It is my great honor to begin my term as president of the Korea Association of Teachers of English (KATE). As we are well aware, KATE has been leading the way in English language learning and teaching in Korea for half a century, and I look forward to this opportunity to build upon the long tradition of excellence and dedication established by my predecessors.

During my two-year tenure, I would like to give priority to further enhancing the international stature of KATE. Specifically, I will explore ways to solicit more active contribution to our prestigious journal, English Teaching, from prominent scholars from a wide range of countries.

I will also encourage more active participation in our annual international conferences from the community of English language professionals both at home and around the world. Towards this end, I will try to be sensitive to the current trends in our profession and look at the issues in English language education from an international perspective. In so doing, our conferences will be able to serve as a venue in which English language teaching professionals around the world discuss important issues in global contexts. The conferences will also be an occasion for celebrating the profession as well as enhancing intercultural understanding.

Efforts will also be made to facilitate exchanges with related organizations abroad. I will try to upgrade the level of cooperation with our partner organizations in different countries. I will also explore ways to establish cooperative ties with more academic organizations. To achieve this goal, I will seek ways to invite scholars from diverse organizations around the world so that we can gain insight from their experiences. I will also make efforts so that English education in Korea is better represented globally. Such efforts, combined with our discussions in our annual international conferences, will help bring about the localization of English language teaching in global contexts in countries all over the world.

Another initiative will be to provide a much greater degree of support for graduate students and junior scholars in English language teaching. It is of vital importance that we cultivate their potential as English language professionals as they will be responsible for the sustained development of English language education in Korea as well as KATE. We can best prepare them by continuing to meet their needs in constructive and innovative ways.

I am confident all these endeavors will bear fruitful results with your active participation.

                                                    Byung Kyoo Ahn

                                                               President

                                                               The Korea Association of Teachers of English