Structure & Conference Program
The congress will follow the usual AILA pattern of a one-week event. It will take place both at the Congress Centre Essen (CCE) and the University of Duisburg-Essen, Campus Essen. By using the two sites, AILA 2008 hosts just above 100 three-hour symposia, 900 individual papers (30 min.) and 80 poster presentations, covering a wide range of themes. The morning seesions will be devoted to individual papers, the afternoons to symposia. Further information on the sites, including maps, is available under The Venue.
The 15th World Congress is organised according to thematic strands, amongst those are:
- Second Language Acquisition
- Language and Education in Multilingual Settings
- Foreign Language Teaching and Teacher Education
- Educational Technology and Language Learning
- Business Communication
- Translating, Interpreting and Mediation
- Discourse Analysis, Rhetoric and Stylistics
- Sociolinguistics
- Multilingualism and Multiculturalism
- Intercultural Communication
- The potential of linguistic diversity in Europe
Additionally, Research Network Symposia (ReNs) and so-called Featured Symposia on selected aspects of Applied Linguistics (Mercator- and ECML-Symposium) will take place on Wednesday, August 27.
The congress program is complemented by keynotes from renowned researchers from around the globe. The organising committee is proud to announce that Neville Alexander (South Africa), Jim Cummins (Canada), Konrad Ehlich (Germany), Rita Franceschini (Italy), Claire Kramsch (USA), and Shi-xu (China) will hold keynote speeches.
Overview of the congress modules
The complete AILA 2008 conference program (5.7 MB) can be downloaded here:
The complete AILA 2008 conference program abstracts (2.3 MB) can be downloaded here:
A general overview over the AILA 2008 program can be downloaded here:
- AILA program (all days)
On Wednesday there will be a special academic program. Not only the Research Network Symposia (ReNs) will take place on this day, but also the specially featured Mercator Symposium and the ECML Symposium. For the schedule of Wednesday's program take a look at the schedules below.
- ReN-Symposia (Wednesday 27, August 2008)
- Mercator-Symposium (Wednesday 27, August 2008)
- ECML-Symposium (Wednesday 27, August 2008)
- Symposia focusing on specifically European topics
Please note:
Poster-Sessions will be integrated into the program throughout the week.
Wednesday afternoon and evening are dedicated to excursions and visiting cultural highlights in our region.
The opening ceremony will take place on Sunday, August 24 and the conference will see a closing keynote on the afternoon of Friday, August 29.