Reflecting on challenges for the language studies field in a multilingual world

Paper sessions 4:00-6:15

Reception 6:15

Rethinking Research into Language Learning and Teaching in a Multilingual World 

As one of the co-authors of a paper in which a group of 15 researchers from different theoretical positions, the Douglas Fir Group, is proposing a new platform for researching language learning and teaching in the 21st century, the presenter will describe the framework and provide details about its major components and implications for teaching. 

James Lantolf, Pennsylvania State University 

Conceptualizing Language Learners: Socio-Institutional Mechanisms and their Consequences 

This presentation examines diverse conceptualizations of language learners over time. It argues that formalized language instruction both creates and requires categorizations that are shaped by interacting mechanisms, including theoretical perspectives, educational policies, instructional materials, pedagogical traditions, and accountability requirements. Importantly, these are not neutral and often have life-impacting consequences for individuals.  

Guadalupe Valdes, Stanford University 

Technology in Language Use, Language Teaching, and Language Learning 

Taking a capacious view of technology and language teaching and learning, the presentation considers ways that technological media influence contexts and forms of communication. It proposes a set of heuristic questions to help guide language teachers and researchers in determining how to incorporate technology into their teaching practice and research agenda.  

Dorothy Chun, The Gevirtz School 

Language Program Evaluation 

This presentation considers language program evaluation as a pragmatic mode of inquiry that illuminates the complex nature of language-related interventions, the factors that affect them, and the consequences that ensue. It highlights how changing global circumstances, technological affordances, and contexts and purposes for language learning are impacting the nature of evaluation.  

John Norris, Georgetown University 

Research Methodology in Second Language Studies: Trends, Concerns and New Directions 

Adopting a cross-field perspective that considers both a more anthropologically oriented approach that favors qualitative methods as well as a more cognitive and quantitative orientation the presenters argue for a form of "layering" that makes it possible to draw from the wealth of paradigms in order to address outstanding research challenges.  

Alison Mackey, Georgetown University 
Kendall King, University of Minnesota