The European Dimension of AILA 2008
A special European Strand of Symposia will be held at AILA 2008. This strand will be prominently placed in the programme and identified as one of the special highlights of the congress.
Starting from the topical theme:
Multilingualism: Challenges and Opportunities
AILA 2008 will not lose two different perspectives out of sight:
1) The European Perspective
2) The regional Perspective.
The European Perspective will be omnipresent throughout the entire congress. Symposia dealing with European topics, papers will provide insights into European aspects such as the European identity. Europe as a multilingual and multicultural region deeply influences today's science—AILA 2008 takes the European issue up by reflecting upon a core European subject: Learning foreign languages and living in a multilingual environment.
AILA 2008 will show the results of an intense cooperation between the University of Duisburg-Essen, the German Association for Applied Linguistics (GAL), the Austrian Association of Applied Linguistics (VERBAL), The Netherland's Association for Applied Linguistics (ANéLA) and will provide a platform for discussion of latest research results amongst scholars, practicians and political entities.
Regarding the regional perspective, the Ruhr region has for more than 300 years been a region shaped by immigration and by the resulting mix of cultures and languages as a daily routine. Today the region faces the challenges of industrial decline but also the opportunities arising from the need to build up new structures. It is a region full of change, full of life and hence particularly well preprared to host discussions around the challenges and opportunities of multilingualism.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.