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Individual presenters came from as far afield as the United States, New Zealand, Ireland, and the Canary Islands, and over 120 registered participants came from universities and language schools throughout Europe and North America. It was a particular pleasure for the conference organizers to be able to present this conference without a registration fee to either presenters or attendees. The conference began with an opening ceremony on April 9. This inaugural ceremony featured addresses of welcome by the Pro-Rector for Academic Issues at SEEU, Prof. Dr. Zamir Dika; the Dean of the Faculty of Languages, Cultures, and Communications, Prof. Dr. Vebi Bexheti; and the Educational and Cultural Attaché for the United States Embassy in Skopje, Mr. John Surface.
‘From Teaching to Learning’ was privileged to present three international scholars as keynote speakers. Dr. Lorna Carson (Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland) gave the opening keynote speech, entitled ‘Language Learner Autonomy: Myth, Magic, or Miracle?’ Prof. Dr. Gertraud Havranek (Alpen-Adria Universität, Austria) presented the keynote address ‘The Role of Corrective Feedback in Language Learning and Teaching.’ The third keynote speaker—and a former Fulbright colleague at SEEU—was Dr. Judy Richardson (Virginia Commonwealth University, United States of America), who spoke on the theme ‘Matching EFL Readers to Appropriate Texts: Theories, Strategies, and Approaches for Student Success.’
The conference divided between formal academic papers and collaborative workshops. The topics were wide-ranging, spanning the discipline of English Language Teaching from traditional questions of methodology and syntax to the most advanced themes of technology in the classroom and C.A.L.L. (Computer Assisted Language Learning). The proceedings of the conference will be published later this summer.
‘From Teaching to Learning’ received generous support from Rector Alajdin Abazi, the management of the University, the British Council, and the United States Embassy in Macedonia. The Academic Committee of the conference is extremely proud and honored to acknowledge this support.
This conference was a collective effort of teachers in the Language Centre of the Faculty of Languages, Cultures, and Communications, and the English Department. It reaffirmed the commitment of the South East European University to excellence in research, pedagogy, and education in the international community, and demonstrated again the prominence of Tetovo in Balkan academia.