Call for Papers

The Bilinglatam symposia series aim at promoting an exchange of knowledge in the fields of research and teaching on bilingualism, bilingual education, bilingual teacher education and citizenship education among those who work in majority and minority language contexts in Latin America. The past two symposia (Buenos Aires, 2004 and Bogotá, 2006) were concerned to consolidate work carried out in bilingualism in Latin America in relation to policy, pedagogical practices, and teacher education.  Thus, the symposia invited prominent researchers involved with these issues in their research to participate in these events and to inform the debate, taking into account perspectives that will enrich the discussion.
The third symposium will address bilingualism, bilingual education and bilingual teacher education, linking these concepts with the notion of citizenship.  Due to our preoccupation in expanding the scenario to deprived communities, we plan to attend the issue related to prestigious and minorities’ bilingualism, focusing interdependence as a single goal.  The themes of the Symposia are at the core of our responsibility towards a greater community of life and future generations (La Carta de la Tierra en Acción, UNICEF, 2008), emphasizing the condition for access to different cultures, closer forms of coexistence, and the possibility of access to cultural capital.

We feel that an exchange of knowledge and experience between research communities in Latin America will help in the understanding of common issues in an attempt to transform the socio-culturally unbalanced situation in which the Latin American communities live.
The symposium will welcome researchers from various fields of education and applied linguistics, including undergraduate students, masters and doctors from the participant institutions. We feel that this is a great opportunity to improve connections between Latin American researchers, through generating discussion and debate on issues arising from the relations between bilingualism, bilingual education and identity, bilingualism, bilingual education and intercultural relations, and bilingualism, bilingual education and citizenship.

The Organising Committee invites proposals for presentations on any aspect of the main themes of the conference.

Submit an abstract of your paper or poster in 200 – 500 words. The abstract should include enough detail to allow reviewers to judge the scientific merits of the proposal. Abstracts will be reviewed by members of the Academic Committee. Oral papers and poster presentations will be allotted 30 minutes, allowing 20 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for questions. The official languages of the symposium are English, Portuguese, LIBRAS and Spanish.

Please complete and submit the enclosed Presenter's Form and abstract to: bilinglatamiii@yahoo.com.br

Deadline: May 16TH , 2009