Call: Presentations of current research, development projects and good practice

Today´s classrooms are culturally and linguistically diverse. To implement appropriate educational practices requires from pedagogues at all academic levels special knowledges, skills and competences which will help them deal with and promote cultural and linguistic diversity. However, rather than simply promoting and talking about diversity, we need to develop innovative pedagogies which will enable the negotiation of challenging academic content and build on the participants’ experience with languages and cultures.
The conference brings together practitioners and researchers to address issues and aspects of language education in multilingual societies. The diversity of perspectives on multilingualism is reflected in the diverse aspects discussed by the keynote speakers. In her keynote address, Emmanuelle Le Pichon-Vorstman (University of Toronto) will focus on current developments and practice on language-friendly pedagogies worldwide. Silva Bratož and Anja Pirih (University of Primorska, Koper) will talk about children´s perceptions of different languages. Simone Naphegyi (University College of Teacher Education Vorarlberg) will present the results of her research on leadership for language-friendly school development. Christiana Nöstlinger and Barbara Waldschütz, daughters of the renown children’s book author Christine Nöstlinger, will introduce the “Netzwerk für frühe Leseförderung” (https://www.wasstehtda.at/). The Early Childhood Reading Promotion Network pools the forces of those who are committed to encouraging reading in Austria.
The goal is to promote the joy of language and reading in children before they learn to write and read.
Among other things, the conference will provide an insight into the work of voXmi, a nationwide Austrian network for strengthening multilingualism in a variety of educational institutions – from kindergarten to vocational secondary school – on the basis of a holistic development approach (https://www.voxmi.at/). The conference is organised in co-operation with the Erasmus + project »Diversity in action: a cross-border online space for training teachers through multilingual and multicultural experiences« (DivA). The project is aimed at improving teacher education by developing an innovative cooperation model among partners which will create opportunities for education students to develop competences for teaching in linguistically and culturally diverse contexts. For more information please visit https://divaproject.upr.si/.

We look forward to receiving abstracts on the following topics:

  • aspects of developing linguistic diversity,
  • developing competences for teaching in linguistically and culturally diverse settings,
  • socio-linguistic aspects of multilingualism,
  • pluralistic approaches to language learning.

The voXmi annual focus for 2023/24 is “Reading and Listening Comprehension in the Context of
Linguistic Diversity and Multilingualism”. During the conference, a special emphasis will be
placed on this in the practice-oriented contributions in the afternoon of the second day. Research
projects that refer to this are of particular interest.
Formats of professional exchange:
(1) Talk (presentations of current research – 20 min talk, 10 min discussion)
(2) Workshop (presentation and discussion of good practice – 90 min)
(3) Poster (on good practice and current research)

Abstract submissions:

Send your abstract for a presentation of max. 300 words to Diva@phwien.ac.at by 4 February 2024 at the latest. The working languages in the plenary session are English and German.
Therefore, please indicate in which of these two languages you would prefer to give your
presentation or whether both languages would be equally possible for you. You will receive
feedback on the abstract by February 9, 2024.