Foreign Language Teaching Centre
University of Silesia in Katowice
invites you to participate
in the scientific and didactic conference
The Language Teacher Facing Contemporary Challenges: New Roles, Competences and Perspectives
Katowice, 6 March 2026
We warmly invite you to participate in the national scientific and didactic conference devoted to the foreign language teacher – their place, role, and condition in the changing educational reality. It is the language teacher who today stands at the centre of dynamic transformations, performing increasingly complex and multidimensional functions within the educational process.
The conference will provide a space for reflection on who the contemporary language teacher is, what competences are expected of them today, and what kind of support they need to act effectively, consciously, and with a sense of purpose.
The event will take place on 6 March 2026 at the Scientific Information Centre and Academic Library (CINiBA) in Katowice. This is the eleventh edition of a conference series dedicated to current issues in glottodidactics, organised annually in spring by the Foreign Language Teaching Centre (SPNJO) of the University of Silesia in Katowice, under the scientific direction of Professor Danuta Gabryś-Barker.
The aim of the conference is to integrate the academic community and language teaching practitioners and to jointly seek answers to the question of how to prepare and support foreign language teachers for the challenges of teaching in the 21st century. We encourage all those interested in reflecting on the profession of the language teacher to take an active part – including foreign language teachers, lecturers, specialists, researchers, and students.
The programme will include plenary lectures by experts in the field of language teaching methodology, individual presentations within thematic sessions, and practical workshops. We invite proposals for presentations that showcase not only research results, conclusions, and reflections but also proven didactic solutions.
The languages of the conference will be Polish, English and other languages. After the closing of the academic part, an artistic part is planned with the continuation of discussions in an informal atmosphere. Following our tradition, a post-conference publication is planned (Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego).
The conference is held under the patronage of the Polish Rectors Foundation, the Association of Academic Language Centers SERMO, the journal Języki Obce w Szkole and Klett, MMPublications, Pearson, NGLearning and OUP publishing houses.
The plenary lectures will be delivered by:
dr hab. Dorota Werbińska, prof. UP (Uniwersytet Pomorski, Słupsk)
„Tożsamość glottodydaktyka na przestrzeni kariery zawodowej: wyzwania, możliwości, kierunki rozwoju”
dr Marek Derenowski, prof. ANS (Akademia Nauk Stosowanych, Konin, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza, Konin)
„W poszukiwaniu równowagi. Dobrostan nauczyciela: o wyzwaniach, potrzebach i dbaniu o siebie”
Please submit your abstracts of proposed individual presentations or workshops by
15 January 2026 using the electronic form available on the UŚ website:
https://formularze.us.edu.pl/site/index/1061 (also available on the conference website:
www.konferencjaspnjo.us.edu.pl).
I M P O R T A N T D A T E S A N D I N F O R M A T I O N :
15 January 2026 Submission of proposals for individual presentations or workshops.
18 January 2026 Confirmation of acceptance of individual presentations or workshops.
15 February 2026 Conference registration for speakers and non-speaker participants
and payment of the fee to the account provided.
The cost of full participation in the conference (including presentation and possibility
of publishing an article in the planned monograph published by University of Silesia
Publishing House) is 450 PLN, the cost of participation without
presentation and publication is 320 PLN.
Payments should be sent to the account 74 1050 1214 1000 0007 0000 7909 adding in the
description of the payment SPNJO2026 conference number and name of the participant.
The deadline for payment is 15 February 2026
For all information about the conference see www.konferencjaspnjo.us.edu.pl
S C I E N T I F I C C O M M I T T E E :
dr Katarzyna Trynda, prof. UŚ
Vice Rector for Education and Students, University of Silesia in Katowice
prof. dr hab. Danuta Gabryś-Barker, Profesor Emeritus
University of Silesia in Katowice, Chairperson of the Scientific Committee
prof. dr hab. Halina Widła, Profesor Emeritus
University of Silesia in Katowice
dr hab. Iwona Dronia, prof. UŚ
University of Silesia in Katowice
dr Maria Stec, prof. UŚ
Foreign Language Teaching Centre, University of Silesia in Katowice
dr Agnieszka Gadomska
Department of English Studies, SWPS University, Warsaw
ORGANISING COMMITTEE :
dr Ryszard Kalamarz, chair
tel.: 602 245 982
e-mail: konferencjaspnjo@us.edu.pl
mgr Zdzisław Ciuk, coordinator
tel.: 692 838 377
e-mail: konferencjaspnjo@us.edu.pl
mgr Edyta Połeć, accounts
tel.: 32 359 18 17
e-mail: edyta.polec@us.edu.pl
Agata Śliż, registration
tel. 32 359 20 58
e-mail: spnjo@us.edu.pl
