Calls: Professionalising Multilingualism in Higher Education

[Harold Schiffman]

Professionalising Multilingualism in Higher Education

Date: 04-Feb-2010 - 06-Feb-2010
Location: Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Contact Person: Gudrun Ziegler
Meeting Email: contactmultilingualuniversities.net
Web Site: http://www.multilingualuniversities.net


Call Deadline: 30-Jun-2009

Meeting Description:

Professionalising Multilingualism in Higher Education: Developing Plurilingual
Individuals and Multilingual Institutions

Following previous conferences dealing with multilingual Universities, the 2010
conference will address the issue of professionalisation in relation to the
development of institutional multilingualism and individual plurilingualism. In
order to deal with this issue, firstly, the figure of a non-native speaker or
learner, trying to bridge the gap to the native speaker, is replaced
by the more
complete figure of the learner as a social actor. Secondly, complex
interactions
are considered in space and time as they are interconnected along four
independent dimensions.

Please see:
http://www.multilingualuniversities.net/

Call for Papers

Five thematic strands have been identified according to the conceptual
framework
of the conference.

Thematic Strands

1. Becoming a plurilingual professional in a multilingual world.
Research has emphasized the role of higher education in the development of
plurilingualism and multicultural areas. From this point of view, the training
issue and the question of vocational teacher training is of core
interest: which
characteristics have to be developed in professionals in teaching (not only in
teaching languages)? Which challenges and contexts have to be managed by the
plurilingual professionals?

2. Multilingualism in higher education and research: an economic perspective
Multilingual universities represent the economic dimensions of multilingualism
today. On the one hand side, university administrations have to handle
costs and
validations regarding documents and the set-up of administration in different
languages. On the other hand, they are key players in the creation of added
value with regard to the future economic success of candidates in a
multilingual
world and the enhancement the potentials of a region which hosts a multilingual
university.

3. Plurilingual biographies and professional identities
Everyday life at university engages biographical, linguistic and professional
backgrounds as regards acting in formal and informal multilingual communication
at university in scientific, technical or administrative domains. Moreover,
multilingual biographies and professional practices serve as training tools for
multilingualism in professional contexts outside the academic framework.

4. Multilingual higher education: implementing multilingual study
programmes and
assessment
Multilingual higher education settings raise the question of the implementation
of standards and normalization efforts for multilingualism and/or multilingual
practices. Moreover, experiences and observations of multilingual study
programmes and their successful implementation demonstrate new models of
assessment and evaluation, which cannot (only) be based on monolingual
standards.

5. Language policies for multilingual universities
Beyond linguistic imperialism and historical implications, languages compete in
relation to their roles in vocational domains, geographic areas, individual
practices, institutional rules and political regulations. Firstly multilingual
universities, here the university of Luxembourg, have issues of territorial,
societal and educational multilingualisms. Secondly, in general, the
transferability of the model of the multilingual university needs to be
investigated and further developed.

Guidelines on submission formats etc are available from:
http://www.multilingualuniversities.net/

http://linguistlist.org/issues/20/20-1384.html

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