Full Title: 2nd Symposium in Applied Sign Linguistics

Date: 30-Jun-2011 – 02-Jul-2011
Location: Bristol, United Kingdom
Contact Person: Maria Mertzani
Meeting Email: M.Mertzanni@bristol.ac.uk

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics; Language Acquisition

Language Family(ies): Deaf Sign Language; Sign Language

Call Deadline: 31-Mar-2011

Meeting Description:

2nd Symposium in Applied Sign Linguistics
‘Documenting Sign Languages for Learning and Teaching Purposes’
30/06/2011 – 02/07/2011
Centre for Deaf Studies, University of Bristol, Bristol – U.K.

Call for Papers:

We are pleased to announce the Second Symposium in Applied Sign Linguistics, organised by the Centre for Deaf Studies, University of Bristol, Bristol – U.K. The 1st Symposium in Applied Sign Linguistics: ‘Sign Language Teaching and Learning’ (24 – 26 September 2009) underlined the need for academics, practitioners and the Deaf Community to work in close to share approaches and strategies yielding lasting records of present (and past) achievements in the teaching and learning of sign languages as first, second, and/or foreign languages.  After its successful participation, this second symposium aims at bringing together scholars, researchers and educational practitioners to discuss the ‘documentation’ of sign languages for teaching and learning purposes. The term ‘documentation’ refers to all means that ‘record’ signed languages, and which aim at enhancing the teaching and learning processes.  The main focus will be on the documentation of sign languages mainly through the visual medium i.e. digital video; CALL; Internet, film, etc., and its subsequent use in the teaching and learning of sign languages as first, second, and/or foreign languages.  At this time, when there is so much activity in the field of digital technology (e.g. sign language corpora, e-learning environments, etc), we are pleased to be able to bring together such an impressive range of participants, representing work in the field of Applied Sign Linguistics from all over the world.  We believe that there is a wealth of ‘support’ materials available but very little of these is designed for direct study, and is not structured as a learning/teaching opportunity.

The Symposium welcomes papers on the following sub-themes (in relation to sign language documentation):

– Sign Language Acquisition (L1/L2)
– Sign Language Teaching and Learning (i.e. mother tongue; learner autonomy; teacher development; multilingualism, etc)
– Sign Language Proficiency, Assessment and Evaluation
– Educational Technology
– Sign Language Policy and Planning
– Applied Sign Linguistics and Methodology (i.e. discourse analysis; error analysis; pragmatics etc.)
– Any other topic of interest which is related to the objectives and/or theme of the Symposium.

The Symposium will also host the seminar:  European Dialogue for Sign Language Learner Corpora and CEFR funded by the British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL/Cambridge University Press Seminar).  This seminar aims at bringing together scholars who have experience and interest in the use of sign language (SL) corpora with learners and teachers (hearing and/or deaf) of sign languages as second languages, and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

Abstracts are welcome for oral, poster presentations and pre-conference seminars on the above areas.  Accepted papers will be published shortly after the symposium.

Important Dates:

– Deadline for submission of abstracts: 31st March 2011
– Notices of acceptance will be sent out before 30th April 2011
– Early registration: 31st May 2011

Keynote presentations to be confirmed.

Abstracts should be sent to Dr. Maria Mertzani: M.Mertzani@bristol.ac.uk

British Sign Language (BSL) and English are the official languages of the symposium.

Registration Fee:

Non-student early registration (50 GBP)
Non-student late registration (100 GBP)
Student early registration (25 GBP)
Student late registration (70 GBP)
BAAL/Cambridge University Press Seminar only: 50 GBP

Symposium Organiser:

Dr. Maria Mertzani, Research Assistant, Centre for Deaf Studies, University of Bristol.

For any further enquiries, please contact Dr. Maria Mertzani:

M.Mertzani@bristol.ac.uk