Aligarh: Cross-cultural communication specialists, ELT experts, linguists, and faculty members explored the areas of study in interdisciplinary contexts such as English language teaching methodologies, constructive approaches to teaching, inclusivity, cross-cultural communication, AI-generated teachings and methods, pedagogies-related to methodologies, cultures, regions, and needs, knowledge systems, appropriate pedagogy and assessment, and addressing learning crisis, during the three-day international conference, organized by the Department of English at Aligarh Muslim University.

The conference entitled “appropriate teaching methodologies in an interdisciplinary context: mapping the sociolinguistics diversity”, was sponsored by ICSSR of New Delhi.

During the valedictory session, Prof Imtiaz Hasnain, Chair-Professor, MANUU of Hyderabad, talked about “linguistic entrepreneurship, ethno-linguistics identity, and neo-liberal imagination.” Prof Hasnain also focused on how the English language has been developed as a language of bread and butter, and hence there is more demand for English language teaching programs. The session was chaired by Prof Mohammad Asim Siddiqui, Department of English at AMU.

A round table discussion on the topic “methodological diversity in the classroom: contexts and perspectives”, by Prof AR Kidwai, Director of KA Nizami Centre for Quranic Studies at AMU, along with Prof Imtiaz Hasnain, Prof ME Veda Sharan, and Prof Shobha Satyanath brought to focus the methods, linguistic and cultural diversities, and the role of teachers in teaching in the multilingual discourse community.

The discussants spoke about the content subjects; how content has a kind of connectivity with methodology, scale of diversity at the level of teaching and teacher, language learning, and at the level of language culture.

Delivering a plenary lecture, on the topic “New World Englishes: what’s the fuss all about”, Prof Shobha Satyanath discussed the internal diversity of Englishes which is often overlooked by the dominant discourses.

Prof ME Veda Sharan spoke on the topic “The Bitzer in the Classroom: imaginative ways out of hard times”, where he constructed the comparison between literature and language.

Professor Chris Anson, Department of English, North California State University of USA, spoke on “Writing across the curriculum: strategies for language development and deep learning.”

In his Valedictory address, Prof Avinash Kumar Singh, Head, the Department of Educational Policy from NIEPA of New Delhi, said that such conferences act as a driving force in the realm of interdisciplinary studies.

While talking about the “Socio-linguistic polarity in the education of the disadvantaged: policy perspectives and practices”, he expressed the concern of learning disadvantages as in the case of remote tribal language areas, they cannot access the home language because it’s not the medium of instruction. In such cases, the dropout rate is very high, as suggested by the World Bank reports.

Discussing the idea of equity and justice, Prof Mirza Asmer Beg, Dean, the Faculty of Social Sciences, explained the relevance of the idea of multiculturalism.

The conference had 61 offline and 120 online paper reading sessions, and more than 130 research papers were presented at the Conference on topics ranging from multiculturalism, sociolinguistic diversity, AI and English Language Teaching, sociology, and second language acquisition, among others.

A research paper entitled “Impact of Digital Technology on Inclusiveness and Linguistic Diversity”, by Anupama T, earned the best paper award, given by the Springer Publication House.

The best paper awards in the teacher category were bagged by Syyada Faheem, Assistant Professor, University Polytechnic of AMU, and Dr Md Sajidul Islam, Associate Professor, Dept of English, AMU. The title of the paper was “English Language Teaching Methodologies for Engineering”.

Another award for the best paper in the Research Scholars’ category was bagged by Aleena Khan, Research Scholar, School of English Language Education, EFLU, Hyderabad, and Prof ME Veda Sharan. The best paper award in the PG students’ category was given to Inshirah Agwan.

The conference also had a cultural evening, which was coordinated by Prof Samina Khan and Prof Ayesha Munira, while a Heritage Walk was organised on the second day for the delegates.

Prof Raashid Nehal, Conference Convenor proposed a vote of thanks, while Dr Sajid ul Islam conducted the proceedings of the valedictory session.