NETRUZ First Teacher-Research Conference and First Publication

Namangan State University and NETRUZ (Network of English Teacher-Researchers in Uzbekistan) organised the first Conference of English teacher researchers in Uzbekistan, named "New Trends in English Language Teaching and Teacher Education". The conference was organised on May 27-28, 2022, at Namangan State University.

The conference aimed to bring together English language teachers, practitioners, teacher educators, teacher trainers, researchers, teacher-researchers, and mentors to discuss the current issues and trends in teacher education and ELT in Uzbekistan. Besides, this conference served as a platform for NETRUZ teacher-research mentors and action researchers to share their exploratory action research findings and experiences with practitioners.

At the conference, the NETRUZ mentors reflected on their mentoring experience on doing exploratory action research, while other teacher researchers shared their EAR findings and materials with teachers who face similar challenges. Several teacher educators also talked about the importance of teachers being reflective and having an inquiry mindset. The conference videos and materials (classroom materials, e-book) will be shared on the NETRUZ blog so that every teacher has access to them.

Conference participants also learned about the project and received a copy of the book: The teacher research journey: Voices from champion teacher-researchers of Uzbekistan, published by the NETRUZ (click on the book cover to download). The book was edited by E. Menglieva, M. Alimova, M. Mirvokhidova, E. Maksakova and N. Tillaeva. 

The book consists of two parts: 

• Part 1 tells the reflective stories of the mentors, 
• Part 2 contains the exploratory action research projects of the Uzbekistani teacher researchers. 

The reason the NETRUZ team decided to produce a book was to allow mentors to share their mentoring experience and their journey of being teacher-researchers and to provide recommendations to future mentors of teacher-research and teacher-research programmes. The book was also a great opportunity for teacher-researchers (including mentors) to share their exploratory action research projects with other teacher-researchers and particularly the authorities of their institutions (schools and universities). These institutions are now encouraging other teachers to be involved in classroom research projects and NETRUZ.

NETRUZ and NamSU Conference - Call for Articles

Namangan State University

Network of English Teacher Researchers in Uzbekistan (NETRUZ)

Call for Articles

Namangan State University and NETRUZ (Network of English Teacher-Researchers in Uzbekistan) are pleased to announce the call for papers for the International Conference on New Trends in English Language Teaching and Teacher Education. The conference will be organised on May 27-28, 2022 at Namangan State University.

The conference aims to bring together English language teachers, practitioners, teacher educators, teacher trainers, researchers, teacher-researchers, mentors to discuss the current issues and trends in teacher education and ELT in Uzbekistan. Besides, this will serve as a platform for NETRUZ teacher-research mentors and action researchers to share their exploratory action research findings and experiences with practitioners.

Papers could be on the themes mentioned below.
● Teacher research (action research, reflective research, exploratory action research, etc.)
● Teacher professional development
● Teacher Training Education
● Digital materials for online teaching
● Teachers’ voice in curricular and educational change
● ELT Methodology and Creative Teaching Methods
● Language Education Policy and Leadership
● Creativity, Critical Thinking & Problem Solving
● Language Assessment
● Teaching EAP and ESP
● Inclusive language education
● Language and Culture

Requirements for conference materials:

1. All full paper submissions (reviews, conceptual, and research papers) will be peer-reviewed and evaluated based on originality, accuracy, and relevance to the conference themes. Make sure that your papers are plagiarism-free and do not duplicate the works of others and yours.
2. Make sure that your submitted materials do not contain many grammatical and mechanical errors and follow clear organisation. Your materials should be written in ENGLISH.
3. The submitted materials submitted to the conference are expected to be in the 2,000 - 4,000 word range.
4. The text of the papers must be typed in A4 format, with Times New Roman, size 12pts., 1 line spacing, 2 cm margins on all sides, in docx. rtf. format, no paragraph spacing. Don’t number pages.
5. Follow the format: on the first line - Write THE TITLE OF THE TOPIC (in capital letters), the second line - last name, first name of the author, the third line - affiliation (workplace), position, the fourth line - a 100-word abstract in English and Uzbek. Use headings where needed.
6. In-text citations and references are required. The references and in-text citations should follow the APA (American Psychological Association) 7th Edition style. The list of references should be placed at the end of the text.
7. Papers that meet all the above-mentioned requirements will be included in the conference proceedings and recommended for the presentation at the conference.
8. If you want to present at the conference, please mention it in the conference participant’s form (see Appendix 1). NOTE: As we have a limited number of slots for presenters, we will select the presenters based on the originality and relevance to the conference's main themes. You can still attend the conference without article submission or presentation.
9. All articles must be submitted to the following email: netruz.conference1@gmail.com

Languages of the conference: English, Uzbek, Russian.
Submission deadline: April 20, 2022.
The article submission fee: 20 000 sums per page
Payment method: The conference contact person will inform the selected authors and the payment method will be communicated to the selected authors’ articles.

Conference venue: Namangan State University
Address: 161 Boburshokh Street, Namangan, Uzbekistan,
Index: 160107
Phone: +998913423913 (Telegram)
Email: netruzproject@gmail.com; netruz.conference1@gmail.com

Elyanora Menglieva, NETRUZ Lead, Received UK Ambassador's Choice Award 2022!

NETRUZ is pleased to share that Elyanora Menglieva who initiated this project received the UK Ambassador's Choice Award 2022. The UK Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Tim Thorlot, commented:


“The dynamism, determination and ambition that Eleanor has demonstrated means that her time in the UK has been truly transformational for her, not only personally, but also professionally. And I admire the fact that she uses her education not only to develop her own career, but also to benefit other people in the field of education, which is very important for the UK and Uzbekistan.”

You can watch the Award Ceremony on the YouTube.

NETRUZ is proud to contribute to the teacher community and is happy to launch more teacher development opportunities in the nearest future!!!

NETRUZ Champion Teacher-Researchers

The NETRUZ project organized its second training for English language teachers between October 2021 - January 2022. During this period, these teachers were trained by NETRUZ mentors in exploring classroom practices, identifying challenges and taking necessary actions to bring changes to their classrooms.

Meet the NETRUZ Champion Teacher-Researchers:

1) Nozima Mukhtarova - a Senior Instructor of Communicative English at the Branch of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after A.I. Herzen in Tashkent and an English teacher at Specialized School N-227

2) Khurshida Eshimova - an English language teacher at the specialized school No. 91 in Tashkent

3) Jamola Urunbaeva - an EFL teacher at Inter Nation English Language School 

4) Janar Abuova - a Senior Lecturer at Yeoju Technical Institute in Tashkent and one of the founders of the double degree program for Content and Language teachers in Uzbekistan

5) Dildora Ashurova - an English teacher at the Academic Lyceum of Bukhara Engineering Technological Institute

6) Dilshoda Mahkamova - an EFL teacher at Namangan State University

7) Mukaddam Ibrokhimova - an EFL teacher at Namangan State University

8) Lazokat Dadabayeva - an EFL teacher at Namangan State University

9) Gulbakhar Nurimbetova - Specialized school for foreign languages N31 in the Republic of Karakalpakstan

10) Guzal Eshchanova - a Senior Lecturer of English at Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineer - National Research University

11) Yana Kuchkarova - an EFL senior-teacher at Namangan State University, Uzbekistan

The research project results will be shared through the publications and webinars to be organized by the NETRUZ project in Spring 2022.

NETRUZ Champion Teacher: Mukaddam Ibrokhimova

My name is Mukaddam Ibrokhimova. I am an EFL teacher at Namangan State University, Uzbekistan.

My research interest for this project was to identify how to motivate reluctant low proficiency level students to participate in group work activities in a multilevel context.

Abstract of my classroom-based research

Student demotivation and their reluctance, particularly, during speaking activities, have been an unpleasant challenge for many EFL and ESL teachers most of the time. This chapter explores some speaking related challenges such as students’ unwillingness to participate in group work activities, the factors which keep them from speaking, as language level diversity, lack of vocabulary, lack of confidence, fear from being mocked because of their errors. This is done by analyzing teacher self and peer observations and surveys of 17 students in one of my classes at Namangan State University, Teaching English Methodology department. Through thematic analyzes and taking some actions, several effective strategies were found to overcome the mentioned challenges. This chapter concludes with the coping approaches and the areas which need to be discussed for further research.

Reflections on the training and exploratory action research

Every teacher is more likely to come across various challenges in the classroom which lead to teacher and student demotivation. Obviously, student and teacher demotivation results in ineffective lessons. Like most other teachers I also have undergone those ups and downs during my teaching experience. However, NETRUZ Exploratory Action Research Project was a huge help to make us capable of exploring our classes, analyzing and identifying the root problems and finding effective solutions.
In my classes, I used to do some investigations when I had problems with my own teaching or with my students but it wouldn’t end up with success most of the time, as my research was not disciplined and had no methodology. I realized this, only after participating Exploratory Action Research Project organized by the NETRUZ team. It helped me how to conduct classroom research properly, step by step. Learning about data collecting tools and how to analyze the gathered information assisted me to find out the major reasons for the problems in my class. And in the next stage, I used my knowledge on how to take action which I was taught in the project. Seeing positive changes in my classroom made me excited and motivated to do further classroom-based research.
Those above are not the only thing I got from the project, it also helped me to write a professional research paper! Furthermore, I’m planning to use my takeaways from this project in research related courses! In conclusion, being a part of Exploratory Action Research was a priceless experience for me which has made me more professional in my field!