Jennifer Slinkard's Conference Summary

    Jennifer Slinkard
     Ph.D. Student
     Second Lanuage Acquisition & Teaching GIDP

     Conference Summary
     Multidisciplinary Approaches in Language Policy & Planning Conference
     Toronto, Canada

I am honored to have been awarded the H.E. Carter Travel Grant to travel to Toronto in Ontario, Canada for the Multidisciplinary Approaches to Language Planning and Policy this August. Toronto was the perfect setting for a conference about language policy, where more than 140 languages are spoken and almost half of the population is foreign-born. 

I was grateful for the chance to present my own dissertation research, which I have only just begun, on the language ideologies and policies of a large undergraduate writing program. Though my presentation was rushed, I received invaluable feedback from those attendees, including some advice on next steps to take in my data collection and analysis. I was delighted to have another UA alum attend my presentation, who is now teaching in Puerto Rico. 

In addition to hearing excellent presentations on race and language policies, using urban linguistic landscapes as pedagogical tools, and an analysis of language policy in the UK, I was privileged to meet Elana Shohamy, whose language policy model I adopt in my research. I also was able to meet new colleagues doing similar language policy research around the globe.  

Although this conference was smaller than others I have been to, it undoubtedly provided me access to the niche group doing the same kinds of research as I am, and I am grateful for the opportunity to have joined them.