XVIIth International CALL Research Conference

Keynote speakers

Prof. dr. Kris Van den Branden, K.U.Leuven, Belgium

Kris Van den Branden is professor of Linguistics (Interaction in language education policy, linguistic aspects of ethno-cultural diversity) at the Faculty of Arts of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, and director of the Centre for Language and Education. This centre combines research activities with the development of educational tools and the in-service training of teachers and teacher trainers with regard to (task-based) language teaching. The Centre for Language and Education hosted the first International Conference on Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) in Leuven. Kris Van den Branden is also the head of the English teacher training programme at the K.U.Leuven. His main research interests include interaction in second language acquisition, the implementation of TBLT, the dissemination of educational innovation and the role of the teacher in language teaching. He is one of the series editors (together with Martin Bygate and John Norris) of "Task-based language teaching: Issues, research and practice", published by Benjamins. We have asked him to provide us with an overview of findings in TBLT which might be relevant for CALLers worldwide.