Dear Members of the Korea Association of Teachers of English (KATE)
As the President of the Korea Association of Teachers of English (KATE), I am honored to take on this role and feel a deep sense of duty and responsibility. COVID-19 has brought about tremendous changes not only in the way we live, but also in the way we teach and learn, and I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all KATE members for their unwavering dedication to the advancement of English language education under these unprecedented circumstances.
Our organization has been around for more than half a century and will celebrate its 60th anniversary next year, and KATE has been at the forefront of English language education in Korea, standing taller and stronger in challenging times. As the 31st president of KATE, I am deeply grateful for the tireless efforts of my predecessors and senior members who have made KATE a leader in English education in Korea, and I will make every effort with passion and sincerity to ensure the continued and dynamic development of the organization.
Currently, English education is facing a critical moment. With the shift to criterion-referenced assessment in the college entrance examination, the number of hours of English classes in middle and high schools has decreased, and the development of AI in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is amplifying societal questions about the necessity of efforts to improve English proficiency. Now more than ever, KATE must take the lead in redefining the role of English education in the new era.
We must embrace innovation and adapt to the changing needs of school sites and society. KATE will continue to serve as a hub for scholarly exchange, providing a platform for the dissemination of innovative and interdisciplinary research and promoting scholarly discourse among its members. In particular, through the revitalization of our conferences and journals, we will continue to lead the way in integrating technology and approaches to English language teaching to meet the current and future needs of English language education.
To this end, our conferences will continue to evolve a hybrid model that blends online and offline formats to further build on the accessibility and inclusivity that we have established. We will strive to develop our conference formats and content to encourage and support the continued research of the next generation of scholars, and to support closer links between universities and K-12 learning sites to bridge the gap between theory and practice.
Our journal, English Teaching, is currently listed in SCOPUS, and we will consider ways to attract more high-quality articles to develop it into a globally recognized journal, and work closely with English language teaching professionals to improve the professionalism and accessibility of our journal.
To achieve sustainable growth and development of KATE in the future, the active participation and cooperation of our members is absolutely essential. I am confident that by working together, we can take KATE to new heights and consolidate its position as the standard for English language education in Korea.
I wish you academic success and good health.
Jeong-Won Lee
President of the KATE
개인정보처리방침