'Translanguaging': Bringing together linguistic, cognitive and social perspectives

Professor Li Wei, Director of the Centre for Applied Linguistics at the UCL Institute of Education (IOE), gave the Opening Keynote address at the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) conference.

The conference, held on 18-21 March in Portland, Oregon, USA, focused on "Applied Linguistics and Transdisciplinarity".

In his keynote address, Li Wei discussed how the concept of Translanguaging brings together linguistic, cognitive and social perspectives on the repertoires of multilingual speakers, and the implications for the theory for language teaching and learning and bilingual education policy and practice.

AAAL has an international reputation for being a comprehensive and stimulating conference that includes in-depth colloquia and paper sessions, topical and thought-provoking plenary presentations, book exhibits, and opportunities for networking.

The conference is motivated by a desire to bring closer to researchers in the field the rich intellectual and imaginative resources of thinkers outside Applied Linguistics whose work on language can act as a stimulus and trigger for our own thinking.

Links

• Q&A with Li Wei
• Li Wei's Twitter profile
• Centre for Applied Linguistics

Image

• Pattern (courtesy of Marcu Ioachim, via Flickr).