Korea TESOL

Korea TESOL (KOTESOL, 대한영어교육학회) is the largest multicultural English teachers association in the Republic of Korea (South Korea), organized as a nonprofit scholarly/professional society under the National Research Foundation of Korea and local tax laws since 1993 (initially formed in 1992).
Overview.
Korea TESOL is a South Korea based multi-tiered membership organization with regional chapters and nationwide operations such as conferences, publications and Special Interest Groups (SIGs). All memberships are "national" in scope: members can participate in any local or national event with the same membership benefits (discounts), although 50% of their dues are targeted to a member-selected regional chapter. KOTESOL's slogan "Teachers Helping Teaching" is based on an orientation to collegial teacher professional development, including novice teachers new to Korea (and perhaps without an aim for a career in teaching?) under the mission statement "to promote scholarship, disseminate information, and facilitate cross-cultural understanding among persons concerned with teaching and learning of English in Korea."
Korea TESOL's membership includes teachers in private and public schools at all levels (K-12, college/university faculty, and "hagwon" [private language institute] instructors) as well as teachers-in-training, administrators, researchers, materials developers, publishers, and students. KOTESOL has approximately 650 members: roughly 25% of members are Korean nationals, the remainder expatriates; nearly 20% of members reside outside of Korea. KOTESOL is known for its conferences (since 1993), print and online publications, and active chapter meetings. An increasing number of members hold higher degrees in language teaching and related fields.
History.
KOTESOL was formed through an amalgamation of memberships from two predecessor organizations, the Association of English Teachers in Korea (AETK) and the Korea Association of Teachers of English (KATE - not the same organization as the society now known as KATE, 한국영어교육학회). These two predecessor organizations gradually wound down from a joint conference (October 24–25, 1992) into a new organization. The first KOTESOL conference was held October 16–17, 1993. KOTESOL inherited TESOL International affiliation from AETK and became an IATEFL associate in 1996. Membership and activity in the organization climbed at a time when larger numbers of foreign teachers were invited to work in Korea, with membership climbing to over 900 in 2013 and conference participation over 1500 around the same time.
Chapters.
There are currently (Dec 2018) nine regional chapters in KOTESOL
There have been chapters in Jeju and Kyongju which folded due to lack of members, and the Dajeon-Chungcheong chapter was divided for a short time into Daejeon-Chungnam and Cheongju chapters. International members of KOTESOL are managed separately from the regional chapters.
Most chapters hold regular (monthly) meetings 8 or more times per year, which typically include both academic (training) and social activities.
Special Interest Groups (SIGs).
SIGs are ever-evolving in KOTESOL, reflecting the current focus of teachers. SIGs have included
Conferences.
KOTESOL's annual International Conferences are the largest language teaching conferences in Korea with more than 200 presentations across two days. Since the first "Joint Conference" in 1992 that led to the founding of KOTESOL, there had been annual conferences each autumn and numerous additional conferences at other times of the year. From 1993 to 2000, these autumn annual conferences were known as "National conferences," since then known as "International Conferences." Since 2006 spring "National Conferences" have been held many years, with 2-4 regional conferences hosted by various chapters most years earlier in the spring. There have also been some smaller symposiums and conferences late in the autumn (Nov. or Dec.), particularly the Daejeon Chapter Thanksgiving Symposiums. The 2020 International Conference was rescheduled to 2021 due to the coronavirus; however KOTESOL became a sponsor of the AsiaTEFL2020 conference that was hosted in Korea that same year, offering a "members' discount" for conference registration commensurate with the discount AsiaTEFL members received.
Publications & Media.
The quarterly news-magazine "The English Connection" is the best-known publication, along with the annual "KOTESOL Proceedings" (select articles from the annual international conference, published roughly 9 months after the conference) and the semiannual "Korea TESOL Journal". These are all available online in a moving wall system (access limited to members for a defined period, then open-access) and are complemented by the monthly online/email "KOTESOL News" and each chapter's own occasional newsletters, plus the news as presented solely on the association's official website and through the Facebook group and Facebook page.
A Youtube Channel offers a variety of shorter and longer presentations and publicity-related clips, such as pre-conference promotional talks by invited speakers, videos of activities within the organization, interviews, and full-length conference or chapter presentations. More than 900 subscribers have accessed nearly 120 video clips (as of Oct 30, 2020).
Partner organizations.
KOTESOL is an affiliate of TESOL International Association and an associate of IATEFL, as well as a founding partner of the Pan-Asian Consortium of Language Teaching Societies (PAC). KOTESOL's partner associations include:
International Partnerships
Domestic (Korea) Partnerships