The central notion in the theme of the 2024 symposium was plurilanguaging which is basically the enactment of plurilingualism, defined and described in the CEFRCV (Council of Europe, 2020). Like the notion of translaguaging, it refers to language users involved in a process of meaning-making, using all the linguistic and semiotic resources they have in their repertoire, rather than fuss over which ‘language’ to use in which social context. Our concern being that both schools and higher education institutions continue to be a monolingual enterprise, we need to move from theory to practice and to understand how we can transform education in such a way so that it is suitable for our super-diverse societies in a globally interconnected world Like other annual ECSPM symposia, this year’s event brings together a group of distinguished academics and educators who will share, discuss, and present their views and experiences, but also raise questions and point to those queries that need to be investigated.
The symposium programme is available in the Symposium Pamphlet at the bottom of this page. It also contains information about the speakers and abstracts of their presentations.
Where available, PPTs can be accessed below (click on title of talk).
INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS:
Visions and actions encouraging language learning in the EU
Anna Solé Mena European Commission (Unit for Schools and Multilingualism)
Promoting multilingualism in Europe’s bilingual capital
Philippe Van Parijs Chair of the Brussels Council for Multilingualism
Welcome and introduction to the 8th annual ECSPM Symposium
Bessie Dendrinos, ECSPM President
Commenting on the concept of ‘plurilanguaging’, a central notion of this year’s event
Enrica Piccardo (CEFRCV co-author), University of Toronto
The monolingual habitus revisited
Jürgen Jaspers (Université Libre de Bruxelles)
Do monolinguals even exist? Expanding all students’ plurlilingualism in mainstream classrooms
Gail Prasad (York University, Canada)
The English-Medium Engineering Classroom: Spaces of Multilingualism and/or Individual Repertoirs?
Stef Slembrouck and Alexander De Soete (Universiteit Gent and University of the Western Cape)
Plurilingual scholars in (predominantly onolingual higher education
Sílvia Melo-Pfeifer (Universität Hamburg)
Breaking the silence, unlocking the potential of multilingual classrooms
Andrea Young (Université de Strasbourg)
Language awareness, participative reflective practice and developing a multilingual identity
Linda Fisher (University of Cambridge)
Translanguaging as a ground-up pedagogy: Creating (dis)continuities
Elma Blom and Mirona Moraru (Universiteit Utrecht)
“It’s good for us but not for him”: monolingual strata in plurilingual classroom practice
Nell Foster (Université Libre de Belgique)
Working towards a strong interaction between parents and school
Hilde De Smedt, coordinator of multilingualism, Foyer VZW
Bilingualism Matters experts working with parents and teachers of bi-/multilingual children: science communications and advice network
Theodoros Marinis (Universität Konstanz)
A refreshing and intensive e-course on multilingualism for teachers
Laura Emery and Iris Vandevelde (Universiteit Gent)
How a blended training programme can change teachers’ monolingual mindset – a programme funded by UNICEF
George Androulakis (Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλίας – University of Thessaly)