What does the future look like and how do English language and communication teachers prepare our learners in higher education for ​​this future?  Developments brought about by the global health crisis, technological advancements especially in the digital space, and heightened polarization triggered by socio-economic and political events have made it even more urgent for higher education institutions to better ​equip​ learners to competently adapt to a future that is expected to be almost always in flux and subject to unpredictable challenges.  How are we preparing our students for this kind of future?  In the context of English language and communication teaching, what are we doing and how are we dealing with new developments that are expected to shape the future of our learners? 

Future-readiness is a concept that has been expounded by thought leaders in the industry and the academe for a number of years now. The Institute for the Future (IFTF) proposes that there is compelling need for strategic foresight in order for individuals and organizations to better prepare for the unpredictability of the future.  Future-readiness, according to IFTF, requires active preparation to face systemic shocks as well as the development of resiliency to withstand them through the process of adaptation. It also requires systematically making sense of the changing landscape to pursue emerging and unexpected opportunities. Failure to do so would likely cost damage or result in unnecessary expense for people, communities, and organizations.   

At the National University of Singapore, the Centre for English Language Communication (CELC) finds itself in the forefront of preparing students to become able communicators of the future.  The able communicators of the future are adaptive to the changing times—adept in using technology in their writing and communication practices and agile in responding to the constraints posed by their various audiences and communication situations. At the same time, they are committed to sustaining effectiveness as well as ethical practice in writing and communication in various contexts—whether in academic or workplace settings.  In the evolving present, CELC has pursued initiatives and conversations on how to effectively integrate technology in teaching and learning, foster greater collaboration with its partners in the university and the industry, and define its role in harnessing and disseminating best practices in the teaching of English in higher education.  In realizing its mission to develop able communicators, CELC has aimed at crafting and offering courses and support services that not only prepare students to be language proficient, context-sensitive, critical and creative, but are also explicitly designed to meet the need for students to be digitally fluent, to be collaborative and engaged with the community, and to be disposed towards life-long and independent learning.  The Centre also actively collaborates with Faculties, Schools, Residential Colleges as well as units like the Centre for Future-ready Graduates (CFG) created to ensure that students are equipped with “critical life and employability skills, developing [them to become] highly employable graduates who are future-ready and resilient amidst an ever-changing world.”  

CELC’s commitment to developing able communicators of the future is a responsibility it shares with the rest of the English language and communication teaching community. English language and communication teachers and researchers are in a position to prepare students for this future.  As they engage in active collaboration with various stakeholders in both higher education and industry, EL and communication teachers and researchers inhabit a space where they can influence and shape learners to become the able communicators they are expected to be in the here and now as well as in the future.  Moreover, EL and communication teachers and researchers need to gear themselves ​​up to better serve and shape competent learners of the future. 

The conference invites papers that feature theorizations, conceptualizations and evidenced-based research from EL and communication teachers, practitioners and researchers specifically focusing on preparing learners to be future-ready. This conference provides a platform for EL and communication teachers and researchers to share and discuss ideas and practices relevant in gearing up future-ready learners.