Language educators at all levels are invited to attend this year's 17th annual English as a Second Language Symposium, sponsored by the College of Education and Health Professions.

Returning to an in-person format, this year's symposium will take place from 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Feb. 22 in the Graduate Education Building. Admission is $35 for professionals and $20 for students, and those interested may register online.

The priority registration deadline is Feb. 14. Attendees will be eligible for six hours of professional development.

The ESL Symposium centers around a new topic in ESL education each year, and this year's theme is "Advocating for Multilingual Learners in Policy Practice."

Lisa M. Dorner will deliver the symposium's keynote address titled "The Dueling Discourses of Dal Language Bilingual Education (DLBE): How to Recognize and Revise Them to Build DLBE in Your Community."

Dorner is a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis and director of the Cambio Center at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Her research centers on bilingual education, educational policy enactment and immigrant childhoods, especially around family-school engagement and language brokering.

The day's final segment will feature a Community Resource Panel with Salvadoreños Unidos Para Arkansas founder and treasurer Paz Aguilar and Ozark Atolls executive director Albious Latior.

"It has been four years since legislation was passed allowing languages other than English for instruction in Arkansas public schools, yet to date, no one has taken advantage of this opportunity," said Janet Penner-Williams, an associate professor of TESOL in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. "We would like to explore the challenges and possible solutions to get a bilingual education program started."

Last year's symposium attendees shared their favorite elements from the day, including "hearing the keynote" and "the overwhelming amount of knowledge and information this symposium gave me."

Other features of the symposium include a graduate student poster session, roundtable conversations and more.

Those interested in the 17th annual ESL Symposium may contact Janet Penner-Williams at jpenner@uark.edu or Alissa Blair at ab139@uark.edu.