Multilingualism across Europe:

findings, needs, best practices

European Academy Bozen/Bolzano, Italy
24.-26. August 2006

The linguistic diversity in Europe is a source of richness that is highly valued not only as an element of identification. This conference on multilingualism in Europe provides a forum for researchers from the fields of linguistics, language teaching and language policy for discussion and exchange of findings and outlooks.

Multilingualism is certainly an aspect that will shape the future of many parts of Europe. Already today we find many European border regions living this multilingualism. One aim of this conference is to present research reports and examples of good-practice from such regions, where individual and institutionalized multilingualism form already a part of their tradition.

At the same time this conference will be the closing event of Language Bridges, a project that examines and puts in contrast various aspects of multilingualism in six European border regions.

Where does motivation for language learning come from? What are the needs of European regions in the fields of multilingualism? How can experience and the findings of recent researches in language learning be transferred to other regions? How much potential arising from multilingual situations can still be discovered in European regions? These questions and many others should be discussed at this conference.

We welcome submissions in the following areas:

1. Language learning and motivation (key words: attitudes, beliefs, representations, innovative methods of language learning/teaching, BLL, CLIL…)
2. Status and prestige (key words: status versus prestige of languages, language and law, parallel drafting, minority languages…)
3. Language learning and new technologies (key words: CALL, teaching and learning with new methods, electronic dictionaries, internet resources…)
4. Sensitisation and promotion of language awareness (key words: good practice, introduction of language projects)
5. Language Evolution: anthropological and social approaches (key words: brain, language evolution, indoeuropean theories, memes, co-evolution, language and ethnicity)

last update 22.9.2006