International Conference on Community/Heritage Language Education

Sydney Institute of Community Languages Education
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The University of Sydney

This 3-day conference featuring international guest speakers, renowned Australian researchers and experienced classroom practitioners will explore community/heritage language education and its key role in maintaining and developing intergenerational linguistic and cultural understandings. The conference will bring together researchers, school leaders, teachers, community members, parents and students.

Featured speakers

Joseph Lo Bianco is Professor of Language and Literacy Education at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. Prior to his current role, he was Chief Executive of the National Languages and Literacy Institute of Australia.

Maria Carreira is a professor at the University of California. She is also co-director of the National Heritage Language Resource Center. Her research focuses on heritage languages, particularly Spanish in the US as well as the less commonly taught languages. Her recent work focuses on identity, resilience, and heritage language development and maintenance. She is also chair of the SAT Spanish Committee, and Associate Editor of Hispania.

Vicky Macleroy is a Reader in Education and Head of the Centre for Language, Culture and Learning at Goldsmiths, University of London. Vicky teaches on undergraduate, PGCE English and PGCE Media with English, MA and MPhil/PhD including joint programs across Educational Studies and English and Comparative Literature departments.

Mahmoud Al-Batal is Professor of Arabic at the American University in Beirut. He holds a BA in Arabic Language and Literature from the Lebanese University in Beirut, and an MA and PhD in Arabic Linguistics from the University of Michigan in the US.

Ingrid Piller is Distinguished Professor of Applied Linguistics at Macquarie University, Sydney. She is an applied sociolinguist with research expertise in intercultural communication, language learning, multilingualism and bilingual education.

Call for papers and presentations

The conference will be organised in two strands. Strand 1 will focus on the latest research into community/heritage languages education. Strand 2 other will focus on effective classroom practice.

We welcome papers, symposia and posters on:

• maintenance and revitalisation
• intergenerational transmission
• community languages at early childhood/ primary/ elementary, secondary and/or tertiary levels
• heritage/ complementary/ community languages schools
• Indigenous/ minority languages
• languages and identities
• languages policies and planning
• languages assessment
• attitudes to community languages
• media representations
• other related topics.

Submission guidelines

Paper/poster

• Abstract 250–300 words in Word (as a single .doc or .docx file)
• Times New Roman 12 point font
• References should be in 10 point font (not included in word count)

Review criteria

Each abstract will receive a general overall evaluation. The program committee will also consider the degree to which each type of abstract meets the specific criteria below.

Symposia

• Symposia will be scheduled in special sessions of the conference program
• The symposium proposer should identify a convenor/chair and discussant
• Overview of the symposium (300 words), statement indicating the relevance of the theme/issue in accordance with the selection criteria (200 words)
• individual abstracts for each paper (250 – 300 words each)
• If proposal is unsuccessful as a featured symposium, papers will be reviewed separately.

All submission proposals – paper, poster or symposium –  should be emailed to sicle.seminars@sydney.edu.au by Thursday, July 1, 2021.