Organising Committee

The Conference Programme Committee is composed of distinguished academics who are experts in their fields. Conference Programme Committee members may also be members of IAFOR's International Academic Board. The Organising Committee is responsible for nominating and vetting Keynote and Featured Speakers; developing the conference programme, including special workshops, panels, targeted sessions, and so forth; event outreach and promotion; recommending and attracting future Conference Programme Committee members; working with IAFOR to select PhD students and early career academics for IAFOR-funded grants and scholarships; and overseeing the reviewing of abstracts submitted to the conference.


  • Satoko Kato
    Satoko Kato
    Kanda University of International Studies (KUIS), Japan
  • Kyungsook Yeum
    Kyungsook Yeum
    Sookmyung Women’s University, South Korea
  • Mika Tamura
    Mika Tamura
    Kyushu University, Japan
  • Diane Hawley Nagatomo
    Diane Hawley Nagatomo
    Ochanomizu University, Japan
  • Joseph Haldane
    Joseph Haldane
    The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
  • Steve Cornwell
    Steve Cornwell
    The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) & Osaka Jogakuin University, Japan
  • Barbara Lockee
    Barbara Lockee
    Virginia Tech., USA
  • Jo Mynard
    Jo Mynard
    Kanda University of International Studies, Japan
  • Ted O’Neill
    Ted O’Neill
    Gakushuin University, Japan

Previous Organising Committees

View details of organising committees at past ACLL conferences via the links below.

Satoko Kato
Kanda University of International Studies (KUIS), Japan

Biography

Satoko Kato is a Senior Education Coordinator/Lecturer, at the Research Institute for Learner Autonomy Education (RILAE), Kanda University of International Studies (KUIS), Japan. She is also a lecturer at the Graduate School of Language Sciences, KUIS, teaching “learner autonomy” and “teacher autonomy” as part of the MA TESOL program. She holds an MA in TESOL from Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, and holds a Ph.D. degree in Education and Learning Science from Hiroshima University. She has conducted over 3,800 advising sessions as a learning advisor in the past 12 years aimed at promoting learner autonomy. Her research interests are learner/teacher autonomy, advising in language learning, reflective dialogue, and mentoring in teacher/advisor education. She is also focusing on developing and implementing advisor education programs for learners and teachers, domestically and internationally. She has co-authored two books, Reflective dialogue: Advising in language learning (with Jo Mynard, published by Routledge NY, 2016), and Eigo Gakushu Techo: English Learning Planner (with Hisako Yamashita, published by KUIS press, 2012–2014).

Featured Panel Presentation (2019) | Supporting Learners and Learning from Outside the Classroom: An Interdependent Multidisciplinary Approach
Kyungsook Yeum
Sookmyung Women’s University, South Korea

Biography

Dr Kyungsook Yeum is the Director of SMU TESOL and the faculty of Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul, South Korea. She has served on the TESOL Board of Directors, TESOL International Association, USA, 2015-2018.

Dr Yeum’s leadership skills and understanding of the TESOL profession have been honed through her work as Chair of Program Administration Interest Session at TESOL International Association, as National President of Korea TESOL, as Vice President of the Applied Linguistics Association of Korea (ALAK), and also as Conference Chair for the KOTESOL-hosted Pan-Asia Conference. Dr Yeum has served as the Director and Administrative Professor responsible for the TESOL certificate programs at Sookmyung for 20 years. In the process, she has gained a deep understanding of the notion of program quality assurance and leadership.

“TESOL BEYOND” is a term that she created to inspire further innovation within the already globally recognized TESOL institution where she was the Director. “TESOL BEYOND” embraces the notions of taking TESOL beyond conventional classrooms, beyond traditional educational boundaries, beyond national borders, and beyond ‘A’ cultural framework.

Dr Yeum has an MA in TESOL from the University of Maryland. Her first PhD is in English Literature, and she is a University of Macquarie PhD candidate in Applied Linguistics with a concentration in Program Evaluation. Her concentration areas are: Teacher Education, Program Evaluation, Cross-cultural Leadership, and Testing & Assessment.

Mika Tamura
Kyushu University, Japan

Biography

Dr Mika Tamura is Assistant Professor in the International Education Support Center, Faculty of Engineering at Kyushu University in Japan. She is also Coordinator for the International Undergraduate Programs in English at the School of Engineering. Her research interests lie mainly in English for Specific Purposes (ESP), English Medium Instructions (EMI) and International Co-learning. She has a TESOL-oriented MA of English Linguistics and completed her PhD in Social and Cultural Studies.

Diane Hawley Nagatomo
Ochanomizu University, Japan

Biography

Dr Diane Hawley Nagatomo is an associate Professor in the Graduate School of Humanities and Science at Ochanomizu University, Japan. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in Japanese universities for more than thirty years. She is the author of 21 EFL textbooks for the Japanese audience, numerous academic articles, and has presented at numerous conferences. Among her books are Exploring Japanese University English Teachers’ Professional Identity (2012) and Gender, Identity and Teaching English in Japan (2016). Her research interests include teachers’ and students’ beliefs, professional identity, gender issues, and materials development.


Previous ACLL Presentations

Keynote Presentation (2018) | Surviving and Thriving in the Gendered Waters of Japan: Ten Women’s Stories
Joseph Haldane
The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan

Biography

Joseph Haldane is the Chairman and CEO of IAFOR. He is responsible for devising strategy, setting policies, forging institutional partnerships, implementing projects, and overseeing the organisation’s business and academic operations, including research, publications and events.

Dr Haldane holds a PhD from the University of London in 19th-century French Studies, and has had full-time faculty positions at the University of Paris XII Paris-Est Créteil (France), Sciences Po Paris (France), and Nagoya University of Commerce and Business (Japan), as well as visiting positions at the French Press Institute in the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas (France), The School of Journalism at Sciences Po Paris (France), and the School of Journalism at Moscow State University (Russia).

Dr Haldane’s current research concentrates on post-war and contemporary politics and international affairs, and since 2015 he has been a Guest Professor at The Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University, where he teaches on the postgraduate Global Governance Course, and Co-Director of the OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre, an interdisciplinary think tank situated within Osaka University.

A Member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network for Global Governance, Dr Haldane is also a Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Philology at the University of Belgrade (Serbia), a Visiting Professor at the School of Business at Doshisha University (Japan), and a Member of the International Advisory Council of the Department of Educational Foundations at the College of Education of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (USA).

From 2012 to 2014, Dr Haldane served as Treasurer of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (Chubu Region) and he is currently a Trustee of the HOPE International Development Agency (Japan). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society in 2012, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2015.

Steve Cornwell
The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) & Osaka Jogakuin University, Japan

Biography

Steve Cornwell is the President of IAFOR, and President of the Academic Governing Board. He coordinates and oversees the International Academic Advisory Board, and also serves on the organisation's Board of Directors. He is Chair of the Language Learning section of the International Academic Advisory Board.

Dr Cornwell is Vice President of Osaka Jogakuin University, Japan, where he is also a Professor of English and Interdisciplinary Studies. He helped write and design several of the courses at the New School in New York, and currently teaches on the online portion of the MA TESOL Programme, having been involved with the programme since its inception.

He has also been involved with the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) serving on its National Board of Directors as Director of Programme from 2012 to 2016; where his duties involved working with a volunteer team of over 50 people to organise JALT’s annual, international conference each autumn.

Since 2012 he has been the Committee Chair of Osaka Jogakuin University’s Lifelong Learning Committee and is responsible for their evening extension programme geared towards alumni and community members. He is also the Vice-Chair of Osaka Jogakuin University’s English Education Committee, which is responsible for suggesting policy regarding English education and for developing material for the integrated curriculum.


Previous ACLL Presentations

Featured Panel Presentation (2018) | Language Learning in a Time of Complexity and Change
Barbara Lockee
Virginia Tech., USA

Biography

Dr Lockee is Professor of Instructional Design and Technology at Virginia Tech., USA, where she is also Associate Director of the School of Education and Associate Director of Educational Research and Outreach. She teaches courses in instructional design, message design, and distance education. Her research interests focus on instructional design issues related to technology-mediated learning. She has published more than 80 papers in academic journals, conferences and books, and has presented her scholarly work at over 90 national and international conferences.

Dr Lockee is Immediate Past President of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, an international professional organisation for educational technology researchers and practitioners. She earned her PhD in 1996 from Virginia Tech in Curriculum and Instruction (Instructional Technology), M.A. in 1991 from Appalachian State University in Curriculum and Instruction (Educational Media), and BA in 1986 from Appalachian State University in Communication Arts.


Previous Presentations

Featured Presentation (2017) | Instructional Designers as Agents of Change: Facilitating the Next Generation of Technology-Enhanced Learning
Jo Mynard
Kanda University of International Studies, Japan

Biography

Dr Jo Mynard is a Professor and Director of the Self-Access Learning Centre (SALC) at Kanda University of International Studies (KUIS) in Japan. At KUIS, she advises language learners, and oversees academic support, research and the general direction of the SALC. She also teaches an undergraduate course on Effective Language Learning at KUIS and a graduate course on Learner Autonomy as part of the MA TESOL programme at the KUIS graduate school. She is a part-time faculty member on the Doctor of Education programme in TESOL at the University of Anaheim (USA), an occasional supervisor at the university of Birmingham (UK) on the MA TESOL programme, and an advisor to doctoral candidates at the Education and ICT programme at the Open University of Catalunya (Spain). She has co-edited four books. Two on learner autonomy (2011; 2014), and two on advising in language learning (2012). She recently co-authored a book (with Satoko Kato) on reflective dialogue / advising which was published by Routledge (New York) in August 2015. She has been the editor of SiSAL (Studies in Self-Access Learning) Journal –a peer review, open access publication– since 2010.

Featured Panel Presentation (2019) | Supporting Learners and Learning from Outside the Classroom: An Interdependent Multidisciplinary Approach

Previous ACLL Presentations

Featured Panel Presentation (2018) | Language Learning in a Time of Complexity and Change
Ted O’Neill
Gakushuin University, Japan

Biography

Ted O’Neill is a professor at Gakushuin University, Tokyo, in the Faculty of International Social Sciences. He previously taught at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Tokyo Medical and Dental University and J. F. Oberlin University. Ted was co-editor of The Language Teacher for the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) and later served on the JALT National Board of Directors as Director of Public Relations from 2012 to 2016. He received an MA in ESL and Bilingual Education from the University of Massachusetts/Boston, USA in 1996 and completed a postgraduate Certificate of Educational Technology and Information Literacy through the Graduate School of Education at the State University of New York in 2014. He is a part of a research group studying implementation of content-based language education and content and language integrated learning in East and Southeast Asia with the generous support of The Research Institute for Oriental Cul­tures at Gakushuin University.​

Ted O’Neill is a Vice-President (at large) of IAFOR. He is a member of the Educational Technology section of the International Academic Advisory Board.

Featured Panel Presentation (2019) | Supporting Learners and Learning from Outside the Classroom: An Interdependent Multidisciplinary Approach

Previous ACLL Presentations

Featured Panel Presentation (2018) | Language Learning in a Time of Complexity and Change