JASENKA ČENGIĆ, PhD
HUPE PROUDLY PRESENTS
PLENARY SPEAKER
31st Annual International HUPE Conference
20 – 22 October 2023
Valamar, Poreč
Jasenka Čengić: From Exposure to Awareness: Capitalizing on Language Learners' Individual Differences to Create a Thriving Classroom Environment
Biography:
Jasenka Čengić is a Research and Teaching Assistant at the Department of English, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. She teaches a course on TEFL and organizes MA students' teaching practice. She is a PhD candidate in the Foreign Language Education Doctoral Program at the University of Zagreb. Prior to becoming a researcher, she worked as a language teacher in both primary and secondary school as well as a university ESP lecturer. Her research interests include individual differences in learning English and other languages as well as in teacher education. She has published her work in various international publications.
Abstract:
In this plenary I will investigate both extra- and intra-learner factors and discuss their importance for the effectiveness of different approaches to teaching. Starting from theoretical concepts I will focus on exposure and metalinguistic awareness to discuss practical ways in which teachers can capitalize on what learners bring to the language classroom. Extending the practical aspects of the learner-centered classroom to specific instructional approaches, I will also include examples from task-based language teaching, an approach to teaching focusing on authentic language and achieving communication through task completion.