[Cadaad] COVID-19 Special Issue CfP

[Bertie Kaal]

*Call for Papers*

*Special Issue: "Institutional Discourse and the Covid-19 Pandemic:
Challenges and Opportunities"*

Dear colleagues,

The Covid-19 pandemic that has held the world in its grip since the spring
of 2020 has introduced major shifts in the ways we communicate with others
– in informal everyday encounters as well as in formal institutional or
workplace settings. Lockdowns have required people – sometimes whole
families in far from ideal circumstances – to work from home for prolonged
periods of time. From the moment face-to-face communication with
non-household members became impossible, the search for digital
alternatives and technical innovations to facilitate remote communication
took on a new urgency. Since new tools had to be introduced at very short
notice, there was little time to pause and reflect on the practical, social
and cultural impact of these technical innovations on the lived experiences
of people interacting in institutional environments.

This issue aims to investigate the findings of experts and users with
respect to the different forms of remote or technologically-mediated
communication that were adopted on the spot. There are important questions
that need to be addressed. Has the pandemic-induced tech revolution opened
new vistas with respect to the way specific tasks in schools, offices,
hospitals, and other workplace ecologies can be performed? Or has it mainly
been a source of concern, anxiety or frustration because it turned out to
be very difficult to effectively compensate in online settings for the lack
of shared space and body language feedback in engaging participants? And
perhaps more importantly, since both positive and negative effects may
apply simultaneously:  what types of tasks/people in what situations
typically do – or do not – respond well to online communication formats?

This Special Issue seeks to draw together research from a variety of
theoretical angles and methodological approaches to the study of
institutional discourse data. These range from, but are not limited to,
conversation analysis, interactional sociolinguistics, pragmatics,
(critical) discourse analysis, ethnography of communication and linguistic
anthropology. We welcome original data-based research articles,
methodological articles, and perspective articles from researchers
investigating the effects of the Covid-19 epidemic on language use and
communication in a wide range of institutional settings in the field of
e.g. education, medicine, politics, traditional/social media, and business.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors
initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400-600 words
summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the guest
editors (*e.a.bannink at uva.nl* <e.a.bannink at uva.nl>;
*h.r.vandamvanisselt at uva.nl* <h.r.vandamvanisselt at uva.nl>) or to
/Languages/ editorial office (languages at mdpi.com). Abstracts will be
reviewed by the guest editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit
within the scope of the special issue. Full manuscripts will undergo
double-blind peer-review.

The tentative completion schedule is as follows:

· Abstract submission deadline: 1 October 2020

· Notification of abstract acceptance: 1 November 2020;

· Full manuscript deadline: 1 May 2021

Dr. Anne Bannink
Dr. Jet Van Dam
*Guest Editors*

Call for papers:

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/languages/special_issues/Institutional_Discourse
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