TESOLacademic.org  

For 10 years from 2008 to 2018 Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Academic built up a collection of free at source academic research videos for applied linguistics students, teachers, teacher educators, decision-makers, supporting organisations and other researchers through our YouTube channel.    Many leading academics kindly supported our initiative and in total we host: 24 Keynote Talks (16 in 2008-13 and 8 in 2014-18);  46 Research Paper Talks from scholars who have published in highly regarded peer-reviewed Language Education journals; 8 Featured Publications with publisher sponsored talks from book authors. Our work has reached many thousands, it has been a fantastic journey and we thank everyone for their brilliant support.

Our talks, combined with our social media outlets, once put us at the forefront of our field for online continuing professional development (CPD) and today our resources are still regularly accessed and cited. We began our journey at a time when  scholarly video talks on the internet were few and far between and this was something which I, then as a full-time Senior Lecturer in TESOL at a British University, wanted to do something about. Much was achieved and we are proud of the role that we played in what was a newly emerging information age. Our journey during our first eight years is documented in Jarvis, H. (2017) ‘TESOLacademic.org - our ever changing story.’ ELT Research. Vol. 31. pp. 39-41. It is a massive understatement to say that a great deal has changed since 2008. Today there are a plethora of: free web sites; apps; YouTube talks; Webinars; Blogs; Facebook groups; Twitter and Instagram feeds, Podcasts etcetera. Virtually every institution, professional association, publisher or company together with thousands of individuals have an online TESOL presence in some way shape or form. Furthermore, whilst journal paywalls regrettably still exist there has been significant improvements and for those with the internet it is easier to access knowledge than it has ever been. In short, knowledge dissemination and discussion has come a long way since we launched, with CPD  in an online environment taking huge strides forward.   It is against this background, together with the more personal narrative below that in 2018 the last of our Keynotes and Research Paper talks were posted.  

In 2016 I made a positive choice to leave full-time employment at a UK-based higher education institution and to opt for semi-retirement which allows me to continue part-time work in language education, but on my own terms. It is gratifying to note that according to Google Scholar alerts and stats (CLICK here for December 2022 indicative data) my research continues to have an impact. Indeed, I would argue that many of the key themes and notions in my work are more relevant today than ever, including: digital-self in an L2; informal second language acquisition in a digital era; Mobile Assisted Language Use (MALU). I do not and never have considered  such concepts to be a "learning technology special interest" i.e. something of an add-on to mainstream theory and practice in TESOL.  The vast majority of English users today communicate with and through digital devices and teachers with access to digital technology are simply failing to adequately equip their learners if their classrooms do not reflect this. It is very encouraging  to see newly emerging scholars taking forward such work and I am always interested to connect with them and to read their published outcomes.  My research interests have not disappeared with semi-retirement and occasionally I am contacted by editors, colleagues, PhD students and others with requests on: peer-review;  formulation of research issues and questions; developing the MALU argument etcetera. Other activities in recent years include: MA external examining; guest lectures\workshops; invited conference talks and webinars; promotion of conferences or publications and university TESOL-based  recruitment.  Please contact me should you be interested in discussing possibilities. See Huw Jarvis, Founder & Editor for more about my work. 

It is hoped that you continue to find our You Tube talks useful and thanks again to one and all for your support.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Huw Jarvis, January 2023

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