---

For additional content on language, diversity and education, you may also want to read about the volume I am editing, Challenging Boundaries in Language Education.

---

The Rethinking Language, Diversity and Education conference will take place on 28-31 May 2015 in Rhodes, Greece. The conference, which is co-organised by the University of Toronto and the University of the Aegean, aims to address “social, linguistic and cultural difference” in language education through the critical examination of issues such as “globalization, difference, community, identity, democracy, ethics, politics, technology, language rights, and cultural politics”.

Plenary addresses will be delivered by Professor Jim Cummins (University of Toronto) and Dr. Michalis Damanakis (University of Crete).

Call for papers

Proposals are invited for paper presentations (20 minutes followed by a five-minute discussion), symposia (three contributors, 90 minutes), posters and virtual presentations. Proposals, which should refer to original research or scholarship (i.e, work that has not been presented in any other professional setting in the past), should address at least one of the key strands of the conference, namely:

1. Mapping language diversity: Cultures, countries, communities, and Institutions
2. Languages in context: Heritage languages, languages in diaspora, immigrant, minority, indigenous languages
3. Continua of language diversity: Linguistic transformations, translanguaging, biliteracy, plurilingualism
4. Language policy and planning
5. Language assessment, standards, and testing
6. Literacy, multiliteracies, multimodalities
7. Language contexts, e-contexts and hybrid contexts
8. Pedagogical orientations
9. Language, diversity and identity
10. Research methodology
11. Literacy, language diversity & technology

Author instructions

Abstracts (500 words) should be uploaded to the conference website by 15 January 2015 [update: link no longer active]. It is suggested that authors include the following information in the abstract: (a) objectives or purposes of the research, (b) perspectives or theoretical framework, (c) methods, techniques, or modes of inquiry, (d) data sources, evidence, objects, or materials, (e) results and/or substantiated conclusions or warrants for arguments/point of view, and (f) scientific or scholarly significance of the study or work. The authors are reminded to capitalise “the first letter of each appropriate word” and to spell out abbreviations in the title, and to clearly indicate if they are interested in presenting virtually. No word limit has been specified for the abstract, but it is likely to be 500 words.

Full papers for accepted abstracts should be uploaded by 15 April 2015. The papers should be between 5,000 and 8,000 words (inclusive of bibliography and footnotes). Contributions should be fronted by a cover page including the title of the paper, the name(s) of the author(s), and contact details for the corresponding author (postal and email addresses). The following page should repeat the title of the contribution, and contain a 500-word abstract and up to six key words. The manuscripts should be double-spaced, with “standard” margins. All pages should indicate the title of the contribution. All pages should be numbered. The citation format has not been specified. Additional instructions might be made available in the conference website in the future.

Registration

The registration fees for the conference have been set at:

• 100 Euros for Faculty
• 25 Euros for Students
• 50 Euros for a Day Pass

These fees are apparently valid until 6 January 2015, which is unusual considering that this deadline is before (!) the notification of acceptance. It is unclear whether registration closes after that date, or if this is an Early-Bird fee.

Additional information

Queries might be addressed to Peter Trifonas (update: email no longer active). A Facebook page has also been set up for the event (update: link no longer active).

---

Featured image: Hörsaal B der Alpen-Adria-Universität, by Stefano Probst (Own work) [CC BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons