Professor Stephen Krashen, one of the world’s most influential figures in modern language learning, is scheduled to talk about the role of fiction in language learning on April 20 as part of a professional development event organized by Saudi TESOL. 

The event marks the debut of the organization’s new initiative, “Saudi TESOL Lecture Series: Talks by the World’s Most Prominent Scholars in Language Education.”  

Prof. Krashen, who received his PhD from UCLA in 1972, has published over 100 books and is well-known for his somewhat controversial theories on the differences between language learning and acquisition. His writings have been instrumental in transforming language teaching and research over the past five decades. 

His scheduled presentation, The Power of Self-Selected Fiction, will focus on his hypothesis that the path to high levels of competence in language is through self-selected pleasure reading, specifically fiction. This, he argues, is the path of pleasure, not the path of pain.  The research strongly suggests that those who read more fiction not only acquire more language skills (vocabulary, grammar, spelling, writing style), they also know more about history, literature, science, and even practical matters. Fiction readers also appear to develop a deeper understanding of their fellow human beings.

We invite all TESOL professionals and teachers to take advantage of this unique and important opportunity to learn from a linguistics legend how to transform their students into fiction readers and thus develop a greater understanding of others through the acquisition of new language skills. 

For registration, click here