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All times in GMT

11:00      Introduction: Godela Weiss-Sussex (IMLR) and Charles Burdett (IMLR)   

11:05-11:45  AHRC Future of Language Research Fellows
Speakers: Emmanuelle Labeau (Aston), Michelle Macleod (Aberdeen), and Nicola McLelland (Nottingham)

11:45-12:45 
‘Modern’ Languages Teaching: Decentring and Decolonising Approaches Through the Lens of ‘Community’ Languages
Bilingualism Matters London
Chair:Li Wei (BML Co-Director, UCL Institute of Education)
Speakers:Petros Karatsareas (BML Co-Director, University of Westminster), Kathleen McCarthy (Queen Mary University of London), and Joanna McPake (University of Strathclyde) 

Exploring the transformative effects that educators, scholars, and language learners can experience when all become aware of the pervasiveness of multilingualism, and the possibilities that come with allowing everyone involved in language learning to mobilise and expand their linguistic repertoires in all their complexity and fluidity. The session will reflect critically on policies and practices that perpetuate the privileged dominance of colonial languages and standardised varieties, and on ways to democratise language pedagogy, including by bridging the gap between the mainstream and complementary school sectors and problematising alienating labels that define people’s languages into categories such as ‘modern’, ‘foreign’, ‘community’.

12:45-13:30Break

13:30-14:30Chair: Janice Carruthers (Queen's University Belfast)

Modern Languages: Disciplinary Identity and Interdisciplinary Potential 
Cross-Language Dynamics: Reshaping Community
Speakers:Stephen Hutchings (PI, University of Manchester), Andy Byford (University of Durham), Naomi Wells (Institute of Modern Languages Research, University of London) 

Connecting Education Sectors and Language Communities 
Creative Multilingualism 
Speakers:Katrin Kohl (PI, University of Oxford), Rajinder Dudrah (Birmingham City University), Julia Hofweber (UCL Institute of Education) 

14:30-14:45Break

14:45 – 15:45 Chair: Charles Forsdick (University of Liverpool)

Demonstrating the Relevance of Research in Modern Languages to Key Issues of Our Time 
Multilingualism: Empowering Individuals, Transforming Societies (MEITS)
Speakers:Wendy Ayres-Bennett (PI, University of Cambridge), Rory Finnin (University of Cambridge), Mícheál Ó Mainnín (Queen's University Belfast) 

Connecting Research and Funding 
Language Acts and Worldmaking 
Speakers:Catherine Boyle (PI, King’s College, London), Renata Brandão (University of East London), Rachel Scott (Royal Holloway University of London)  

15:45 – 16:15Conclusion
Charles Burdett (IMLR, University of London)


Supported by the IMLR, OWRI projects, UCML, Bilingualism Matters London, and AULC


All are welcome to attend this free symposium, which will be held online via zoom. You will need to register in advance to receive the online joining link. Please click on the Book Now button below to register.

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