ALA 2024: Language Awareness, Education & Power
The great event has recently come to an end. We would like to thank all participants and look forward to seeing you again.
The 17th International Conference of the Association for Language Awareness will take place in 2024 as the 30th Anniversary Congress from 7 July to 10 July 2024 at Karlsruhe University of Education, Germany (#alaconference2024).
It is my great pleasure to welcome academics, researchers and practitioners to the 17th International Conference hosted by Prof. Dr. Dorothee Kohl-Dietrich and her team at Karlsruhe University of Education in Karlsruhe, Germany on the topic of "Language Awareness, Education, and Power".Claudia Finkbeiner
Chair of the Association for Language Awareness
Overview
Due to the inherent multilingual and multicultural nature of many classrooms around the world in very often monolingual and monocultural settings and contexts, the role of which language to use, to teach and to learn has re-gained new and important relevance. This issue is directly related to the issue of power and ideology. It is therefore time to have a closer look at the intricate interplay of factors contributing to the relationship of language, 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 in Business, Marketing and Health Care,
- Language Awareness, Media, and Artificial Intelligence,
- Critical Language Awareness and Language Awareness and Decoloniality.
We expect stimulating presentations and engaged on-site discussions by scholars and attendees from around the world. During the pandemic, we were able to offer high-standard digital ALA conferences in 2020 and in 2022. We are, however, very happy that we can now fully return to a face-to-face conference which will facilitate networking and team building. A special focus will also be put on building a network between early-career researchers and connecting them with more advanced scholars.
The conference is funded by DFG - Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
Conference Schedule
The latest version is only available in Conf Tool.
Keynote Speakers
Professor of Applied Linguistics and African Studies, Penn State, USA
The primary objective of this keynote address is to frame language research in AfricaS and and its diasporaS through the political and analytical lenses of Theories of the South and Southern Theories. Such theories seek to ground themselves in the impact of subjugated peoples on the formulation of linguistic theory. Theories of the South and Southern Theories should not only provide raw materials for theories framed in the Global North but also supply insight to the rest of the globe through the deployment of analytical heuristics, such as inventions/disinventions, accommodations, and hybrids, to develop other "waves of knowing". For example, for Santos and Meneses (2020), the ideal informants for Theories of the South and Southern Theories are the indigenous, peasants, and landless, such as the Brazilian quilombos (Severo and Makoni, 2021). Mignolo (2011) uses "border thinking" to describe the "thinking and doing" that originates from the South that confronts Western ways of thinking, Eurocentrism, capitalism, and communism. Connell (2019) regards these activities as "ontoformative", meaning that they produce new structures, realities, and agencies that differentiate the Southern landscape from the Euro-American one.
Theories of the South and Southern Theories are grounded in a political commitment that assumes that there is always something to learn from different ways of knowing, expressing, and living and that the world is so plurilingually diverse that it cannot be explained in western linguistic theories. Linguistics is hubristically Eurocentric, and we propose to rectify the weaknesses of linguistics by developing a conceptual vocabulary and political grammar founded on innovation, animation, and transgression (Nair and de Souza, 2020), which will enable us to challenge the white, and heteronormative foundations which dominate the field of language studies by proposing watery orientationsto language studies. We seek to go beyond a critique of linguistics and applied linguistics by un-bokking publishing processes. In un-booking we are reimagining, recreating and decreating how knowledges are disseminated. In un-booking we align writing practices and blur distinctions between writing, speech and performance to reflect and to act on Southern and decolonial perspectives. In un-booking we create divergent and emergent approaches to publishing because we believe current book publishing cannot contain and carry the demands of innovative and radical scholarship.
Full Professor for English Linguistics, Universität Zürich (UZH)
Our entire life is characterized by different and inevitable changes, such as life transitions, critical life events, or age-related psychological and physiological changes. Such changes also affect what and how much we learn. The learning environments evolve throughout the lifespan, adapting to our changing preferences, ideas, and aspirations as we age; we also tend to select environments that align with our established knowledge and skills. For instance, in SLA and multilingualism research, change of language preferences throughout the lifetime and their differential use in specific contexts (e.g. family/ friends versus school/ work) are well documented. At the same time as our relationship with language and with learning shifts and changes, it remains significant. To give an example from later stages of life, first results of intervention studies suggest that as a cognitively challenging activity, language learning may, under certain circumstances and in certain phases of the second language (L2) learning process, have a positive effect on cognitive functions, metalinguistic awareness and awareness of language as a whole, prevent isolation and foster linguistic flexibility, self-esteem, autonomy, social interaction and individual mobility in older adults. In this talk, I am taking a lifespan approach to SLA, which seeks to understand continuities and discontinuities in growth and change over the whole of life and promises to make a contribution toward raising ageism awareness. To what extent is 'age' as a construct of itself of relevance in SLA in the light of huge and increasing spread of individual abilities and skills as age progresses? How does access to various resources impact on success and continuation with the endeavor of L2 learning over one's life course and the events, transitions, and experiences that shape it? How far are adult L2 learners the same regardless of age and to what extent does L2 learning in later life have its own distinctive qualities?
Drawing on my own research on L2 learning in later life, I argue that chronological age does not determine the positioning of L2 learners across the lifespan: age is part of a complex web of social distinctions such as psychological and individual factors as well as major life events that intersect in the construction of a learner’s relative status and opportunities.
Professor of Language and Literacy, University of Calgary, Canada
In today’s dynamic educational landscape, students and educators find themselves learning and teaching in a post-multilingual era. Through language, culture, religion, and other factors, educational communities are growing more complex and interconnected, as are the challenges faced by newcomer students. These individuals, often placed in unfamiliar and confusing language and cultural contexts, feel overwhelmed. Meanwhile, educators are grappling with curricula that, for the most part, reflect the dominant culture and language, thereby perpetuating inequities and marginalizing other cultural identities. Rather than viewing language, culture, and identity as isolated silos, I encourage education systems to view these complexities through an intersectional lens. By acknowledging the convergence of race, culture, language, and religion, we can gain deeper insights into the intricate web of marginalization and privilege. This intersectional perspective allows for an improved support mechanism that helps education systems highlight the inherent value of newcomer students’ languages and develops critical language awareness while helping to foster greater academic success. I call on scholars to begin the process of rethinking the approaches traditionally used in a multilingual classroom; approaches that tend to polarize and leave newcomer students on the periphery. Drawing on my research carried out collaboratively with teachers, community partners, and newcomer student participants, I document how the use of critically engaged language and literacy workshops (CELLWs) can empower students to make sense of their experiences as newcomers in a variety of ways. This methodology represents a linguistic and cultural collaboration that incorporate arts-based, critical, creative, and collaborative initiatives that are both multilingual and multimodal. These include walking narratives, film forums, sharing stories, and arts-based methods that frequently incorporate generative artificial intelligence as forms of inquiry and exploration. Each provides an opportunity for participants to explore meanings and map their trajectories and enables educators and researchers to better understand the needs of this demographic. Within this context I highlight a transformational process in language/literacy education and language awareness perspectives.
As a qualitative approach, CELLWs contribute to a holistic sense of belonging, providing opportunities for newcomer students to express themselves in both their first and second languages. Here, they find space to exercise their multilingual identities, and reflect on their participation within the school and broader communities. They begin to understand how their experiences represent the sum of different localities, feelings, identity (re)shaping, and both physical and imaginary memories. Culturally diverse school practices ought to include ongoing re-assessment of community needs, social demographics, and actions in place, and the incorporation of CELLWs helps to increase language awareness among educators and students while helping them be more cognizant of newcomers’ positions in the world and the actions that can be taken to support them. It encourages educational stakeholders to address the pushback against marginalized communities, even as they think they are promoting diversity. It is through this process that CELLWs become transformative spaces where participants can actively learn language while engaging with issues of equity, racism, and inclusion, ultimately fostering a deeper intersectional understanding of themselves, their language/culture, and the world around them.
Eric-Hawkins-Lecture
Chair of the Association for Language Awareness
Keynote Speaker ALA2024
The Eric Hawkins Lecture 2024 celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Association for Language Awareness (ALA). In this talk we will reflect on the past and the present, and try to predict the future of Language Awareness (LA). We will briefly review the history of LA, including some milestones and founding members, the creation of ALA, and its activities and achievements so far. The LA movement emerged, 30 years ago, in response to social and educational issues such as low literacy, intolerance, and a low level of interest in language study. These concerns remain, and have been added to. The five LA domains posited by James and Garret (1991) – affective, cognitive, social, power, and performance, will be referred to.
We will argue that the holistic view of language, encapsulated in LA, has an important part to play in addressing the original concerns, which still remain. Hawkins (1999, 2005) suggested that the first stage of language study should take the form of a Language Apprenticeship. Its aim would be knowledge about language, an enhanced interest in language, and the acquisition of language learning skills. In the current situation, this could prepare students not only to learn a foreign language at school, but to study a language/languages of their choice online. This will be discussed in some detail, as will LA in the language classroom. The talk will also touch on the desirability of a fairly high level of LA in the population generally, in order for citizens to understand language issues and make well-informed choices and decisions, for example in the work place, or regarding language rights, and education. Finally, we will discuss the role of prompt-engineering in creating adequate AI generated text, and illustrate with examples. It will become clear that for good prompt-engineering, and understanding the prompt-writers’ intentions, training in Critical LA would be invaluable.
Roundtable "Decolonising Applied Linguistics"
Decolonising Applied Linguistics posits a shift from existing normativity towards decategorisation of binaries that established Northern epistemes as unilateral in knowledge production and dissemination. This entails the recognition of Southern epistemes in the global knowledge economy, paying attention to race, gender, and identity as mediated by language. The possibility that this will happen anytime soon is critically regulated by openness to Southernising theories and horizontal openness to pluriversal ways of knowing in a world with systemic structures based on a mono-directional perception of the knowledge economy.
The value attached to knowledges produced in the South and how Southern epistemes struggle on the aggressive knowledge highway is critically shaped today by capitalist neo-liberal trends. Language plays a fundamental role in this, and a language balance moving from systemic paradigms to ecolingual orientation to knowledge production and dissemination seems crucial.
The following questions arise:
Why would I/you shift to other forms of knowledges in my establishment, and how would this place the other forms within knowledge praxis in the grand narrative? Who else would consider this as relevant in the grand narrative and on which basis? (How) does Artificial Intelligence integrate other expressive forms of knowledges in its systems? How does Higher Education reconstruct its language curriculum that so far has perpetuated Northern normativity, and how does this link with economic capital in this fast-changing global economy? Who takes charge of this, on which basis, and for whose interest?
The gradual shifts towards pluriversal forms on knowledges open richer possibilities in language education for horizontal platforms of identity reconstruction and (self-)imaging in the existing monodirectional cosmovision. Yet this is challenged by the demand and supply chain and begs a number of questions in the decoloniality enterprise as sketched above.
South-North Co-Chair
University of Yaoundé 1
Monday, 9.9., 11-12 a.m.
Tuesday, 8.10., 11-12 a.m.
Book a slot under my StudIP profile
Invited Speakers
Michigan State University, USA
Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca, Mexico
Queen‘s University Belfast, Northern Ireland
Teachers College Columbia University, USA
Early-Career Researcher Workshop
Sunday 7 July 2024 14:00 - 17:00.
Taking place ahead of the main conference, this workshop aims to give early-career researchers working on Master’s or PhD projects focusing on an area of Language Awareness a space to present and receive feedback on their research from both peers and mentors from different research contexts as well as to network to discover potential collaboration opportunities. The workshop will likewise provide a forum for a reflection on mental and physical wellbeing in early-career research and will give participants the chance to plan and discuss their ALA-Conference visit. Furthermore, the workshop content will be, as far as possible, tailored to the wishes of the participants, who, upon registration, will be asked to state their expectations for the workshop.
Contact
Mittwoch 09:30 - 11:30
Anmeldung über stud.ip. (Profil - Sprechstundentermine).
Registration and contact
Prices and Discounts
Participant Groups | Early Bird (15 March - 21 April 2024) | Regular (22 April - 14 June) | Last Minute (15 June - 7 July 2024) |
---|---|---|---|
ALA Member | 225 Eur | 290 Eur | 360 Eur |
Non-ALA Member | 275 Eur | 340 Eur | 410 Eur |
PhD/Student ALA Member | 160 Eur | 190 Eur | 230 Eur |
PhD/Student non-ALA Member | 200 Eur | 230 Eur | 270 Eur |
Day Pass | 125 Eur | 125 Eur | 125 Eur |
Stipends available
The Association for Language Awareness is offering 5 stipends, each of a maximum of £800 or equivalent, to enable participants to present a paper at the conference. Members whose proposals have been accepted may apply for a stipend in ONE of three categories below:
- Long-term ALA members (in continuous membership for at least 5 years, i.e. since 2019): two stipends available.
- Student members, including PhD students (students must still not have graduated until after the conference, and proof of current student status should be attached to the email application): one stipend available.
- Members resident in one of the countries designated by the European Educational Research Association as Low GDP countries. Residence will be determined by the mailing address currently recorded in the ALA membership list: two stipends available.
The deadline for applications was on 7 April 2024.
List of low GDP countries | |
---|---|
Europe | Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, FYR of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia,Turkey and Ukraine. |
North America | All countries except Canada and the USA |
South American and Caribbean Countries | excluding Aruba, The Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, Sint Maarten (Dutch), Virgin Islands (US) |
Africa | All countries |
Asia | All countries, except Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Republic of Korea, Quatar, Japan, Kuwait, Israel, Oman, Singapore, Bahrain, Brunei Darussalam, Macao SAR, Hong Kong SAR |
Australasia/Oceania | All countries, except Australia and New Zealand |
Venue and accommodation
Karlsruhe is a young and liberal-minded city and the seat of important federal government institutions, such as the Federal Court of Justice and the Federal Constitutional Court. Furthermore, Karlsruhe is a city of inventors and a technology hub, and, most importantly, a city of science, education and research. It has nine universities, 26 research institutions and about 40,000 students.
It is also a cultural hotspot with many different places of interest to visit during your stay at ALA 2024.
Allocation of hotel rooms
Hotel | Price | Reservation until | Reservation keyword |
---|---|---|---|
ALFA Bürgerstrasse 4 76133 Karlsruhe | 79 / 84 Eur single room eco / comfort breakfast included | 7 June 2024 | Res. No. 20232383 |
Ambassador Hirschstrasse 34 76133 Karlsruhe | 89 Eur single room breakfast included | 15 May 2024 | none |
Berliner Hof Douglasstrasse 7 76133 Karlsruhe | 83 Eur single room breakfast included | 1 June 2024 | ALA2024PHKA |
Kaiserhof Karl-Friedrich-Strasse 12 76133 Karlsruhe | 119 / 139 Eur single room classic / superior breakfast included | 7 June 2024 | ALA |
Organising Committee
Donnerstag, 13.00-14.00 Uhr und n.V.
in 3.204 oder https://ph-karlsruhe.webex.com/meet/nicole.bachor
Bitte im StudIP eintragen!
Tuesday, 13:45–14:45
and by appointment
• Online registration via Stud.IP (Profile – Consultation Hours)
Mittwoch 09:30 - 11:30
Anmeldung über stud.ip. (Profil - Sprechstundentermine).
Übersicht und Buchung auf Stud.IP. /
Dates and Registration on Stud.IP.
01.08.2024, 09:30-10:30 (3.224 oder BBB)
05.09.2024, 10:00-14:00 (3.224 oder BBB)
und nach Vereinbarung
Bitte melden Sie sich für Termine vorab in Stud.IP an und vermerken Sie, falls Ihr Termin über BBB stattfinden soll.
Monday, 9.9., 11-12 a.m.
Tuesday, 8.10., 11-12 a.m.
Book a slot under my StudIP profile
Participate
- CfP submission deadline was 26 January 2024, and
- notification of acceptance was 15 March 2024.