our interest section to introduce a new tradition grounded in our CALL-IS TechTalks webinar series. I am happy to share that this proposal was accepted for TESOL 2026.

We warmly invite you to join us in Salt Lake City for this featured panel session: ELT Tech in Action: Insights from CALL-IS TechTalks Experts, Thursday, March 24, 8:00-9:15 AM.

This engaging session is designed for ESL/ EFL educators at all levels. Extending the success of our 2024-2025 CALL-IS TechTalks webinar series, the panel features invited speakers Jasmin Cowin (Touro University), Bridget Schvarcz (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), and Haiyan Li (Purdue University) and will be moderated by members of the CALL-IS Steering Committee. Panelists will explore emerging technologies including skills-based language teaching using Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) in language education, and teaching, learning, and leading with Collaborative AI (BoodleBox). Attendees will gain practical strategies, current ELT technology perspectives, and opportunities to connect with the CALL-IS community.

This panel marks the launch of a new CALL-IS tradition at TESOL. We look forward to continuing this initiative with the support of current and future CALL-IS chairs and to welcoming colleagues to this session at TESOL 2026.

Minsun Kim is a Senior Lecturer in the PLaCE program at Purdue University, holding a PhD in English from Purdue. With over a decade of experience teaching second language learners, her research focuses on second language writing in multilingual and multicultural contexts and AI assisted writing.

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