Banner Viadrina

31. AKS-Arbeitstagung
5. - 7. März 2020 | Frankfurt (Oder)

Call for papers

Language.Politics.Language Policy

The contribution of language centres to universities of the future

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Universities are often compared to ships. Like ships, they are difficult to steer and changing course requires a lot of effort and struggle. Currently European societies find themselves in the middle of dramatic social and political changes. Universities, as a mirror of society, must respond to these changes. This means that they may have to change course in the rough seas of current academic- and societal politics. This affects the contents of programs of study and research but most of all, teaching. Catch phrases like digitalization, internationalization and mobility fill the sails of universities and power them full speed ahead. Education ministers, political decision makers and academic organizations are often left in their wake. What role does language instruction play in this? Is language instruction the wind in the sails that changes the ship’s course? Is language an anchor? In this context, how is the role of the language policy seen? Will it be defined by crew members or by officers? Can the language policy aid the captain in plotting a different course for his ship?

The 31rst AKS: (Arbeitskreis der Sprachenzentren an Hochschulen) e. V -Workshop/Conference would like to address a number of these key issues, which will be looked at more closely in different work groups.

With the title, Laguage. Politics. Language Policy, the themes from politics and university policies which affect university language centres will be addressed and discussed.

The Language Centre of the European University Viadrina is above all proud to be able to organize this conference, because we are also celebrating the 50th anniversary of the founding of AKS e.V. The program will be filled out with fascinating keynote lectures, book exhibits and many anniversary activities.

We, therefore, invite your contributions (presentations, workshops or posters) from the theoretical and practical aspects of university language instruction to make the conference a success.

Presentation options

a presentation in one of the work groups (25 minute presentation and 15 minute discussion)
poster presentation
Workshop (90 minutes in consultation with the organizers)

Language of presentations

German
English
other language in consultation with the organizers

Submission deadline

Please submit your abstracts by 15th November, 2019 to: aks-2020@europa-uni.de. You will be notified by 15th December 2019 whether your presentation, poster or workshop has been accepted.

Abstracts

Your abstract should be written in one of the two official conference languages: German or English, should not contain more than 1500 characters (including space characters) and will be published in the conference brochure.

Conference registration

You can register for the conference starting the 1rst July, 2019 at: www.sz.europa-uni.de/aks-2020

Registration fee

Before 31rst December, 2019     | €85.00 (early registration discount)

                                                    | €75.00 (discount for free-lance teachers, students and work group leaders)

After 1rst January, 2020             | €105.00

Conference Dinner                     | €35.00

(these fees include 19% USt.)

registration until:                        | 23.02.2020

Payment/Money transfers:

To transfer the conference fees please use the following bank information:

Recipient:                    Europa-Universität Viadrina

Bank:                           Sparkasse Oder-Spree

IBAN:                           DE82 1705 5050 3003 0030 02

BIC:                              WELADED1LOS

Reason for Payment:     20297/32000031/first and family name of participant

Cancelation

You can cancel your registration free of charge until 5th February, 2020

Conference Organizers

Language Centre at the European University Viadrina, Große Scharrnstr. 59, 15230 Frankfurt (Oder) www.sz.europa-uni.de

Arbeitskreis der Sprachenzentren an Hochschulen e. V. www.aks-sprachen.de

Time and place

5-7 March, 2020 | Europa Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder)

Contact

Questions should be addressed to Alexander Grimm at: aks-2020@europa-uni.de, Tel: +49 335 5534 3727