KARACHI: The two-day Society of Pakistan English Language Teachers (SPELT) International Conference 2024, which also celebrated four decades of SPELT’s rich legacy and contributions to the English language teaching at national, regional and international levels, concluded on a happy and uplifting note amid songs sans music at Habib University here on Sunday.

A galaxy of SPELT members, from its founder Professor Zakia Sarwar to senior members including Khalida Saadat, Mohsin Tejani, Dr Fauzia Shamim, Dr Maliha Ahmed, Gul-e-Rana Jaffri, Abbas Husain and Bushra Ahmed Khurram and newer members, who in time are also expected to shine and match the brilliance of their seniors to carry forward SPELT’s mission, stood hand-in-hand, singing national songs and songs of friendship.

Led by Noel Nayyar of Happy Home School (HHS) System, they sang ‘Sohni Dharti’, ‘Jeevay Pakistan’, ‘Dosti Aisa Nata’ to finish with their own rendition of ‘Dil, Dil, Pakistan’ ... “SPELT, SPELT Pakistan”.

The concluding day was held solely at Habib University and included a variety of lectures, sessions, panel discussions, interactive talks and workshops held by local as well as visiting teachers’ trainers. One of these titled ‘Fostering Common Sense in ELT: A Way Forward’ by Dr Rob Waring of Notre Dame Seishin University, who has been involved in the development of extensive reading and vocabulary instruction within Japan and Asia for many years, was about his work in pushing for extensive reading.

Teachers’ trainers hold sessions, panel discussions, interactive talks on concluding day

Dr Rob said that reading more textbooks or course books did not come under ‘extensive reading’. Therefore, students must be allowed to choose their own books or with a friend. A book must also be read quickly and this will happen only if it is enjoyed. Then after finishing a book, students must be encouraged to discuss what they read with others. The practice goes a long way in developing fluency in English. It will also help individualised learning while providing exposure to the reader.

More benefits of reading extensively, but reading one’s choice of books, according to Dr Rob, include enhancing comprehension, diverse viewpoints, developing emotional maturity, focused learning and having meaningful interactions.

The concluding panel discussion brought the entire conference’s theme of ‘Transitions in ELT: Past, Present and Future’ to the stage where panellists HHS’s Deputy Executive Director Danish Faruqi; CEO, Durbeen, Salma Ahmed Alam; Director TransformELT, Alan S. Mackenzie; Dean of the Institute for Educational Development at Aga Khan University Dr Farid Panjwani and CEO, Paradise Group of Educational Institutions, Nasir R. Zaidi pondered over the topic ‘From Tradition to Transformation: Impact of AI on Education’.

“Artificial Intelligence is rapidly changing the learning space but we are also seeing exciting tools for teaching because of AI such as chat-bots,” said Salman Ahmed Alam. “ChatGPT has features, too, to converse with where it can correct your language,” she added.

She also said that AI is not going to be helpful to anyone unless you know how to make it work to your advantage. “Your ability to prompt it well matters. The more detail you provide it the more realistic it will be. Still, one must not lose sight of that human element that is needed in teaching,” she said.

Danish Faruqi said that teachers already worked with AI without realising it. “We have seen students using calculators before. Then came the computers. But the emotional connection with each of our students cannot be replaced with machines,” he said.

Dr Farid Panjwani said that when he thinks of AI, the image of fire comes to his mind. “Fire is a necessary element of life. But if not controlled or regulated it can also spread and burn,” he pointed out. “The potential is there in AI but then there is also the issue of haves and have-nots when new technology is introduced in the world,” he said.

Alan Mackenzie reminded that AI does nothing new while we do things that make us unique as humans. “AI also does not care, does not love or hate. Machines don’t have feelings even though they may be coming up with intelligent answers,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2024