LERC2025
LANGUAGE EDUCATION & RESEARCH CONFERENCE
NOVEMBER 1st & 2nd | Birmingham, UK
Innovations in Language Education: Integrating Awareness, Pedagogy, and Technology
This year, we will welcome academicians, researchers, and PhD candidates from 14 countries:
the UK (4 HEIs), Armenia, Saudi Arabia (2 HEIs), Japan, Croatia, the USA (4 HEIs), Hungary, Pakistan, Canada (2 HEIs), Ireland (2 HEIs), Turkey, Germany (2 HEIs), Italy (2 HEIs), and Morocco.
LERC2025 programme
Finding Inspiration in Every Turn
Connecting Minds, Advancing Language Education
Welcome to LERC2025 – The 6th International Language Education and Research Conference, hosted in Birmingham, UK, on November 1–2, 2025. This year’s theme, “Innovations in Language Education: Integrating Awareness, Pedagogy, and Technology”, brings together educators, researchers, and practitioners from around the world to explore forward-thinking approaches to language teaching and learning. With insightful speeches, engaging workshops, and diverse paper presentations across four thematic tracks, LERC2025 is a hub for collaboration, inspiration, and professional development in the field of language education.
The conference opens with a warm welcome from Dr Paschalis Chliaras FHEA, followed by an inspiring keynote from Dr Gianfranco Polizzi (University of Birmingham, UK) on reimagining media and digital literacy in the UK, setting the tone for a programme rich in fresh ideas and scholarly insight.
Networking opportunities, coffee breaks, and a Routledge book giveaway ensure that attendees can connect, collaborate, and leave with both knowledge and resources to transform their own practice.
In short, LERC2025 offers an unmissable opportunity to engage with leading voices, discover practical solutions, and gain new perspectives on integrating awareness, pedagogy, and technology in language education.
DAY 1
Saturday 1 November 2025
Advances in Linguistic Awareness, Technology, and Educational Challenges
Day 1 takes attendees on an intellectual journey across continents, with presentations from Armenia, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Croatia, the USA, Hungary, Pakistan, and more. Topics range from AI in higher education, listening strategies, collocational competence, and definiteness in language, to fostering gender justice, intercultural awareness, and the integration of refugee learners. The day closes with a showcase of how the bilingual “Joy of Urdu” project blends pedagogy, technology, and cultural engagement.
Official supporter
9:00-9:40
Conference registration – Welcome Coffee
9.40-10.00
Welcome and Opening statements
Dr Paschalis Chliaras, FHEA – Chair, LERC2025
10.00-11.00
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Dr Gianfranco Polizzi, University of Birmingham. UK
Department of Linguistics and Communication
Assistant Professor in Digital Media and Communications
SUBJECT: Reimagining media and digital literacy provision in the UK: Challenges, opportunities and future directions
11.00-11.30
Dr Lilit Sargsyan, Yerevan University, Armenia
SUBJECT: Integrating Agentic AI in Higher Education: Balancing Opportunities, Challenges and Ethical Imperatives
11.30-12.00
Dr Essa Qurbi, Najran University, Saudi Arabia
SUBJECT: Prediction Strategy for Better L2 Listening Performance
12.00-12.30
Dr Yuji Shuhama, Teikyo University, Japan
SUBJECT: The Correlation between Collocational Competence and Speaking Performance: Insights from an Action-Based Research on EFL Learners
12.30-13.00
COFFEE BREAK
13.00-13.30
Dr Maja Pivčević, University of Zadar, Croatia
SUBJECT: Definiteness as a Universal Category: Cognitive-Contrastive Reflections and Pedagogical Implications
13.30-14.00
Pu Meng, PhD Candidate George Mason University, USA
SUBJECT: French article learning for adult second Language Acquisition: Diagnostics and Mnemonics
14.00-15.00
LUNCH BREAK
15.00-15.30
Dr Rita Szaszkó, Eszterházy Károly Catholic University, Hungary
SUBJECT: Fostering integrated English as a foreign language development and intercultural awareness through hybrid methodological approaches among student teachers
15.30-16.00
Candice Guerbeau , PhD Candidate Carnegie Mellon University, PA, USA
SUBJECT: "It’s not just about words”: Fostering Gender Justice with Critical Language Awareness in L2 French Learning
16.00-16.30
Dr Renáta Bernhardt, Eszterházy Károly Catholic University, Hungary
SUBJECT: Educational Challenges in the Integration of Ukrainian Children in Hungary: Pedagogical Perspectives of Preschool and Primary School Teachers
16.30-17.00
Prof Yasamiyan Alolaywi, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia SUBJECT: The Influence of Linguistic Agency on Communication Patterns: An Investigation into Language Choices and Power Dynamics
17:00-17:30
Zarminaei Ansari, Joy of Urdu, Pakistan
SUBJECT: The evolving landscape of language education: how international, bilingual organization, Joy of Urdu & its first bilingual publication succeeded in integrating language awareness, innovative pedagogy, and emerging technologies
DAY 2
Sunday 2 November 2025
Innovations in Inclusive and Digital Language Teaching
Day 2 continues the global dialogue, featuring researchers from Canada, the USA, Japan, Ireland, Turkey, Morocco, Germany, Myanmar, and beyond. Sessions cover corpus-based learning, inclusivity through the arts, translanguaging, learner motivation, willingness to communicate, and innovative uses of digital tools—from chatbots and game-based learning to Grammarly-assisted writing. Educators will explore the challenges of virtual classrooms, the role of pragmatics, career guidance in language learning, and interventions to boost fluency.
Official supporter
9:00-9:20
Conference registration – Welcome Coffee
9.20-9.30
Welcome and Opening statements
Dr Paschalis Chliaras, FHEA – Chair, LERC2025
9.30-10.00
Prof Randall Gess, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada SUBJECT: Exploiting spoken language corpora in a hybrid or online teaching format: Mirroring in the pursuit of advanced receptive and productive oral competence
10.00-10.30
Dr Mary Jo Lubrano, Yale University , USA
SUBJECT: A Qualitative Study Exploring Language Instructors’ Perceptions of 21st-Century College Learning
10.30-11.00
Miku Sugawara, MA in TESOL, University of Birmingham, UK SUBJECT: Japanese Primary School Teachers' Perceptions of the 2020 English Curriculum Reform: A Comparative Study of Rural and Urban Contexts
11.00-11.15
Eirini Polychronaki, PhD Candidate, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
SUBJECT: Fostering inclusivity in a diverse adult ESL classroom through the arts
11.15-11.30
Tuana Lopez Ibarra, PhD Candidate, Yeditepe University, Turkey
SUBJECT: Rethinking Teachers’ Practices Through Translanguaging: Toward Just and Inclusive Classrooms
11.30-12.00
Dr Monica Rocha Antonin, Bay Path University, Massachusetts, USA
SUBJECT: Giving Agency and Voice to Bilingual, Minority University Students: Success Stories from the Field
12.00-12.30
COFFEE BREAK
12.30-13.00
Artenisa Topouzi, PhD Candidate University of Limerick, Ireland
SUBJECT: To talk or not to talk? Willingness to Communicate in English as an L2: Investigating Greek and International Learners’ Perspectives and Teachers’ Perspectives and Strategies in Greece and Ireland
13.00-13.15
Dr Magda Tigchelaar & Marta Petrovic, University of Toronto, Canada
SUBJECT: Language Learner Motivation Beyond the Job Market: A L2 French Needs Analysis
13.15-13.30
Siyue Zhang (Amber), MA in TESOL, UCL IOE, UK
SUBJECT: “Playing Between Languages”: Translanguaging Practices in Game-Based Learning among Chinese Adult EFL Learners
13.30-14.30
LUNCH BREAK
14.30-15.00
Dr Claudia Duttlinger & Mourhaf Kazzaz, Research Associate and PhD Candidate, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany
SUBJECT: Empowering Language Educators in the Digital Classroom Era: A Teacher-Centered Approach
15.00-15.30
Simone Filippetti, PhD Candidate, University of Perugia, Italy SUBJECT: Chatbots and Made in Italy agri-food products: a language teaching activity focused on descriptive vocabulary.
15.30-16.00
Shune Shune Lae Ei, University of Portsmouth, UK
SUBJECT: Exploring Obstacles Encountered by EFL Instructors in Myanmar When Using Online Video Conferencing Platforms for the Facilitation of Speaking Activities in Virtual Classrooms and how they address them
16.00-16.15
Dr Maryem Larhmaid, Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco
SUBJECT: Digital Revision in EFL Writing: Analyzing the Effects of Grammarly on Moroccan University Students’ Essays
16.15-16.30
Dr Federica Del Bono, Independent Researcher, Italy
SUBJECT: Are students aware of pragmatics? A survey study on peer collaborative synchronous activities.
16.30-16.45
Dimitra Efstathiou, University of Westminster, UK
SUBJECT: Language Learning with Direction: Embedding Career Guidance Across Adolescent Development
16.45-17.00
Dr Valentina Concu, Leuphana University, Germany, and Regional Representative for South and Southeast Europe
SUBJECT: Measuring Fluency Gains: A Read-Aloud Intervention for L2 Italian Learners
17.00-17.30
Routledge Book Giveaway & Networking and
CLOSING REMARKS