Platformized Language Teaching Symposium Bridges Theory and Practice in Online Language Teaching
Events
Prof. Nate Ming Curran from ENGL organised a one-day international symposium titled Platformized Language Teaching After GenAI: Teachers in Focus on 24 April 2026. The hybrid symposium brought together academic researchers, industry experts, and online teachers for a full day of keynote addresses and in-depth conversations about the future of the for-profit online language teaching industry.
Building on Prof. Curran’s Early Career Scheme (ECS) and General Research Fund (GRF) projects on the topic, the first-of-its-kind event was oriented towards the pressing challenges facing online tutors. Over 280 people signed up for the event, and more than two-thirds were either online teachers or said that they were considering online teaching in the future.
The symposium also featured a documentary film screening about the online tutoring industry, followed by a Q&A session with the director, who flew in from Washington DC for the event. Additional highlights included an interactive presentation by Tim Gascoigne, a leading practitioner in the online language tutoring space. The symposium concluded with both online and in-person participants voicing their appreciation for the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the online language teaching industry.
