Category: Conferences

CFP From Empirical Research to Foreign Language Classroom Practice and Vice-Versa (Switzerland)

Conferences

Call for papers: From empirical research to foreign language classroom practice and vice-versa, 6-7 September 2024, Fribourg, Switzerland. Deadline: 18 February 2024.

The conference aims to open a space of discourse that permits exchange and transfer of knowledge between teacher education, classroom practice, and research. Both second and foreign language education have developed in a dynamic environment that allows a certain flexibility when confronted with new challenges while, at the same time, the reception and diffusion of knowledge gained from research frequently progresses relatively slowly. Similarly, the questions and challenges teachers must face in their everyday practice take a long time to be investigated in research projects and, once this is achieved, the studies that are conducted often seem to be somewhat disconnected from local environments. In addition, empirical research must meet certain criteria if it is to become relevant for classroom practice. Nevertheless, the dialogue between the two domains remains extremely relevant in view of continuing efforts to improve second and foreign language education. Initiatives that encourage the building of networks between research knowledge and knowledge arising from classroom practice may contribute to such a dialogue.

Abstracts for contributions and posters may be submitted in German, English, French, or Italian.

CFP South Asia Communication Association at ICA: Communication & Global Human Rights 2024 (Australia)

Conferences

Call for Papers: South Asia Communication Association: Communication and Global Human Rights: Media Research on South Asia & Its Diaspora Worldwide, research session at International Communication Association, Goldcoast, Australia, 19-24 June 2024. Deadline: 20 January 2024.

Organizers invite you to present your research at the 2024 South Asia Communication Association (SACA)’s refereed-research session at the 74th annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA),  in Gold Coast, Australia, Jun. 19-24, 2024. SACA will host an interactive research session, and the ICA 2024 conference program will feature the SACA session. The ICA 2024 conference promises to be an
innovative, interactive and engaging event.

You are invited to submit your research on media and communication
in South Asia or its diaspora worldwide. Organizers welcome a wide range of perspectives and approaches. Please feel free to email Dr. Jatin Srivastava if you have any questions about your research relating to the scope of the SACA research session.

CFP Promoting Human Rights, Building Peace, and Progressing Democracy (USA)

ConferencesCall for papers: Conference in Conjunction with 25th Anniversary of NATO Intervention in Kosovo: Promoting Human Rights, Building Peace, and Progressing Democracy, 26-28 March, 2024, Clinton Presidential Center, Little Rock, AK, USA. Deadline: 31 December 2023.

This conference will bring together practitioners, policy makers, and scholars to reflect on the lessons of the humanitarian intervention in Kosovo and the developments in the last 25 years that offer both challenges and opportunities for democracy, peace, and security not only in Southeastern Europe, but around the globe. Organizers envision conversations and activities that are above all practical in nature, in which practitioners, policy makers, and democracy scholars present, discuss and debate bold actions for promoting human rights, building peace, and progressing democracy globally based on lessons from taking just and necessary stands, such as the one taken in Kosovo, against genocide and the violation of human rights.

They specifically encourage proposals from those who work at the intersection of theory and practice in a variety of areas including but not limited to:

  • Political Theory & Practice
  • Political & Public Communication
  • Media Studies
  • International Relations
  • Public Policy Analysis
  • Conflict & Public Dispute Resolution
  • Peacemaking & Peacebuilding
  • Security Studies
  • Deliberative Democracy Practice
  • Collaborative Governance
  • Community Engagement

In keeping with the commitment to action from President Clinton, the Clinton Foundation, the Clinton Presidential Library, and the Clinton School of Public Service, the focus of the conference would be the on-going real-world work of people who have made a commitment to ensure safe places to learn, practice, and exercise democratic actions continue to not only exist but to strive and grow.

CFP International Listening Assoc 2024 (USA)

ConferencesCall for papers: International Listening Association: Sustaining Best Listening Practices, 13-16 March 2024, Bloomington, MN USA. Deadline: 10 December 2023.

The International Listening Association (ILA) is excited to announce the Call for Proposals for the 45th Annual Convention, March 13-16, 2024 in Bloomington, MN. Organizers are excited to hold this convention in the Minneapolis area, the birthplace of ILA at the University of Minnesota. They will be holding a special session on the history and progression of the ILA and listening and encourage past members, board members and any founding members, to attend.

The 45th ILA Convention provides several presentation opportunities including individual papers, discussion panels, or paper panels. Proposals are also accepted for practicums, workshops, or short courses. If you have questions about the submission type, please contact the ILA Convention Program Planner, Dr. Krishna Naineni.

CFP EACL 2024: Towards Ethical and Inclusive Conversational AI (Malta)

ConferencesCall for papers: European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics: Towards Ethical and Inclusive Conversational AI:
Language Attitudes, Linguistic Diversity, and Language Rights, 21-22 March 2024, Malta. Deadline: 18 December 2023.

Conversational language technologies (chatbots, voice assistants, and multimodal conversational interfaces) are becoming increasingly complex and common in everyday life. Various language theories (such as speech act theory, politeness theory, conversation analysis, and interaction theory) have started influencing their development. At the same time, the development of these technologies is often driven by technology-related concerns and tends to overlook users’ needs and socio-cultural contexts. This, combined with the scarcity of human rights regulation of AI, raises concerns about linguistic discrimination, exclusion, surveillance, and security risks. In addition, training data for conversational AI mostly comes from written rather than interaction-based language data sets and often does not include gestural, social, and emotional aspects that are fundamental to human interaction. In the same vein, Sign Language is rarely facilitated. To promote a positive impact of conversational technology on linguistic diversity and inclusion, it is imperative to strike a balance between technological concerns and socially relevant matters.

This workshop to be held at EACL aims at addressing these issues by using a holistic approach that involves dialogue and collaboration among technologists, linguists, policymakers, and communities involved in the development and commissioning of conversational AI systems.

Key Themes:

  • Holistic Approach: Bridging the gap between technology and socio-cultural context.
  • Ethical Development: Addressing concerns of linguistic discrimination, exclusion, surveillance, and security risks.
  • Inclusive Data Sets: Emphasizing the importance of interaction-based language data sets and inclusion of gestural, social, and emotional aspects.

CFP Language Awareness, Education & Power (Germany)

ConferencesCall for papers: 17th International Conference of the Association for Language Awareness: Language Awareness, Education & Power, 7-10 July 2024, Karlsruhe University of Education, Germany. Deadline: 1 December 2023 (extended to 10 January 2024).

Due to the inherent multilingual and multicultural nature of many classrooms around the world, often in monolingual and monocultural institutional contexts, questions around which language(s) to use, to teach and to learn have regained new and important emphasis. These questions are directly related to issues of power and ideology. It is therefore time to take a closer look at the intricate interplay of factors contributing to the relationships between language(s), education and power and to discuss these issues in depth.

The ALA 2024 conference will offer symposia, workshops, roundtables, paper presentations, and poster presentations and accept proposals related to Language, Education and Power in the following areas:
– Language Awareness in Language Education, Teaching and Learning
– Language Awareness and Global Citizenship: Language Awareness in Political Institutions and Democratic Decision-Making Processes
– Language Awareness and the Media: Language Awareness in the Digital World
– Language Awareness and the Workplace: Language Awareness inBusiness, Marketing and Health Care
– Language Awareness, Media and Artificial Intelligence
– Critical Language Awareness and Language Awareness from a Decolonial Perspective

ICA24 Regional Hub Application

ConferencesCall for proposals: ICA24 Regional Hub Application. Deadline: 1 December 2023.

In conjunction with the International Communication Association’s 74th (hybrid) annual conference on 20-24 June 2024 in Gold Coast, Australia, the organization welcomes proposals for ICA Regional Hubs worldwide to host events concurrent with the annual ICA conference. While there is no substitute for an in-person experience at an ICA conference, they recognize that a significant and growing proportion of ICA membership resides in the Global South, making travel to in-person attendance inaccessible due to fiscal, political, environmental, and, as underscored during the pandemic, health hurdles. In response to these concerns, ICA’s Regional Hubs Initiative offers a window into ICA – its community and scholarship. It reflects ICA’s commitment to be welcoming to a broader global community of communication scholars. Since its inception at the virtual ICA 2021 and continuing at the hybrid conferences in ICA22 and ICA23, each year, ICA has hosted over 10 ICA Regional Hubs.

Regional hubs host sessions for regional submissions, with some hubs receiving over 100 submissions, from which some were selected for oral presentation and others for posters. Most of the hubs hosted guest lectures from scholars worldwide, including some who joined from other Regional Hubs. Some Hubs live-streamed presentations and sessions from the primary conference location (Gold Coast in 2024) and organized local panels to facilitate discussion around them. A few organized Blue Sky workshops or workshops on special topics such as scholarly publishing, submitting grants, and scholarship applications. Some hubs live-streamed their events on platforms such as Facebook and YouTube and often garnered considerable local media coverage. Finally, in some cases, the hubs hosted those presenting papers selected for the ICA conference remotely from their locations.

In support of this initiative, ICA provides the opportunity to apply for modest financial support as an attendance “hub” for attendees in one area. Organizers of a proposed hub should nominate one person to fill out the application and serve as the sole point of contact for ICA headquarters. This person should, before filling out the application, ascertain how many attendees they anticipate inviting to take part in their hub experience, obtain permission from the facility in question, and include estimated expenses for both in their proposal.

CFP U Illinois: Graduate Symposium on Asian Studies (USA)

ConferencesCall for proposals: Transcending Boundaries: The State of Interconnections in Studies of Global Asia, 13 April 2024, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL. Deadline: 24 December 2023.

The Asian Studies Group announces the call for papers for the graduate symposium: “Transcending Boundaries: The State of Interconnections in Studies of Global Asia.” This year’s theme calls for research that goes beyond established borders of knowledge, expanding deep interconnections in people’s lived experiences across time, spaces, and identities. Boundaries can take many forms, such as social conditions of exclusion and discrimination, unequal access to capital and safety, or canonical narratives imposed on our epistemology to understand the world. This symposium poses the following question: what boundaries restrict our research methodologies and epistemologies, and what is to be gained by transcending such boundaries shaped by disciplines, ideologies, and everyday experiences in our societies? Organizers invite presenters to identify the boundaries they aim to cross in their research and how these boundaries perpetuate narratives that might constrain our vision and isolate us from generating collective change.

CFP BAAL/CUP: Language and Onward Migration (2024)

ConferencesCall for proposals: British Association for Applied Linguistics/Cambridge University Press Seminar: Language and Onward Migration: Bridging Applied Linguistics with Migration Studies, University of Westminster, London, UK, 13-14 February 2024. Deadline extended to:  14 November 2023.

The seminar will explore how languages shape the migration trajectories and experiences of onward migrants (OMs), that is, people whose life courses involve staying in two or more destination countries for extended periods, and, conversely, the effects that onward migration has on OMs’ linguistic repertoires. The aim is to engage in an interdisciplinary conversation as scholars working in Applied Linguistics with academics working in Migration Studies to critically reflect on the affordances, limitations, and possibilities that can come from working together across traditional disciplinary boundaries.

The seminar will offer a much needed platform for scholars in applied linguistics and migration studies to develop their knowledge of and skills in two methodological approaches to the study of the language and (onward) migration nexus:

  • ethnographically-oriented approaches (Copland & Creese, 2015; Martin-Jones & Martin, 2017; Tusting, 2020), including the ‘researching multilingually’ approach (Holmes et al., 2013)
  • quantitative approaches with a focus on large-scale surveys and respondent-driven sampling (RDS), a method that utilises social networks to produce data for ‘hidden’ or ‘hard-to-reach’ populations such as OMs who are not captured by national statistical data and who may be of undocumented status (Tyldum & Johnston, 2014)

CFP ESTIDIA 2024: Exploring Real-life, Fictional and Virtual Dialogue (Lithuania)

ConferencesCall for proposals: 7th ESTIDIA Conference: Exploring Real-life, Fictional, and Virtual Dialogue , 12-14 June, 2024, Mykolas Romeris University, Vilnius, Lithuania. Deadline: for workshop proposals, 1 October 2023; for paper abstracts, 5 November 2023.

Like previous European Society for Transcultural and Interdisciplinary Dialogue (ESTIDIA) conferences, the 2024 event puts dialogue and dialogic forms of communication in the spotlight, as front and centre of all forms of human communication. This time the focus is on exploring real-life, fictional and virtual dialogues in terms of similarities and differences, overlaps and complementarities, constancy and change. To understand the context-driven, situation-based and culture-specific impact of dialogic communication patterns, it is essential to examine in situ instantiations of dialogue as social interaction practice, as jointly steered activity, as philosophical or scientific method of inquiry, as rhetorical process of co-reflection, as pedagogical approach, as problem-solving tool, as mechanism of ethical and political scrutiny (Ilie 2022). Theoretical and empirical studies have explored dialogues in various forms of verbal communication: oral and written, private and public, multi-level (between two or several interlocutors, with or without an overhearing audience), synchronous and asynchronous (e.g., face-to-face vs. computer-mediated).

Within the broad theme of the conference, participants are invited to explore a range of questions concerning dialogue genres, dialogue practices and/or dialogue strategies, in relation to roles and goals of dialogue participants, to convergent or divergent speech acts, to common ground and shared knowledge. 

Methodological Workshop:

Different approaches to dialogic research: analysing a multimodal and multicultural embodiment of joint action in real-life and “non-real-life” interactions. Convenor: assoc. prof. dr. Keiko Tsuchiya, Yokohama City University, Japan. For further information about the workshop, please contact the convenor.

Thematic Workshops:

  1. Would you laugh with us? Internet humour and mutual (dis)trust in the dialogue process (case of Ukraine in 2022-2023). Convenor: dr. Kateryna Yeremieieva, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Collaborative Research Center “Cultures of Vigilance”, Germany. For further information about the workshop, please contact the convenor.

  2. Shifting Gears: a prolegomenon to teaching Twenty-First Century Skills. Convenors: dr. John McKeown (the Üsküdar American Academy, Istanbul, Turkey) and Maria Ramadori Volker. For further information about the workshop, please contact the convenor.

  3. Multi-foci analysis of real and fictional healthcare dialogue. Convenor: prof. Catalina Iliescu-Gheorghiu (University of Alicante). For further information about the workshop, please contact the convenor.

  4. Real-life dialogues between humans and machines: the interface between discourse research in linguistics and dialogue systems research in engineering. Convenor: prof. dr. Mayumi Usami (Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Japan), prof. dr. Ryuichiro Higashinaka (Nagoya University, Japan), and assoc. prof. dr. Hiroyuki Nishikawa (Meikai University, Japan). For further information about the workshop, please contact the convenor.

  5. InTranslation 2024. For information on previous InTranslation 2022 workshop, please see the In Translation | 2022 (mruni.eu). Convenors: assoc. prof. dr. Lora Tamošiūnienė (Institute of Humanities and head of King Seijong Institute, Mykolas Romeris University), assoc. prof. Vilhelmina Vaičiūnienė (Institute of Humanities, Mykolas Romeris University), and assoc. prof. dr. Viktorija Mažeikienė (Institute of Humanities, Mykolas Romeris University). For further information about the workshop, please contact the convenor.