Dear ESPSIG members, friends and like-minded
It is our pleasure to introduce the ESPSIG scholarships winners for 2020 and 2021. Jemma Prior won our first Roving Reporter Scholarship and presented at the ESPSIG pre-conference event. Komila Tangirova, 2020 winner, and Khilola Maksudova, 2021 winner, won our scholarships for the main conference and gave presentations on our Showcase day.
We interviewed the winners to give them and the EFL and ESP audience the opportunity to share their emotions and impressions related to the participation in an IATEFL conference.
By featuring the ESPSIG scholarships winners we would also like to encourage you to apply for the 2022 scholarships. No matter how it will be held, the IATEFL conference remains and impressive event bringing together experts from all continents, strands and nationalities. For more details visit:
Jemma Prior
- What made you apply for the ESPSIG scholarship?
I was intrigued by the “Roving Reporter” angle as I felt it would allow me to engage more fully with a vast range of topics at the PCE and main Conference than I would have done had I just attended as a delegate. Moreover, since I am freelance, I don’t have an institution or company to help with CPD costs, so a scholarship is a way to enable me to participate in events.
2. Now that you have attended an IATEFL conference and have given a presentation, what do you think of this event?
To be honest, I only participated in the ESP Pre-conference event as the main conference took place in the middle of our university exam session so I was unable to attend much of the main conference.
3. What are your impressions of the ESPSIG Pre-Conference event and Showcase?
The ESP PCE was a very well organised, insightful and stimulating event that provided a range of presentations on a variety of topics, from skills development in ESP and EAP contexts to course design and research-based talks.
4. How will your participation in the 2021 IATEFL conference impact your professional development?
I find that the IATEFL conference is a fantastic event that each year provides ideas, input and opportunities for professional and personal reflection. This year, being online, there was less opportunity to network with friends and colleagues from elsewhere, but it still provided the professional input that helps me to stay up-to-date with methodologies, approaches and ideas.
5. Have you come up with any interesting and inspiring ideas owing to the fact that you were one of the first ESPSIG scholarship winners?
Thanks to being a scholarship winner, I was able to attend the ESP SIG PCE and I found the input on activities that can be used in online teaching interesting as I have – like many of us – been teaching my students through Teams and Zoom since March last year. Therefore some of the ideas presented were really inspiring and I will certainly incorporate some of them into my teaching, as I assume we’ll be online for some time to come.
Komila Tangirova
1. What made you apply for the ESPSIG scholarship?
I am the founder and chief coordinator of Uzbekistan Teachers of ESP Integrated Networking Group (UzTESPING). I was very interested in joining the international ESP teaching community and creating opportunities for my colleagues to learn from and about ESP specialists in different countries. With this in mind, I decided to join IATEFL and when I learnt about the ESPSIG scholarship, I was very excited to try my own luck. I was increadibly happy when I became the winner. As my recent professional activities and research interest focus on ESP too, I thought ESPSIG scholarship was the most appropriate for me to apply for.
2. Now that you have attended an IATEFL conference and have given a presentation, what do you think of this event?
This is my second IATEFL conference. In my first conference, I presented as part of a team. It was a completely different feeling to present myself. I gave a talk as a part of ESPSIG Showcase. It was incredibly enjoyable to give a talk on a topic that I was enthuastic about and to the audience that was interested in hearing about my project. So, it has been an unforgettible experience for me.
3. What are your impressions of the ESPSIG Pre-Conference event and S howcase?
Both Pre-Conference event and the Showcase were very interesting and insightful. I was impressed with the variety of focuses and topics within ESP. I could observe both similarities and differences of ESP contexts globally. After each presentation, I had a desire to contitnue talking with the presenter and asking more questions. I think it is a brilliant way of uniting people of the same interest and focus of research/practice.
4. How will your participation in the 2021 IATEFL conference impact your professional development?
I am fully convinced that the impact of participating in the conference on my professional development is immense as I get incredible motivation from colleagues worldwide. An important thing to mention is that listening to presenters’ talks I simultaneously generate ideas relevant to my own practices and research investigations, get some of my hypotheses confirmed. All in all, this conference is a fantastic driver for widening the mindset and enriching professional perspectives.
5. Have you come up with any interesting and inspiring ideas owing to the fact that you were one of the first ESPSIG scholarship winners?
Being one of the first ESP SIG scholars, the immediate idea that I got was to share my experience with colleagues in Uzbekistan ESP teacher community and run a workshop on IATEFL scholarship opportunities to inspire others to apply for the next year. To my great sorrow, I have discovered that not many teachers in Uzbekistan know about IATEFL and SIGs, so I consider this my duty to make them aware of not only the conference itself but the benefits they can gain by joining the ESPSIG itself. I am very motivated to be actively involved in ESP SIG activities and take part in the conference next year as well.
Khilola Maksudova
1. What made you apply for the ESPSIG scholarship?
I have been working as an ESP teacher since 2014 and participated in different projects concerning teaching ESP. One of the projects UzTESPING sessions I was introduced with IATEFL scholarships and how to apply for that. Sessions on applying for IATEFL scholarship were interesting and I wanted to be the part of this community.
2. Now that you have attended an IATEFL conference and have given a presentation, what do you think of this event?
It was great event that I have ever participated, I enjoyed, inspired, learnt much from sessions on teaching languages. I am sure a face-to-face conference would have been filled with huge emotions.
3. What are your impressions of the ESPSIG Pre-Conference event and Showcase?
It is interesting and new for me that we had opportunity to gather at SIG meetings, it was full of wonderful presentations followed by Q&A.
4. How will your participation in the 2021 IATEFL conference impact your professional development?
Being a part of IATEFL community and during 2021 conference, I learnt much how to organize ESP classes, what approaches used in ELT, how to design materials, using technology in language teaching so all issues were discussed. I really liked sessions experiences on ESP teaching in different countries.
5. Have you come up with any interesting and inspiring ideas owing to the fact that you were one of the first ESPSIG scholarship winners?
After being ESPSIG scholarship winner I think I will not miss future IATEFL conferences whether it will be online or face to face because I think it is big event that each ELT teacher should participate to improve her/his professional development.