PRESENTATIONS

In May 2026, Adil Bentahar, associate professor in the ELI, presented at the 37th International Conference on Foreign/Second Language Acquisition, which was held in Szczyrk, Poland. His session, which was titled "Distracted Readers? Media Multitasking among Moroccan EFL Preservice Teachers,” addressed Moroccan EFL preservice teachers’ experiences with multitasking [TV and Internet] on their reading habits.

In May 2026, Robert Bushong, assistant director of the Intensive English Program and Evening Program in the ELI, presented "Evening Program: English proficiency as an economic driver" at the 4th Annual One Idea, One Slide Summit at the University of Delaware.

In April 2026, Nigel Caplan, professor and assistant director of teacher training programs in the ELI, gave a presentation at the 6th Annual Delaware Multilingual Learners Conference online, hosted by the Delaware Department of Education. The session on "Beyond Vocabulary: Teaching Academic Language to Multilingual Learners" was attended by over 140 local educators and featured Caplan's new open-access textbook, Talking about Language: The Functions and Features of English, which he developed with the support of two Open Educational Materials grants from the UD Libraries. A version of this presentation was delivered as a workshop at the Delaware Charter Schools Network conference on March 20 at Delaware State University, Dover.

In April 2026, Adil Bentahar, associate professor in the ELI, was among a panel of international teacher educators and researchers discussing teacher wellbeing and teacher victimization. His session was titled "Unpacking Teacher Victimization and Wellbeing in Morocco: A Qualitative Study," which was held in Los Angeles.

In April 2026, Cheryl Ernst, ELI director, and Elizabeth Gould, director of international short term programs at the University of Kansas, presented "Operations & Infrastructure for Short-Term Programs" as a part of the EnglishUSA Spring Webinar Series: Short Term Programs. This was the third in a series of presentations on planning short-term programs in English language programs, with a focus on budgeting and logistics.

In April 2026, the second cohort of participants in Project DELITE (Delaware English Learners' Impact on Teacher Education) presented their capstone projects at the 6th Annual Delaware Multilingual Learners Conference online, hosted by the Delaware Department of Education. Project DELITE is a National Professional Development grant from the US Department of Education, directed by ELI professor Nigel Caplan. In the session, teachers who had recently completed their certification as Teachers of English Learners through the grant shared projects developed in professional learning communities that promote high-quality instructional strategies for Delaware's growing multilingual learner population. 

In March, Cheryl Ernst, ELI director, presented "Beyond Grammar: English Language Programs Build Professional Skills that Facilitate Soft Diplomacy" at ACCET: Accrediting Council for Continuing Education & Training Professional Development Day.

In March 2026, Monica Farling, Academic Development Specialist in the ELI, Amanda Brunson, Academic Success Coach in the Center for Academic Success, and Jacqueline Whitney, ELA/Special Education Teacher in the Colonial School District, co-presented at the TESOL International Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, on "Planning Lessons to Support ESL Students with Disabilities."  They shared insights on how applying the principles of Universal Design for Learning can make instruction more inclusive for all learners and facilitated a workshop in which faculty from a range of disciplines and educational backgrounds redesigned language and content lessons using the UDL framework to remove barriers to participation.

In February 2026, Adil Bentahar, associate professor in the ELI, delivered a presentation during English-USA’s annual Professional Development Conference. His session was titled "Unlocking the Power of Integrative Extended Reading: From Misconceptions to Meaningful Practice.”

In February 2026, Robert Bushong, assistant director of the Intensive English Program and Evening Program in the ELI, presented "Adopting a third-party placement test" at the 18th Annual EnglishUSA Professional Development Conference.

In January 2026, Cheryl Ernst, ELI director, presented "State of English Language Programs for Courageous Leaders" at the UCIEP Directors Conference in Bandera, Texas. The presentation took a look at a data collection project that aims to situate ELPs in the current state of affairs.

In January 2026, Cheryl Ernst, ELI director, Stephanie Gallop, associate director of the Intensive English Program at Georgetown University, and Travis Harman, director of the English Language Center at Drexel University, presented "Difficult Choices during Difficult Times" at the UCIEP Directors Conference in Bandera, Texas. The presentation took a look at difficult conversations while leading an English language program. Topics such as maintaining accreditation, selecting and declining new projects, and budget cutting measures were shared.