The MoMM conference and a special event with Jean-Marc Dewaele as a guest speaker in March 2021
In March, the research group Multilingualism on My Mind will hold two events that are worth attending if you want to know more about multilingualism.
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As societies become increasingly multicultural and linguistically diverse, there are more and more questions that need to be answered. What steps do policymakers and teachers need to take to enhance all students’ multilingualism? How can a multilingual approach to education improve students’ language awareness, language skills, and academic performance? How can multilingualism empower students’ identities and increase their confidence and motivation to learn languages? Even though most school and university students can be considered multilingual, do they identify themselves as such and view their multilingualism as a resource for themselves and society?
The conference MoMM2021
The above and many other questions will be addressed by scholars from all over the world at the digital conference Multilingualism on My Mind 2021: Exploring Multilingualism in Education. The conference will take place on the 18th-19th of March 2021. During these days, more than 90 scholars will discuss the issues of Multilingualism and language awareness, Multilingual identity, Psychological aspects of multilingualism, Teacher training and professional development, Multilingualism in higher education, Multilingual pedagogy, and other topics. The plenary speakers of the conference will be Dr Linda Fisher (University of Cambridge, UK), Prof. Lynn Mario T. Menezes de Souza (University of São Paulo, Brazil), Dr Ruth Fielding (Monash University, Australia), and Prof. Bassey Antia (University of the Western Cape, South Africa).
You can find the full programme of the conference Multilingualism on My Mind 2021: Exploring Multilingualism in Education on the conference webpage.
A special event with Jean-Marc Dewaele
A special event, organized by the Research group Multilingualism on My Mind of the University of Bergen and the national research network LingPhil, will precede the opening of the conference. On the 17th of March, PhD fellows and all scholars interested in the psychological effects of multilingualism will have the chance to participate in a special workshop and listen to our guest lecturer Professor Jean-Marc Dewaele (Birkbeck, University of London), a world-known researcher and the author of a great number of scientific works on multilingualism. In his talk Multilingualism and Personality, J.-M. Dewaele will address the question of how multilingualism/multiculturalism is linked to personality traits as Flexibility, Social Initiative, Open-mindedness, and Cognitive empathy in adults and children. The lecture will be followed by discussion and participants will be able to ask their questions to the guest speaker.
To learn more about the workshop with Professor Jean-Marc Dewaele and register for the event, please, click here.
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Jean-Marc Dewaele is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism. He has published widely on individual differences in psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic, pragmatic, psychological and emotional variables in Second Language Acquisition and Multilingualism. He is former president of the International Association of Multilingualism and the European Second Language Association. He is General Editor of the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. He won the Equality and Diversity Research Award from the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (2013) and the Robert Gardner Award for Excellence in Second Language and Bilingualism Research (2016) from the International Association of Language and Social Psychology.
