Check out some of the presentations from the 2023 conference! https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4YD440XiwEsu7l7KxH2-L5ZcG1QVxkuL

Theme: Assessment and Feedback

University of Wisconsin-Madison, June 23-24, 2023

Call for Proposals

The South Asian Language Teachers Association (SALTA) is pleased to announce an extension to the proposal deadline for its  two-day international conference, online and in person on the campus of the University of Wisconsin at Madison on June 23-24, Friday-Saturday, 2023 (limited online facility for international participants). 

The theme of this year’s conference is “Assessment and Feedback.” How do we know when our students are successful? Which standards do we use and how do they align with our courses’ curricula? How do we provide effective feedback? How do we assess ourselves, our programs, our innovations, and our goals? This conference aims to bring together teachers of South Asian languages of all experience levels and all backgrounds to share and discuss these and similar questions to expand the horizon of South Asian language teaching.

SALTA solicits proposals for panels, individual presentations, and workshops on relevant topics related to the above theme. Each session will be 90 minutes long with 3 panelists/presenters; individual presentations will be 20 minutes long. A proposal should include the name(s) of presenters/panelists and a short description (200-300 words) of your proposed panel/presentation. Proposals and presentations for the main sessions should be in English; additional panels and workshops in other languages may be arranged. If proposing a panel, please include a brief abstract of the panel (approximately 100 words) in addition to the individual paper abstracts. Please send your proposals to conference@mysalta.org by Monday, June 5, 2023. Selected panels and presentations will be announced by June 9.

Conference registration is free for SALTA members, $35 for professionals, and $25 for students (payment of conference fee will confer membership for the remainder of 2023). Teachers of less-commonly taught South Asian languages are especially encouraged to apply. To register, please click the following link: https://forms.gle/v6ZetW4vherfexV96.

For questions, please email conference@mysalta.org.

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Conference Schedule

Location: The University of Wisconsin, Madison, Ingraham 206

Friday, June 23 (All Times UTC -5)

8:00am – 8:15am       Opening Remarks

Kusum Knapczyk (SALTA Vice-President, Duke University)

8:15am – 9:45am       Panel 1: Assessment for Engagement and Encouragement

Assessment to Encourage Learning

Mansi Bajaj (Yale University)          

Low Stake Quizzes and Dictations: The Possibility of a Second Chance

Sunil Bhatt (The University of British Columbia)

Exploring New Models of Assessment and Feedback in the Sanskrit-Language Classroom

Janet Um (The University of British Columbia)

9:45am – 10:00am     Break

10:00am – 11:30am   Panel 2: Non-Traditional Assessments for Non-Traditional South Asian Language Courses

Sai Bhatawadekar (The University of Hawai’i at Manoa)

Sarfaraz Farooque (The University of California, Los Angeles)

Gyanam Mahajan (The University of California, Los Angeles)

11:30am – 1:00pm     Lunch

1:00pm – 2:30pm      Panel 3: An Effective Pedagogy and Assessment for the Heritage Language Learners of Hindi-Urdu        

Rajiv Ranjan (Michigan State University)

Brajesh Samarth (Emory University)

Kashika Singh (Indiana University, Bloomington)

2:30pm – 2:45pm      Break

2:45pm – 4:15pm      Panel 4: Errors, Environments, and Socio-Pragmatics

Socio-Pragmatic Aspects of Urdu: Use of Honorifics                                  

Iftikhar Haider (Oakton College)

Assessing Learning in an Online Environment: Grading, Evaluation, and Feedback

Shobna Nijhawan (York University) 

The Importance of Error Analysis for The Teaching of Hindi as a Foreign Language

Shiv Kumar Singh (Universidade de Lisboa)

The Śabdabrahman Interactive Exercise System

Peter M. Scharf (President, The Sanskrit Library; International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad)

4:15 – 4:30                 Break

4:30 – 5:00                 Keynote Address

                                    Afsar Mohammad (The University of Pennsylvania)

5:00 – 5:15                 Closing Remarks

                                    Elliott McCarter (SALTA President, Vanderbilt University)

Please join us for dinner and community in downtown Madison following the Keynote Address!

Saturday, June 24

8:00 – 10:00               Tour of Madison Farmer’s Market

10:00 – 12:00             Business Meeting and Annual Report

(All Conference Participants and SALTA members are Welcome)