PULLMAN, Wash.–Robert Kaplan, a specialist in differences in cross-cultural writing, will be the featured speaker at the day-long regional conference for the Washington Association for the Education of Speakers of Other Languages set for Saturday, Oct. 4, at Washington State University.
“Taking It to the Classroom” will include workshops on teaching study skills, as well as speaking and writing to English-as-a-Second-Language students. The conference is designed to specifically help WSU faculty and graduate students address the language problems of students who use English as their second language.
Kaplan is a former professor at the University of Southern California and is internationally known for his work in applied linguistics, said Diane Horton, one of the conference coordinators. He will lecture on language planning and policy-making.
“He’s internationally known as the founder in the study of contrastive rhetoric — how languages are organized across cultures,” Elizabeth Mejia, a conference coordinator said.
Representatives from nine ESL publishing companies also will be at the conference. Sessions will address understanding and the needs of non-native speakers of English, assigning and responding to writing done by international students and helping international students use resources and reference works in their writing.
All conference workshops will be held in Cleveland Hall. On-site registration is $35 and $15 for students. For more information contact Horton at 509/355-6663 or Mejia at 509/335-1331.
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