Call for Symposia Proposals: World Congress of Applied Linguistics

Call for symposia proposals Deadline: May 6th, 2019

AILA2020 will take place from August 9-14 in 2020 in Groningen, the Netherlands. As conference organizers, we aim to bring together the diverse branches of Applied Linguistics. Our ambition is to accept as many quality papers as possible so that our colleagues from all over the world can attend.

However, the challenge with such a huge conference is organizing it in such a way that the strands are coherent, do not overlap, and that attendees are not frustrated by having to switch rooms all the time. Therefore, we decided to introduce a new format, which the AILA board has approved. The new conference format will consist of symposia with half-day slots –all with a similar format– as described below. Also, the AILA Research Networks (RENs) will be asked to organize their symposium in the same format. We hope this new format will facilitate conference attendees switching rooms only during coffee breaks and lunch.

This is a call for organizers of these symposia. They may be on any theme within Applied Linguistics as defined by AILA: an interdisciplinary field of research and practice dealing with practical problems of language and communication that can be identified, analysed or solved by applying available theories, methods and results of Linguistics or by developing new theoretical and methodological frameworks in Linguistics.

The general call for papers for AILA2020 will be sent out later in the year with the symposia as strands. We hope that many AILA members will start thinking about exciting topics for these symposia and be

ready to propose one before May 6th, 2019.

How and when can you propose a symposium?

In this new AILA conference format, symposium organizers take center stage: you are actually responsible for organizing a “conference-within-a conference”. By May 6th 2019, you will be asked to submit a symposium proposal containing a theme (and up to three sub-themes) and naming at least one featured speaker. After these proposals have been accepted, the symposia titles will serve as “strands” in the general call for papers that will be sent out to the larger AILA community on July 1st, 2019..

As symposium organizer, you will be responsible for coordinating the blind reviewing process submitted to your “strand”, and for selecting the papers and posters you deem appropriate. You will also be responsible for the programming of the papers and posters within the slots as explained below. An AILA2020 conference tool will be available to facilitate your symposia administration.

Depending on the number of sub-themes, your symposium will be assigned one to three half-day slots, each organized around a coherent sub-theme. Also, should the number of quality papers exceed expectations, you may ask for more half-day slots and the AILA organizers will try to accommodate this.

Note: To keep registration costs as low as possible, AILA 2020 will not be able to fund any featured speakers, but symposium organizers are free to obtain their own funding if possible.

How will we achieve coherent programming?

All symposia half-day slots will have the same general format, and organizers will be asked to create as much coherence in each slot as possible, giving both established researchers and young academics the opportunity to interact and get to know each other.

As organizer, you will be the chair for your symposium, but are asked to follow the standard format: Each half-day slot starts with a 40-minute session featuring a speaker (invited by the symposium organizers). Before the coffee break, there is a 50-minute session for two to four presentations related in content. After the coffee/tea break, there is a 75-minute session for three to five presentations. Depending on the total number of papers accepted and the quality or topic of the paper, you are free to assign the number of minutes per presentation within a session (e.g. 10, 15 or 20 minutes). You may also ask participants to exchange papers/PowerPoints before the conference to ensure coherence.

At the end of each half-day slot, there will be five to ten 2-minute multi-modal poster pitches. The posters will then be presented directly after the symposium in a designated area during lunch and/or pre-dinner drink reception. In other words, the symposia attendees can mingle and network in their own poster area.

Morning slots:

8.30- 9.10: 9.10-10.00: 10.00-10.30: 10.30-11.45: 11.45-12.00:

12.00-13.00 13.00-14.30:

Featured speaker 30-minute presentation with 10-minute discussion Related presentations (2 to 4) with general discussion
Coffee
Related presentations (3 to 5) with general discussion

5 to 10 poster pitches of 2 minutes each PLENARY SPEAKER
Lunch and posters in dedicated poster area

Afternoon slots:

14.30-15.10: 15.10-16.00: 16.00-16.30: 16.30-17.45: 17.45-18.00: 18.00-19.00:

Featured speaker 30-minute presentation with 10-minute discussion Related presentations (2 to 4) with general discussion
Coffee
Related presentations (3 to 5) with general discussion

5 to 10 poster pitches of 2 minutes each Drinks and posters in dedicated poster area

To give you a sense of what a potential symposium might eventually look like, the following contrived example is presented:

Vocabulary in Instruction, Exposure, and Assessment

Chaired by Norbert and Diane Schmitt

Chairs lead general discussions

8.30-9.10: 9.10-10.00:

Paper 1 Paper 2 Paper 3

10.00-10.30:

10.30-11.45:

Paper 1 Paper 2 Paper 3 Paper 4

11.45-12.00:

Batia Laufer Principles for combining vocabulary teaching and assessment Studies into the effectiveness of explicit and incidental vocabulary learning

Marion Durbahn Quinteros Learning vocabulary from television (10 minutes)
Eva Puimège Vocabulary learning from out-of-class exposure (10 minutes) Marijana Macis Comparing two techniques for teaching collocations (10 minutes)

General discussion Coffee

Measuring size and depth of vocabulary

Henrik Gyllstad Psycholinguistic perspectives of vocabulary testing (15 minutes) Benjamin Kremmel Picture-based items for measuring vocabulary size (15 minutes) Laurence Anthony Using the Knowledge-based Vocabulary List in tests (15 minutes) Stuart McLean Measuring receptive and productive affix knowledge (15 minutes)

General discussion
7 poster pitches of 2 minutes each

How do I submit a symposium proposal?

Please visit the website, where you will be asked to provide the following:
The names and email addresses of the primary organizer and the co-organizer. We prefer two

organizers in case of unforeseen circumstances.

The proposed symposium title. Please make it catchy and specific to attract the kind of submissions you want.

4 keywords
A brief description (max. 200 words) of the Symposium including describing the focus, the relevance

for the field and how it addresses the keywords involved.

A 50-word description to advertise your symposium in the call for papers.
The name(s) of (a) featured speaker(s) (please check beforehand whether these people are available). The number of half-day slots that you expect you will need.

The deadline for submission is May 6th, 2019. Symposium proposals will be evaluated by the Scientific Committee, and the selected list will be communicated on June 27th, 2019. Please be aware that the number of symposium proposals is likely to be larger than can be accepted. Therefore, not all symposium proposals can be selected. We may request that symposium proposals on overlapping subjects be combined. Symposium organizers should therefore not make any promises to the featured speakers before the symposium is selected.

The general call for papers within symposia will be sent out on July 1st, 2019, with an anticipated closing

date of September 16th, 2019. We expect to notify whether papers are accepted or not by November 18th.

Marjolijn Verspoor
Chair AILA2020 organizing committee AILA2020@gcb.nl