Semarang │ May 7, 2017 Faculty of Foreign Lanaguage and Culture (FBBA), University of Muhammadiyah Semarang held the 1st English Language and Literature International Conference (ELLiC) entitled “Innovation, Trends, and Challenges in English Language Learning in the 21st Century”. Taking place in the NRC Building of Unimus from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., the opening ceremony of the international conference was attended by the Vice Rector I of Unimus (Dr. Sri Darmawati., M.Si.), the Executive Vice Chairman of ERICAN Education Malaysia, TEFLIN Coordinator for Central Java and the senior leaders and studetns of Unimus. Another attendants were the presenters and participants of the international conference. The Vice Rector expressed her expectation that all of the participants could take great advantage of and share information on English learning from the conference. “Though the event, educators will get enlightenment about educational process of English so that students will love and understand more about English and will be able to speak English well.” added she.
The participants of the conference came from Indonesia, Malaysia, United States and Frances (106 participants, consisting of 78 presenters and 28 partisipants.) The conference was divided into two major terms, i.e. Plenary and Parallel Sessions. In the plenary session, Fabio Coelho (Former RELO English Language Fellow from the USA), Dr. Issy Yuliasri, M.Pd. (TEFLIN Coordinator for Central Java) and Prof. Aslam Khan Bin Samahs Khan (Executice Vice Chairman of ERICAN Education Group Malaysia) presented materials before the audience dealing with their roles as the speakers in the event. Meanwhile, in the parallel session, which came after the plenary session, the presenters presented their materials or articles in several rooms, guided by moderators. In this session, several keynote speakers also gave their contributions by opening the parallel session with their presentations, such as Fazhuda Abd. Azis (Former Lecturer at the International Languages Teacher Training Institute (IPBA), Malaysia), Lawrence Yong Hon Chong (A Master trainer for English in the Ministry of Education, Malaysia), Ooi Chong Meng (Lecturer at the Institute of Teacher Education, International Language Campus Malaysia).
During the interview, the Vice Rector I stated that when students and alumni possessed English as an international language, the would be able to develop themselves and had good solutions in the workplace. Meanwhile, Dean of FBBA Unimus (Yesika Maya Ocktarani, M.Hum.) also expressed that the event was expected to stimulate English educators to be more confident and realize that they were agents of change who did not only share transfer knowledge but also can give motivations and inspirations to the students.
The international conference went well, without any disturbances. Following the conference is Semarang City Tour, offered to those overseas as well as from outside Semarang City, with an aim to promoting tourism and local culture of Semarang. It is expected that the international conference will become a reference for the academicians at Unimus to held similar events. Also it is hoped that students and lecturers will be motivated to be more active and creative. The international conference represents the internalization of Unimus, as an effort to make Unimus have excellent quality and become globally-recognized.
Reported by the Technical Unit of Public Relations and Protocol
