In today’s world, where every second counts, and the technology superhighway is attracting everyone to its ever-expanding lanes, the study of humanities seems to have been relegated to the backbenches. The question that bedevils many is: is the study of the humanities – and English as a discipline – obsolete? Do we need to justify the study and practice of literature, languages, and translation, as teachers and for the students? The answer to this question entails a re-exploration of how humanities can be given a new lease of life to go on impacting our lives the way technology and other non-humanities disciplines do.

With their two traditionally entrenched specialties of translation and teaching, Departments of English, are, as a substantial representative of the core of humanities, likewise in much need of being reinvigorated and to come once more to the fore as “real” and “academic”. They need at the same time to occupy their well-deserved niche among the disciplines that empower our graduates when they enter the fierce competition of landing the best work opportunities in the job market.

The purpose of this conference is therefore to re-examine the validity of humanities in general and Departments of English in particular, as the avenues that can put the human aspect of our lives again into perspective. The conference will look at ways in which how training students at Departments of English can empower them, as Gen 3 or even 4, to compete successfully in diverse areas and achieve excellence as well.

We welcome proposals for academic papers, presentations and workshops submitted as an abstract (350 words) with a short bio. The proposals should be related, but not limited, to the following topics:

Literature

1. . Literature and the digital divide/ or social media.
2. Pandemic and electronic literature.
3. Literature and ecology.
4. Literature and politics.
5. Technology, literature and culture.
6. Globalization and literature.
7. Literary forms of media: photography, film, video, internet.
8. Diasporic literature.
9. Modalities.

Translation

1. AVT (localization, dubbing, subtitling).
2. Conference interpreting (simultaneous, consecutive).
3. Machine translation.
4. CAT and CAI tools.
5. Translation pedagogics.
6. Specialized translation (legal, business, literary, political, etc.).
7. AI and translation studies.
8. Theories of translation.
9. Translation market.
10. Translation quality assessment and evaluation.
11. Sociological approaches to translation.
12. Cognitive and psycholinguistic approaches to translation.
13. Translation and culture.
14. Translators at the workplace.

Teaching

1. Assistive technologies, accessible resources, and diverse instructional materials.
2. Virtual and augmented reality in EFL.
3. Task-based learning.
4. Trans-languaging.
5. TPRs (Teaching Proficiency Through Reading and Storytelling).
6. Culture of thinking in EFL classes.
7. Inspiring innovation, empowering ELT professionals.
8. Teaching students with special educational needs.
9. Creating a playful space for language learning and gender identity construction.
10. Curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment.
11. Parental/family engagement with schools.
12. Teacher education and continuing professional development.
13. Alternative approaches to assessment in learning systems.
14. Connecting assessment and real-life language use.