The paradigm shifts in language education, across multiple points in time, have been in alignment with various theoretical and philosophical schools of thought. Almost all these shifts have been gradual, evolving over a period of time, providing pedagogues and practitioners ample time to gauge, plan, and implement these changing pedagogies. However, the same can not be commented about the recent transition in education emerging from the context of the pandemic COVID-19. The rapid digitalization of education has been one of the most prominent reasons that has rendered the existing pedagogies inadequate. This has resulted in the pedagogues and practitioners experimenting and applying new modes and methods of language teaching. These teaching-learning practices have been a means to overcome the challenges posed by the ongoing pandemic, rather than an outcome of a consistently engaged pedagogical intervention.

The transition in language education, even though is attributed primarily to the rapid digitalisation, the pedagogic practices need to take into account the questions of marginalisation, digital divide, and inaccessibility that significantly shape educational contexts in various parts of the world. Any pedagogical practices then should also be informed by the cultural, economical, and identity discourses, necessitating engagements with policy decisions emerging from the differences in educational contexts of the Global South and North. Also important to note here is that the loss of reading habits and the changing nature of learners informed by digitality mandate an understanding of the learners’ perspectives in alignment with the evolving skill-requirements based on the needs of the era. Further, the shifts within and across the various modes of instruction/learning - offline, online, and hybrid - have complexified the lived experiences of teaching and learning in the present time.

It is at this conjecture that the conference Pandemic Pedagogies in Language Education is conceptualized as a space to bring together practitioners and pedagogues from across the world to share, critically engage, and discuss the nuances of the current transition in language education. This conference (online), organized by the Department of English and Culture Studies, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), BGR Campus, in collaboration with the Linguistic Empowerment Cell, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, and Dhofar University, Salalah, Oman, aims to enable discussions around pandemic pedagogies that would inform and shape the language education of the future.

Category 3

Workshop

Practitioners and researchers with substantial experience in the field of language education are encouraged to send in individual/collaborative proposals to conduct workshops for faculty and students in higher education at the international level. The proposed theme of the workshop should be related to the broader themes of PPLE 2021.

Time allocated: 45 + 15 (45 minutes for the workshop followed by 15 minutes of discussion)

Category 4

Panel Discussions

Practitioners and researchers with relevant experience in the field of language education are encouraged to send in collaborative proposals to conduct panel discussion sessions (3-4 members). The proposed theme of the panel discussion should be related to the broader themes of PPLE 2021.

Time allocated: 60 + 15 minutes (1 hour of the panel discussion followed by audience engagement of 15 minutes)