AAAL 2027: Virtual Invited Colloquia
Troubling/Interrogating Local Knowledges in Applied Linguistics
Phan Le Ha, National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU Hanoi, Vietnam, UCL-IOE, University College London, UK
Joel Windle, Adelaide University, Australia
Colloquium Abstract
A growing body of work has rediscovered and reformulated the importance of local knowledge as well as its nuances. This includes discussions on the geopolitics of knowledge circulation, the sociolinguistics of globalization, knowledge mobilization and academic mobility, alternative approaches to creating, presenting and communicating (academic) knowledge, critical literacy and critical approaches to language education in global contexts, and on the dynamics of colonialism/coloniality on language and education. Local knowledge emerges as an epistemological resource, an emancipatory counterpoint to global knowledge systems, and the locus of both meaning and identity making. In this recouperation and celebration of local knowledge, however, there is a danger of erasing complexities, tensions and hierarchies in favour of a romanticised and unified notion of the local and what it may entail. At the same time, radical critics of both local and colonial oppressions sought to reimagine different local-global futures that broke with exclusionary power structures, creating new mythologies and solidarities across borders.
Local knowledges always shift in their meaning and effects through processes of scholarly reframing and circulation, including practices of (trans)languaging, translation and reinterpretation in new contexts. This invited colloquium seeks to debate the politics, practices and consequences of local knowledge production, as well as their documented and anticipated effects, and possible recontextualizations of local knowledge in the field of applied linguistics. It asks a number of questions such as “Why does the global-local knowledge paradigm/nexus persist despite critiques? Whose local knowledge and language are granted recognition? How should/may we make sense of the different scales and hierarchies of knowledge as embedded in language? How can we approach intercultural encounters across layers of local knowledges and languages? Who is referred to when discussing local knowledge and local language? And what implications these complex dynamics may have for teaching, research, and community service and engagement in applied linguistics and language education more broadly?”
Plurilingual Pedagogies as Resistance for Social and Linguistic Liberation
Angelica Galante, McGill University
Colloquium Abstract
Amid escalating linguistic violence and imperialist language regimes that systematically marginalize non-dominant voices, education systems must actively dismantle monolingual and elitist paradigms. This colloquium positions plurilingual pedagogies as a vital mechanism for political resistance, linguistic liberation, and systemic change. Plurilingual pedagogies leverage learners’ full linguistic, cultural, and racial repertoires as key assets for critical agency (Galante, 2025). In doing so, they actively contribute to decolonizing language education (Galante et al., 2024), dismantling linguistic discrimination, and equipping diverse learners to critically examine social, political, and racial inequalities (Sultana & Dovchin, 2021).
Bringing together international perspectives from New Zealand, Australia, Bangladesh, the United States, and Canada, this session bridges empirical research and pedagogical practice to challenge dominant language hierarchies and deficit-based views of multilingual learners. Through six papers spanning rural and urban settings, presenters showcase teacher education frameworks, learner-centered practices, and community initiatives that operationalize plurilingual approaches across diverse contexts. Participants will engage with three critical questions:
- How can language educators employ plurilingual pedagogies to help dismantle systemic classroom inequities?
- What teacher education frameworks effectively prepare future educators to implement plurilingual pedagogies within officially monolingual or bilingual policies?
- What context-specific challenges arise when operationalizing plurilingualism, and how can they be overcome to sustain educational equity?
The colloquium will begin with an introduction, followed by the six papers. Centering marginal, Indigenous, and plurilingual perspectives, this colloquium offers pathways toward resisting linguistic discrimination and expanding the transformative possibilities of plurilingualism. The colloquium will end with an open discussion between the audience and the panelists.