Call for Papers: International Association for Languages and Intercultural Communication 2016 Annual Conference Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain November 25-27th, 2016

BRIDGING ACROSS LANGUAGES AND CULTURES IN EVERYDAY LIVES:

NEW ROLES FOR CHANGING SCENARIOS

International Association for Languages and Intercultural Communication

2016 Annual Conference

Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain

November 25-27th, 2016

To submit proposals, go to the conference website:

ialic2016bcn.com

The deadline for submission is May 15th, 2016

Invited Speakers:

Adrian Blackledge, University of Birmingham, UK

David Block, University of Lleida, Spain

Angela Creese, University of Birmingham, UK

Sean Golden, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain

Alison Phipps, University of Glasgow, Scotland

In this age of communication revolution and intense globalization there is a

growing expectation that everyone be conversant in more than one language

and familiar and comfortable with multicultural contexts. As languages and

cultures come into contact -driven by conflicts, migration, media and the

Internet, transnational capitalism and many other factors- more and more

individuals find themselves in the role of mediating between diverse languages

and cultures in their daily lives. These may be professionals in fields as varied

as health services, travel agents, interpreters, shopkeepers, teachers, workers

at multinational companies or NGO workers as well as young, multilingual

children and youth acting as language and culture mediators between their

family and society (known as ‘language brokers’).

In a world of transcultural ‘mash-ups’, multilingual rap and multi-party

videoconferencing apps for cellphones, there is a need for a theoretical shift

towards an understanding of ‘languaging’ and ‘culturing’ as transformative

practices involving social activities that go between and beyond ‘fixed’ and

separate systems; practices that take place in the interstices of languages and

cultures where new meanings and new understandings can emerge. Given the

importance that language and culture mediators can play in today’s

increasingly interconnected world, the aims of this conference are:

• to promote critical engagement with the notion of mediating between

cultures and languages;

• to explore the role of technology in bridging between diverse languages

and cultures;

• to explore the role of ‘broker’ in cross-cultural situations, including

growing instances of ‘child language brokers’;

• to promote understanding of how language brokering is perceived by

researchers and practitioners from cross-cultural situations;

• to provide a forum for a critique of existing analytical models of culture

and language mediating practices that integrate current theories of

language and intercultural communication;

• to provide a forum on ways in which research into language and culture

mediation can inform teachers’ praxis.

The conference organizers welcome presentations on theory and practice that

look at language and culture mediation as transformative practices and from

many different perspectives, in particular in education but also in other formal

and informal domains.

Conference sub-themes include (but are not limited to):

• ‘Bridging’ of languages and cultures in the workplace

• ‘Translanguaging’ practices

• New approaches to analysing language and cultural mediation

• Research models for language and culture brokering

• Language and culture brokering and technology

Proposals can be in the format of individual papers or symposia. Individual

communications consist of 20 minutes for presentation, 10 minutes for

discussion and 5 minutes for changing of rooms. Symposia proposals can

consist of three to six presentations on a similar topic, proposed and organised

by a chairperson, and should address the conference theme. Sessions last for

90 minutes, with NO changeover during the symposium. Proposals can be

submitted in English, Spanish or Catalan.

Format of proposals:

Individual papers: Maximum of 300 words. Proposals should include a title (no

more than 10 words), the names of the authors and should indicate which

thematic strand (above) the proposal best fits. (Please note that the conference

organizers reserve the right to change the strand if deemed necessary). Each

author’s name and institution, along with an email address should be included.

Symposia: The organizer of the symposium should send an abstract that

includes a general title (which should cover one of the themes of the

conference or be directly related to the interests of IALIC) and a short

justification of the symposium (relevance, objectives, etc.). Maximum for this is

100 words. This should be accompanied by a brief description of each

contribution (maximum 50 words each) and authors' names and affiliations for

each contribution. Only the panel organizer needs to submit contact details.

Symposia proposals should include five keywords and a short bio of no more

than 50 words for each author.

To submit proposals, go to the conference website:

ialic2016bcn.com

The deadline for submission is May 15th, 2016

******************************
Shannon Sauro, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Culture, Languages & Media, Malmö University

Malmö högskola | Lärande och samhälle | 205 06 Malmö | Sweden

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