We are greatly encouraged by his kind and wise words delivered in his last message to the Asia TEFL membership attending the conference in Yogyakarta this year: “I made up my mind to step down from the presidency for more outstanding leaders to lead Asia TEFL to a better future ... I am very confident that the two presidents and five vice presidents will make a dream team that will grow and develop Asia TEFL far better than the organization of now.” The five vice presidents are Prof. Ganakumaran Subramanian (Malaysia) - Conference, Prof. Ravinder Gargesh (India) - Research and Education, Prof. Masaki Oda (Japan) - Membership, Prof. Qiufang Wen (China) - Publications, and Prof. Hyo Shin Lee (Korea) - Finance.

 

We would like to thank the Asia TEFL Executive Council and Advisory Board members for their support for and involvement in Asia TEFL programs and activities. We certainly expect from each and every one of you the same, and even stronger, commitment to Asia TEFL in the years to come. We would like to encourage all Asia TEFL members to actively take part in our annual conferences and in contributing to our publications. We also invite new concepts and innovative ideas from each of you in further developing this organization, in substance and structurally, as an ELT professional association to have one of the greatest impacts in our field worldwide.

 

Asia TEFL is expected to promote scholarship, disseminate information, and facilitate cross-cultural understanding among persons concerned with the teaching and learning of English in Asia. Towards these ends, Asia TEFL has as its strengths a focus on ELT issues in Asia, wide representation in its leadership, well-attended annual international conferences, and highly reputable publications such as the Journal of Asia TEFL and the Asia TEFL Book Series.

 

With the support of each of you, in the coming years, we foresee new developments within Asia TEFL that may include publication of more practical guides for teachers in the ELT profession, membership reaching out to more teachers in remote localities within countries and regions where collaborative works are needed in enhancing ELT, and the implementation of the principles of English as a lingua franca by accommodating rich local literature into teaching-learning praxes in ELT classrooms throughout Asia.