<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">“<b>International Symposium on Multilingualism and Multilingual Education in China</b>.”<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">28-30 November 2014</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 15px;">The University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China</span></font></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://www.nottingham.edu.cn/en/events/2014/international-symposium-on-multilingualism-and-multilingual-education-in-china.aspx" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; color: rgb(149, 79, 114);">http://www.nottingham.edu.cn/en/events/2014/international-symposium-on-multilingualism-and-multilingual-education-in-china.aspx</a></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Societies have become increasingly multilingual/multicultural, and thus multilingual education is key to inclusive development. Up till the end of the twentieth century, discussions on bilingualism and models of bilingual education had predominantly remained in the domain of language education for China’s minority groups. Since the turn of the century, however, this situation has drastically changed. There has been a rapid increase of research and literature that deal with not only bilingualism but also trilingualism and multilingualism. Diverse forms of bi-, tri-, or multi-lingual education have mushroomed not only in minority regions but all over the country. This increase was largely attributed to the spread of English throughout the world including China. In most provinces and areas where the majority Han group dominate, researchers and scholars have turned their attention from English as a foreign language teaching to English-Chinese bilingualism and bilingual education. In minority regions, while discussions about bilingualism and bilingual education continue, there has been a speedy rise of research and scholarship in trilingual education and trilingualism in ethnic minority home language (L1), Mandarin Chinese (L2), and English (L3). Adding to this are debates on dialectological issues in language education.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">This symposium is focused on language provisions for minority groups in China, but it also aims to bring researchers and scholars in these three closely-related fields together to discuss and juxtapose theories, models and challenges in bi-, tri-, or multi-lingual education.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><b>Objectives<o:p></o:p></b></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>To discuss and adopt a common definition of multilingualism and multilingual education and enhance understanding of the characteristics in the Chinese context;<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>To determine the factors that enable effective, efficient and sustainable multilingual education by sharing lessons learned and challenges in multilingual education practice;<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>To share ideas in research and to discuss methodological issues in this area;<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>To launch a book titled Trilingualism in Education in China: Models and Challenges by Springer (edited by Anwei Feng and Bob Adamson).<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>To launch the Society for Multilingualism and Multilingual Education in China (to be affiliated to the International Association for Multilingual Education registered in Hong Kong).<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><b>Themes<o:p></o:p></b></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>Theories for Multilingualism and Multilingual Education Research and Practice<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>Practical Models and Issues/Challenges<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>Curriculum Development for Multilingual Education<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>Trilingual/Multilingual Teacher Training<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>Material Development for Multilingual Education<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>Third Language Acquisition<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>Ethno-linguistic vitality studies<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>Ethnicity and national identity<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>Research methodology<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>Social equality<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>Projects relevant to multilingualism and multilingual education<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>Projects at various stages (presentations by junior researchers and doctorate students are welcome)<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></div><br><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></div></body></html>