| Summary: |
Registration is open till September 10.
The Foundation for Endangered
Languages (FEL) exists to support, enable and assist the documentation,
protection and promotion of endangered languages. One of the possibilities
to reach this is to bring specialists together during conferences,
which have been held every year since 1996, most recently in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia (2007), Mysore, India (2006), Stellenbosch, South
Africa (2005) and Barcelona, Spain.
In September 2008 the FEL will organise its Twelfth Conference in
the Netherlands in association with the Mercator European Research
Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning and the Fryske Akademy.
Theme of the conference will be Endangered Languages and Language
Learning. The conference will be organised and sponsored in the
framework of the jubilee program KNAW 200. In 2008 the Royal Netherlands
Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) exits 200 years. This will be
celebrated with a large number of (scientific) activities throughout
the year. These activities take place in the context of the general
topic "The Magic of Sciences".
The Conference takes place from 24 – 27 September in the
conference centre of the Fryske Akademy, It Aljemint. The United
Nations’ Year of the Languages will be celebrated in 2008.
On the 26th of September 2008 it is the annual European Language
Day and these two facts will be taken into account during the conference.
Topics could be:
1) Language learning in general:
- Successful multilingual regions with endangered languages
- Language learning processes and language transmission in small
communities
- Language transmission outside formal educational settings (pre-school
facilities, cultural settings, distant learning facilities)
2) Language learning in an educational context:
- Promoting linguistic diversity through multilingual education
and teacher training programs
- Language teaching in small indigenous or migrant communities
- Potential of teaching methods for language revitalisation
- Innovation in language learning and teaching strategies
- Case studies on language immersion in endangered language communities
- The use of electronic tools for language teaching and maintenance
|
