Post by Dobrochna Futro
On 31st of August 2019 the AILA Creative Inquiry in Applied Linguistics Research Network will convene a colloquium entitled ‘Broadening the Horizons Beyond Language’ as part of the British Association for Applied Linguistics Conference 2019 ‘Broadening the Horizons of Applied Linguistics’. The colloquium will be co-convened by myself, Dobrochna Futro, (Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh and University of Glasgow) and Marta Nitecka Barche (University of Aberdeen).
Humans’ ability to learn and use language is complex and can affect or be affected by multiple factors, for example: one’s sense of identity, self-confidence, and self-realisation. Language can be also used to confine or empower rebellion, resistance, and negotiation. In this colloquium, we will explore conceptual spaces that reach beyond the surface of language using, learning, and teaching; and research methods that allow for the exploration of those complex and nonlinear processes. In discussing the way creative inquiry enables broadening the horizons of applied linguistics, we will also consider the horizons of creative inquiry itself in its relation to language, its use, learning, and teaching.
The colloquium will consist of four papers:
- Andrea Milde from the Nottingham Trent University will look at the creative language use in the field of drama to consider usefulness of applied linguistics in judging applied linguistics research into creativity.
- Marta Nitecka Barche from the University of Aberdeen will explore the relationship between creativity and language learning by looking at this relationship through the lens of different theories of creativity and focusing on adult learners’ perception of creativity and language learning processes.
- Louise Atkinson, independent artist-researcher and Jessica Bradley from the University of Sheffield will discuss possibility of a shared theory of creativity with Applied Linguistics in the context of co-produced research by exploring the idea of art education as communicative repertoire.
- Lou Harvey from the University of Leeds will consider the process of the production of voice in participatory arts, reflecting on the affordances of arts-based methods for analysis of knowledge beyond and besides words and for enabling the expression of what was previously unarticulated, unheard and undervalued.
More information is available on the website: https://www2.mmu.ac.uk/education/baal/
