Public Lecture: The Life, Afterlife and Prior Life of Applied Linguistics
About this event
Join us for a a keynote presentation by Professor Joseph Lo Bianco on the past, present and future of languages, language planning and policy in Australia and Aotearoa, including a Q&A session moderated by Professor Roly Sussex.
The School of Languages and Cultures is hosting this event in collaboration with the Applied Linguistics Association of Australia and the ABC.
Keynote speaker
Professor Joseph Lo Bianco, Professor of Language and Literacy Education, University of Melbourne.
Professor Lo Bianco is a specialist in bilingual education, literacy studies, and conflict mitigation with four decades of work in peacebuilding efforts in various South and Southeast Asian settings, especially Sri Lanka, Myanmar, South Thailand and Malaysia. Prof Lo Bianco is series editor of Springer Language Policy books and has published over 40 books and major reports and more than 150 academic papers.
Lecture abstract
For more than 50 years, applied linguistics has brought together a diverse set of activities, research areas and questions, along with a social and cultural mission. At its heart are real-world problems. Careful, systematic research informed by the language sciences can shed light on these problems, as the field has shown time and again. The language sciences include linguistics but reach well beyond the formal study and description of language.
Professor Lo Bianco will argue that a central theme, an ethical principle and an epistemological framework unite much of applied linguistics, and that this theme relates to ‘substantive’ citizenship. The idea comes from the history of economic, technological and social change, which places communication at the centre of how people relate to each other in social space. It asks how we can resolve differences without conflict, tackle injustice without violence, enliven culture without exclusive elitism, and hold diverse social groups together in a common polity.
He will draw mainly on his work in language policy and planning in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, and more widely in Myanmar and Sri Lanka. He will also reflect on the underappreciated social importance at the centre of applied linguistics practice.
Contact: Dr Annita Stell (a.stell@uq.edu.au)
