The 8^th International ELT and Applied Linguistics Conference 2-3 May 2026

          Department of English Education

     Tribhuvan  University, Kirtipur

 Kathmandu, Nepal

Theme: Humanizing English Language Education in the Digital Era: Employability, Equity and Wellbeing

                                Venue: Department of English Education, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal.

    Date: 2-3, May, 2026 (Baisakh 19-20, 2083)

                                                   Proposal submission Deadline: 30 March, 2026

                                                        Notification (Acceptance/Rejection): 10 April, 2026

We are pleased to announce this call for Presentation Abstracts for the 8^th International ELT and Applied Linguistics Conference. The theme of the conference is Humanizing English Language Education in the Digital Era: Employability, Equity and Wellbeing. This theme foregrounds the need to place learners at the center of technology-mediated language education. We initiate to have more collaborative discussion on the innovative and more accountable models in the fields of language teacher education, English language teaching and Applied Linguistics. Humanizing emphasizes empathy, ethical pedagogy, and learner agency. It promotes the space of human genius rather than only technology driven instruction. We are in digital era and it is the pervasive use of digital tools, online platforms, and AI in English language teaching and learning. Employability extends the role of English in developing communicative, digital, and soft skills required for the contemporary labor market. And, equity focuses on fair access to digital resources, inclusive pedagogies, and addressing socio-economic, linguistic and geographic disparities. We are expecting for wellbeing on to the part of both the teachers and students at present because it is imperative for learners’ and teachers’ mental, emotional, and social health in digitally intensive learning environments. The humanistic perspectives, research based and techno-led applications, innovative approaches, collective actions and creative mind set are the sources for employability oriented and equitable language teacher education. We know that challenges await us in every minute and we should keep ourselves ready to address them by establishing the culture of inquiry.

So, we want to advocate balanced, supportive and meaningful practices both in language teacher education and students learning with the theme of this conference. It clearly sets the call for contextually adaptable models. Visualizing the wider impact of the theme proposed for this conference, we take this opportunity to proudly invite the abstracts from language educators, ELT practitioners, experts, scholars, researchers, English teachers, students, applied linguists and policy makers home and abroad for cascading knowledge, pedagogies, and possibilities together.

 Tuning with the theme and sub-themes of the conference, we have set the following purposes:

• Building on the Department’s legacy of collaboration and motivation to humanize English language education in the digital era through transformative, inclusive, and employability-oriented ELT pedagogies and practices.
• Bringing diverse local and global pedagogical practices to a single forum with an immense presence of English language practitioners and applied linguists from home and abroad.
• Exploring recent approaches, models and applications for the vitality of language teacher education and English language teaching.
• Energizing teacher potentials for teaching English in diverse socio-cultural contexts.
• Enhancing scholarly practices of ELT through the integration of wider resources.
• Creating a good platform for sharing the recent trends and methods of ELT and issues on applied linguistics for both the experts and novice practitioners of English.
• Providing a wide range of exposure to the professional development of the prospective teachers and language educators through vivid keynotes, plenaries, panels, featured talks, sessions and informal discussions.
• Promoting issue-based discussions on ELT and Applied Linguistics to provide opportunities for research and publication.
• Cultivating an academic culture grounded in collaboration, shared experiences, academic care, and empowered voices for teaching in the digital era.

Sub Themes

• Human-centered and ethical approaches to English language (ELT) teaching
• ELT and digital employability skills
• Equity, access, and inclusion in online and blended ELT contexts
• Learner agency, motivation and multi-variedness in the classroom
• Teacher wellbeing and professional identity in technology-rich environments
• AI, automation, and the future of human interaction in ELT
• Pedagogy for marginalized and underrepresented learners in Higher education
• Emotional, social, and psychological dimensions of language teacher education
• Social justice and responsiveness in ELT classrooms
• Shifting roles of language teachers
• Policies and pedagogies for language teacher education
• Research in language teacher education
• Language planning and policy
• ELT policies, pedagogies and practices
• Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)
• Teacher/learner autonomy
• Teacher identities, cognition and beliefs
• Teacher learning and narratives
• Teacher/learner motivation and agency
• Critical pedagogy
• Ideologies in ELT
• Translanguaging and linguistic diversity
• Bilingual and multilingual education
• Critical literacy and pedagogy in language classroom
• Language teacher education and professional development
• Mother tongue-based multilingual education
• Literature and language teaching
• Language teaching strategies
• English language teacher professional development
• English for academic purpose
• Technology-enhanced language teaching/learning
• Culturally responsive pedagogy
• Multimodal approaches to language teaching
• Language assessment and testing
• Critical thinking in ELT
• Intercultural approach to teaching English
• Discourse analysis and language teaching
• Learner diversity in EFL classroom
• Decolonizing ELT
• Indigenous resources in teaching English
• Reflective practices in ELT
• Integrating research in classroom teaching
• Creative writing and assessment in ELT
• ICT in EFL classrooms
• Digital technologies: Application, access and challenges
• Teaching English in difficult circumstances
• ELT in South Asia: Promises, pedagogical issues and practices
• The flipped classroom
• English teacher preparation
• Translation and language blend
• Continuous assessment system
• ELT and Applied Linguistics in diversity
• English for specific purposes
• English for academic purposes
• The role of local languages in English classrooms
• Hybrid approaches in ELT
• Inter and Multi-disciplinarity in ELT research
• World Englishes/Language varieties
• Future of ELT

Major Deliberations

• Keynotes
• Plenaries
• Featured talks
• Workshops
• Presentations

Key Dates

Conference Date: 2-3 May, 2026

Submission of Proposal (Deadline): 30 March, 2026

Notification (Acceptance/Rejection): 10 April, 2026

Registration open: 10 April, 2026

Venue: Department of English Education, T.U., Kirtipur

Note: Proposals for featured talks, panels and workshops must be received by March-10, 2026.

Individual Presentation (20 mins.)

Group/Workshop: (40 mins.)

Panel (50 mins.)

Proposal Format

Title: 12-15 words

Abstract: 200-300 words

Presenter bio: Not exceeding 50 words

Submission via: https://forms.gle/6L3io7rFxK84RaD1A

For details: Please visit our website:

For general inquiry: Please drop your email at kamalkumar.poudel@cded.tu.edu.np / kkpoudel2023@gmail.com,

Contact:

Dr. Kamal Raj Devkota (for International Presenters and Participants): kamal.devkota@cded.tu.edu.np / kamalrajdevkota7@gmail.com

Mr. Guru Prasad Poudel (for National Presenters and Participants): guru.poudel@cded.tu.edu.np / sharmagokul061@gmail.com

 

Full conference papers can be submitted for publication in Studies in ELT and Applied Linguistics (SELTAL), a double-blind peer reviewed Journal of the Department of English Education.