On 24 June 2016, the University of Southampton’s Centre for Global Englishes held a one-day international PhD conference on Global Englishes in the Marcus Liebherr Lounge of Southampton Football Club. This conference was designed for doctoral and early postdoc students working in the research field of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), or more broadly, Global Englishes.
The event began with a keynote from Professor Anna Mauranen. Under the title ELF and change, she elucidated how ELF would be conceptualised from diverse perspectives, and also suggested future research directions. The rest of the day consisted of six paper presentations and a methodology workshop. The topics of the papers ranged widely, such as spoken/written ELF, English medium instruction, identity, and action research. Both the morning and afternoon presentations ended with Professor Rosamond Mitchell’s invaluable feedback on each presenter’s research project. A lively atmosphere among participants was apparent during the methodology workshop as well as a question-and-answer period following each presentation. A panel discussion towards the end of the conference added a further liveliness. Meanwhile, lunch in Matthew Le Tissier Suite and three refreshment occasions helped participant students to network and discuss their own research
As far as I know, this is the first international PhD conference focusing on Global Englishes. My hope is that the Centre for Global Englishes continues providing such an international forum for young researchers, thereby assisting them in advancing the research field.
Tomokazu Ishikawa, Conference Secretary
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Presentations:
Tomokazu Ishikawa, Sonia Morán Panero & Chittima Sangiamchit
Posted By : Erin Forward