26.5634, Calls: Applied Ling/Italy

Fri Dec 18 15:59:01 UTC 2015

LINGUIST List: Vol-26-5634. Fri Dec 18 2015. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 26.5634, Calls: Applied Ling/Italy

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Date: Fri, 18 Dec 2015 10:58:49
From: Ida Ruffolo [ida.ruffolo at unical.it]
Subject: 14th CercleS International Conference: Enhancing Learners’ Creative and Critical Thinking

Full Title: XIV CercleS International Conference.Enhancing Learners’ Creative and Critical Thinking 
Short Title: CercleS2016 

Date: 22-Sep-2016 - 24-Sep-2016
Location: University of Calabria, Arcavacata di Rende, Cosenza, Italy 
Contact Person: Carmen Argondizzo
Meeting Email: CercleS2016 at unical.it
Web Site: http://cla.unical.it/CercleS2016/ 

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics 

Call Deadline: 12-Feb-2016 

Meeting Description:

The Language Centre of the University of Calabria is pleased to announce the XIV CercleS International Conference entitled Enhancing Learners’ Creative and Critical Thinking: The Role of University Language Centres. The Conference will be held on 22-23-24 September 2016.

The aim of the Conference is to create an occasion for scholars, practitioners and project managers to share ideas about research and didactics related to language learning and teaching. The Conference wants to offer the opportunity for a three-day collaborative and friendly debate which will involve the many members of the Associations of Language Centres in Europe who, thanks to their varied working and geographical backgrounds, will enrich the conference discussions. It is, indeed, our wish to embrace different perspectives in order to promote in-depth reflection on issues related to the well-being of language students and of University Language Centres.

Creativity and Critical thinking are concepts of paramount importance for learners’ global development process, both from a cultural and social point of view as well as from a linguistic and multilingual perspective. We strongly believe that it is the duty of language scholars to never forget the role that languages have in society and the role that creativity and critical thinking, in particular, have in language acquisition and learning. Teaching actions should therefore encourage learners to bring out all of their potential, which is often hidden inside and silently waiting for the right stimulus to help create meaningful actions.

Topics have been chosen to include broad research areas, with interrelated sub-issues, which have favoured important changes in the field of language learning and teaching and which foster significant debate on how languages naturally interweave with other academic disciplines. They are intentionally broad so as to encourage the sharing of a wider range of backgrounds, findings, expertise, ideas and discussions.

Keynote speakers:

Manuel Célio Conceição, President of the European Language Council
David Little, Trinity College Dublin, IRL
Alison Mackey, Lancaster University, UK and Georgetown University, US

Call for Papers:

Papers can be delivered in various languages. This has the aim of enhancing the multilingual aspect of the conference, which wants to emphasize the wide range of cultures and communication styles that practitioners in University Language Centres come into contact with during their academic life. Experiences will therefore be considered from a European perspective and beyond, thus providing participants with insights that should help reinforce the concept of belonging to a community of practice that crosses all geographical boundaries.

The three strands and main topics of the Conference include:

- Applying research to pedagogical practice:

Discourse and interaction analysis
Bilingualism, plurilingualism and translanguaging in higher education
Translation, interpretation and mediation, intercomprehension
Language and cognition
Creativity in language acquisition

- Giving learners a multicultural voice:

Social and cultural dimensions of language acquisition and use
Collaborative and task-based approach in language learning: strategies for fostering creative and critical thinkers
Languages for the academic world and for professional contexts: how language and content interact to enhance learners’ intercultural growth
Language, technology and new media

- Giving University Language Centres an international voice:

Assessment, self-evaluation and certification
Language planning and policy
European projects in higher education
Quality assurance in European University Language Centres

If you are interested in one of the Conference topics and want to share ideas with friends and colleagues from other countries as well as from your own, please submit an abstract (max.300 words) in one of the following languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish.Please specify the strand in which you would like to be included. The language used in the abstract will be considered the language of presentation at the Conference. We also ask you to include a summary of your abstract (max.150 words) in another language of your choice from the five languages of the conference. Submit your abstract online by 12 February 2016 to the following link: http://cla.unical.it/CercleS2016/call-for-papers/abstract-submission/. Proposals are invited for oral and poster presentations by one or more authors. Proposals will be blind reviewed by members of the Scientific and Programme Committees. You will receive an answer of acceptance by 15 April 2016. 

Interactive roundtable discussions:

The Conference will offer participants an opportunity to take part in small group discussions on Future implications for University Language Centres, with time reserved for audience participation, questions and comments. The roundtables will be coordinated by invited experts on topics of particular relevance such as Quality, Management, Project planning, Individual learner needs, Autonomous learning and self-evaluation, Research methods, Internships. These roundtables are not meant to be formal paper presentations but rather an opportunity to foster peer-to-peer discussions with a small group of attendees (max. 16) with shared research interests. Invited convenors will be given 10 minutes to present the topic and then 20 minutes will be devoted to extended discussion with participants joining the roundtable. There will be no access to laptops or video projectors. If you are interested in participating in one of the roundtables, please sign up in the appropriate area on the Conference
  website.

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