Shaping English Language Conferences in Jordan through Partnerships and International Collaboration

• In Event: Higher Education supporting Global Partnership: Sustainability, Capacity Building, and International Cooperation

Proposal

International organizations occupy an important role in the development of education around the world, often collaborating with local schools, universities, and regional offices to increase educational opportunities for children and deliver professional development opportunities for teachers. In the case of Jordan, English teachers' desire strategies to motivate learners (Al-efeshat & Baniabdelrahman, 2020), develop students' critical reading skills (Bataineh et al., 2019), foster metacognitive reading strategies (Alsarayreh, 2020), and other communicative-based strategies that prioritize student interactions.

The planning and organization of an English language conference in Jordan in 2024 and 2025 involved the coordination of two American universities and two Jordanian universities with a Jordanian NGO to address a paucity of professional development opportunities for English teachers. In both years, the conference was delivered in the north (Amman) and a city in the south (Aqaba, Karak) for educators to receive a PD opportunity that is often afforded those in Amman. The 2024 and 2025 conferences were designed not only to enhance professional learning and classroom practice but to connect teachers with each other and equip them with innovative tools and creative approaches. Each year the conference began with a keynote speaker and panel presenters from American and Jordanian faculty before moving to concurrent sessions for Jordanian educators to share their instructional strategy or action research project. Using post-conference survey data and minutes collected from meetings over eight months with American and Jordanian faculty, three research questions guided this research.

1. To what extent did the English language conference align with the instructional priorities and classroom realities of Jordanian teachers?
2. How did participation in the English language conference influence Jordanian teachers’ pedagogical beliefs, classroom practices, and understanding of educational challenges?
3. What specific instructional strategies or pedagogical approaches did Jordanian teachers’ priorities for future professional development?

We adopted the Communities of Practice framework to analyze educators’ reflection of the conference for it encourages educators to reflect on their own cultural assumptions and biases, and to critically examine how their teaching methods and approaches may need to be adapted to meet the needs of diverse learners (Farnsworth, Kleanthous, & Wenger-Trayner, 2016; Hyder, Adcock, & Brown, 2020). The CoP framework suggests that learning is a social process that occurs within a community of individuals who share a common, professional interest. It is a framework to examine teachers’ learning environment, teaching methods, resources and practices that lead to professional growth and enhanced classroom outcomes and has been reported to be effective for the improvement of schools’ performance and students’ learning outcomes in all curriculum subjects (Kafyulilo, 2014; Schon, 1983). It focuses on developing teachers' pedagogical knowledge and skills as well as their awareness and appreciation of cultural differences (Leung, Ang, and Tan, 2014).

Two-weeks after the 2024 and 2025 English language conference, we distributed a survey to conference attendees and presenters to solicit their perceptions of the conference and what they learned. Of the 20 questions in the survey, four were open-ended: Why did you attend the conference? What one idea will you apply in your classroom? What topics would you like to see included in future conferences? Do you have any additional comments that would help improve future conferences? The closed questions prompted respondents to share where they were employed (public school, private school, university, other), employment location (north, central, south), whether they delivered a presentation, how they heard about the conference (conference website, Facebook, email from Jordanian NGO, other), years employed as an educator, and level of instruction (elementary, high school, university, other).

We analyzed the survey data inductively, reviewing open ended responses and meeting minutes triangulated for analysis (Creswell & Creswell, 2022; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016; Saldana, 2009). After coding data independently, we then sorted codes into potential themes. A consistent theme among surveyed educators was to view the conference as a professional development opportunity to learn innovative strategies to later integrate into their instruction. The motivations for educators attending the conference were strikingly consistent in both years. The vast majority sought to gain innovative ideas and creative practices (94% in both years) and stay current with new methods.

Surveyed teachers claimed some conference sessions introduced the valuing of incorporating social-emotional learning into the classroom together with movement and humor to support students’ mental health and motivation, respectively. A common theme among surveyed participants was a desire to stay updated with contemporary issues, particularly AI and digital tools integration, that highlighted their future-oriented mindset. They claimed presentations introduced approaches to motivate students’ learning through interactive lessons that would foster students’ language learning and development.
In answer to the first research question, surveyed teachers claimed the conference aligned with their instructional realities and some of the challenges they faced in the classroom. The second research question was answered for Jordanian English language teachers through the guest speaker, panelists, and concurrent sessions who provided innovative and practical strategies to positively impact students’ motivation and develop their communication skills. Jordanian teachers identified specific instructional strategies that lingered after the conferences for future professional development. This included additional guidance on AI and technology integration, more communication strategies for students to develop their spoken English, better approaches to assess students’ progress and manage their behavior, and informed strategies to teach large class sizes in a public school lacking adequate resources and infrastructure.

From survey data collected over two years, conference attendees claimed the concurrent sessions, speakers, and panel presentation contributed to their evolving vision and pedagogical practice of English language teaching. Findings from this research connect to the CIES 2026 conference theme, Re-examining Education and Peace in a Divided World, by allowing Jordanian teachers to re-examine their pedagogical practices through dialogue with fellow educators and researchers during the conference. Moreover, for Jordanian educators surrounded by countries in conflict and strife and teaching Syrian refugees and immigrants from other nations, conference presenters advanced instructional strategies for classroom teachers to foster an inclusive and equitable quality education (SDG#4) and advance a peaceful and just classroom that extends to their school community (SDG#16, CIES conference theme).

Author

• James Badger, University of North Georgia