JALTCALL 2026 – Kobe (Nishinomiya) "Prevail or Fail?"

In this keynote, Mehrasa reflects on her past work with immersive technologies in language education, examining not only what prevailed, but also what failed, and how she attempted to address these challenges. By critically engaging with initiatives that did not unfold as planned, she will highlight key pedagogical and practical lessons drawn from these experiences. She will also demonstrate how these insights have directly informed the design and direction of her current project, offering a reflective account of how learning from failure can ultimately help innovation prevail in technology-enhanced language learning.

Brent Warner is an award-winning professor at Irvine Valley College in southern California, where he focuses on integrating technology into the language learning process. He works with teachers and organizations across the globe to provide practical advice for helping English Language Learners take advantage of tech to help them communicate more clearly. For TESOL International, he blogs about technology integration in the ESOL classroom; he is also the co-host of The DIESOL Podcast, which addresses innovation in ESOL, as well as The HigherEdTech Podcast, covering tech for teachers in college and university settings.

Senior Lecturer

Thomas Legge is a tenured lecturer in the Faculty of Business Administration at Momoyama Gakuin University. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics and The Open University. He teaches courses in international business and study abroad preparation and leads a seminar entitled "Global Mobility", which focuses on overseas study, working holidays, and international career pathways. He is a strong advocate and facilitator of on-campus intercultural exchange between Japanese and international students. His research focuses on study abroad, working holiday programs, and IELTS. His recent work includes An Exploration of Japanese Working Holidays: Trends, Motivations, and Challenges, which examines participation patterns and the structural and employment-related challenges faced by Japanese working holiday participants. He is president of the JALT Study Abroad Special Interest Group.

Speaking on "Designing Intercultural Exchange through CALL: Lessons from an Online Study-Abroad-Inspired Program." For many students, technology is opening up learning experiences that would previously have required travel, resources, or opportunities that are no longer easily available. This presentation reflects on the design and implementation of an online study-abroad-inspired program that aimed to recreate some of the core experiences of study abroad (most notably interaction with people from different cultural backgrounds) through synchronous online classes.

The Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme is an initiative that aims to enrich Japan’s foreign language education and promote internationalization by inviting young adults from around the world to be employed by local governments and related organizations in Japan. The program was established in 1987, with 848 participants from four countries. Since then, the number of participants has increased significantly, with over 5,000 participants from 57 countries at present. The JET Programme is administered through the collaboration of Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology (MEXT), and the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR).