ANNUAL REPORT MALAYSIAN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING ASSOCIATION Table of Content 03 Mission & Vision 25 MELTA Chapters 04 Message from The 35 28th International President Conference 07 National & 38 9th MELTA International International Research Conference Partnership 40 2019 Financial Report 10 Committee 12 Membership Record 13 Bureau 14 Journal 15 Research & Development 16 Training 17 Technologies 18 Publication 19 Chapters 21 Special Interest Group 22 Special Projects Vision To be a leader among English language education organisations, contributing to the quality of English language education and the high standard of English in Malaysia and internationally. Mission To be the centre for professional expertise and standards in English language education and research that provides advocacy, consultancy, advisory, quality assurance and professional development to advance the quality and impact of academic and professional programmes, teaching and learning material and practices, community outreach projects and national and international collaboration aimed at creating a powerful and positive education ecosystem. 3 MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT PROF DR GANAKUMARAN SUBRAMANIAM PRESIDENT, MELTA The Malaysian English Language Teaching Association has made great strides since its inception as the Selangor English Language Teaching Association in 1958 and later being renamed as the Malaysian English Language Teaching Association in 1982. Since 1982, three presidents have led the association, Dr. Basil Wijasuriya, Prof. Hyacinth Gaudart and Prof. Malachi Edwin Vethamani. In all the triumphs achieved by MELTA in 2019, we also experienced immense sadness on the demise of our first president, Dr. Basil Wijasuriya. Sustaining a not for profit professional organization run by volunteers for 61 years has not been easy any of the leaders and leadership teams that have served MELTA. Yet MELTA has epitomized how a voluntary organization should be managed so that it is able to bring big and wide-ranging impact to English language Education in Malaysia and regionally. As we take stock of the range of MELTA activities undertaken in 2019, it is hard to imagine these activities have been achieved by one voluntary professional organization. In 2019 the Malaysian English Language Teaching Association (MELTA) continued to undertake a wide range of activities supported by its vision and mission to be the leading Malaysian education professional organization. Based on a strategic plan to provide a comprehensive set of activities that benefit practicing teachers, academics, students, parents and corporate organizations, MELTA achievements in 2019 is yet again remarkable in many ways. 4 MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT Broadly, these activities are captured in the ecosystem represented above. These include: academic and professional development conferences; research and development conventions; academic Journals and publications; workshops and seminars for teachers; workshops and activities for students; corporate training programmes; social responsibility activities; recognition and commendation awards; teacher recognition awards; student focused events; MELTA Chapters and outreach activities; international and national partnerships; and collaborative events with partners. MELTA’s flagship event, the MELTA International conference held its 28th edition in Kuching, Sarawak and received strong support from the Sarawak state government and the Ministry of Education Malaysia. HRH Raja Nazathul Shima Al marhum Sultan Idris represented, her sister, HM, Raja Zarith Sofiah Al marhum Sultan Idris, the Royal Patron of MELTA, to grace the opening of the conference. The conference a resounding success receiving tremendous and attended by over 500 delegates from over 18 countries. The conference was a showcase MELTA’s unique formula of activities which included academic and research papers presentations, poster sessions, workshops, panels, forums, create teacher and student teacher showcases, competition for school children, exhibition, awards, cultural performances, and dinners. In November 2019, MELTA organized the 9th MELTA International Research Conference in English Language Education. MELTA, for the first time forged a collaboration with Taylor’s University Malaysia. 5 MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT Our links with Asia TEFL continue to be strong. MELTA continued a great tradition of holding senior positions in Asia TEFL with its current president being re-elected as one of the Vice Presidents. MELTA is particularly proud to be able to present a significant number of awards to English Language teachers in the country by way of the MELTA Hyacinth Gaudart Outstanding English Teacher Award, the MELTA Basil Wijasuriya Teacher presenter awards, the MELTA Malachi Edwin Creative Teacher Showcase awards, and the MELTA Creative Student Teacher Showcase awards, the Creative Higher Education Teaching Award and the MELTA President’s PBL Award. The 2019, MELTA Raja Zarith Sofiah Award for CSR in English language Education was awarded to the Wildlife Conservation Society, Malaysia. MELTA also presented the lifetime contribution award to Dato’ Sulaiman Bin Wak, the Deputy Director General of Education Malaysia. On the scholastic front, we continue to publish two journals and a few academic publications– The English Teacher and The Malaysian Journal of ELT Research, the MELTA ELT Series, the MELTA-USM ELT in Southeast Asia series and the MELTA Annual. MELTA’s growing influence and impact in Malaysia is seen through the extensive and wide-ranging activities undertaken by our Chapters across Malaysia. The above activities are examples of how MELTA continued to build on the strategies and plans enacted by the 2018-2020 MELTA committee. The report that follows this introduction will highlight the range of achievements made by the Association as a whole and in particularly, by the various Bureaus of the Association. 2020 promises to be another eventful year for MELTA, as the Bureaus have in the pipeline many activities and events. We are extremely excited about hosting the 29th MELTA International Conference in Penang from 3-5 June 2020. We invite you not only to keep connected to MELTA but also to come forward to initiate and support even more activities that are relevant for the ELE community. Finally, I would like to express my profound personal gratitude to the MELTA Committee members, Chapter Committees, Conference organizing committees, partners, sponsors, volunteers, families and friends for their unwavering support throughout my tenure as president of this organization. Nothing would have been possible without you. 6 INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS MOU PARTNERS MELTA currently has MOUs with 15 associate partners, made up of ELT organizations in several countries. They are as follows: Thai TESOL, Thailand BELTA, Brunei KOTESOL, Korea IFT, Sri Lanka KATE, Korea BELTA, Bangladesh JALT, Japan ELTAI, India JACET, Japan ELTAM, Mongolia TEFLIN, Indonesia PALT, Philippines HAAL, Hong Kong CamTESOL, Cambodia ETA, ROC, Taiwan Since January 2019, MELTA has begun the process of renewing the MOAs that has expired and signed a new MOA with the following ELT organizations: 1. PALT, Philippines Renewed 2. JACET, Japan Renewed 3. CamTESOL, Cambodia New partner As part of the MOUs, MELTA sends its members to conferences/seminars/workshops organized by the associate partners. To qualify for this grant, members can visit our website. Successful applicant will represent MELTA and will be provided with accommodation for the duration of the conference, a confirmed presentation slot as well as a fee waiver. In return, MELTA hosts representatives of these associate partners at MELTA’s annual conference. In 2019, MELTA was represented at associate partner conferences by the following members: CONFERENCE REPRESENTATIVE 1. Thai TESOL, Bangkok Ms. Edna Wellington 2. KOTESOL, Seoul Ms. Chandrakala Raman Ms. Yap Yoke Chin 3. KATE, Seoul Ms. Szarmilla Dewie Krishnan 4. JALT, Tokyo Dr. Zaira Abu Hassan Shaari 5. JACET, Nagoya Ms. Noor Azlinda Zainal Abidin 6. TEFLIN, Surabaya Aslam Khan Samahs Khan (Dr. Hc) 7. HAAL, Hong Kong No Conference 8. ETA, ROC, Taipei No Invite 9. BELTA, Bandar Seri Begawan No Conference 10. BELTA, Bangladesh No Conference 11. PALT, PHILIPPINES Mr. Harold Ong 12. ASIA TEFL * Assoc. Prof. Dr. Raja Nor Safinas Raja Harun 13. ELTAI, India Dr. Tarsame Singh Masa Singh 14. IFT, Sri lanka Datin Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cynthia Yolanda Doss 15. ELTAM, Mongolia Datin Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cynthia Yolanda Doss 7 INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS MELTA requires members who are interested to represent us at our associate partner conferences to submit an application form. Selection is based on the following criteria: 1. Possess an active 5-year MELTA membership, with priority given to life members. 2. Submit a full paper to the MELTA committee for review and with the aim of having the paper published in one of the two MELTA journals or the MELTA Annual. For 2019, the International Partnerships Bureau, managed to establish a cooperative relationship with CamTESOL hosted by IDP Education Cambodia. It is a body that runs conference for professionals in the field of English Language Teaching and aims to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and information on good practices within English Language Teaching. On the other hand, in terms of strong and sustainable partnership development, British Council/Hornby has invited MELTA and a few other associations around the South-East Asia region to produce a paper on how ELT associations