New Symposium on English Linguistics at UIB

On 8th May, Cristina Suárez and Lucía Loureiro will host a new Symposium on English Linguistics: English Linguistics in the 21st Century, which will take place at the Facultat de Filosofia I Lletres of the University of the Balearic Islands.

The title of the Symposium makes reference to the novelty of the studies presented. The first guest speaker, Dr Paloma Núñez-Pertejo (University of Santiago de Compostela) will discuss her latest research on youth language in the London area and, crucially, she will compare it with current dis(similar) trends observed in Spanish youth language, as represented in COLA, the Corpus Oral de Lenguaje Adolescente. The second guest speaker, Heidi Douglas (University of Vigo) will tackle a still under-researched topic in Spain: the presence of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) at Spanish universities. Her study of the attitudes of professors and students towards the teaching and learning of ELF, based on hundreds of questionnaires and interviews, intends to provide an answer to the question why ELF is hardly recognized in Spain whereas ELF-aware materials and classes are common in other European universities. 

We are grateful to Paloma and Heidi for accepting our invitation to discuss their latest findings in our Symposium and look forward to it.