2026 BAAL LESJ SIG PGR Research Dialogues - 23 April, 2-4pm
The BAAL Language & Education for Social Justice SIG Committee is pleased to invite you to the 2026 PGR Research Dialogues, an online event bringing together postgraduate researchers working at the intersections of language, education, and social justice.
The event will take place on Thursday, 23 April 2026, from 14:00 to 16:00 (UK time), online via Zoom. It is designed as a supportive and collegial space for doctoral researchers to share their work, exchange ideas, and engage in critical dialogue with peers and colleagues.
We warmly encourage:
We are also delighted that the plenary, “Beyond the Default: Rethinking Pseudonymisation in Applied Linguistics Research,” forms part of this year’s BAAL Cambridge University Press Seminars. Delivered by Katie Webb (University of Warwick), Yanyan Li (University of Warwick), and Kathryn Sidaway (University of Bedfordshire), the session will promote the upcoming webinar on pseudonymisation as an ethical and representational issue in applied linguistics research, with particular attention to social justice, identity, and researcher-participant relationships.
The attached leaflet and programme highlight a rich set of concurrent PGR presentations covering themes such as inequality in English language teaching, bilingual education policy, translanguaging, family language policy, community language schools, LGBTQ+ inclusion in ESOL, standard language ideologies in higher education, literacy and materiality, and eco-social justice in language education.
Please do share this invitation with colleagues and postgraduate researchers who may be interested. Please register HERE. See more details and the programme below. The Zoom link will be sent to registered participants ahead of the event.
With best wishes,
The BAAL LESJ SIG Committee
The event will take place on Thursday, 23 April 2026, from 14:00 to 16:00 (UK time), online via Zoom. It is designed as a supportive and collegial space for doctoral researchers to share their work, exchange ideas, and engage in critical dialogue with peers and colleagues.
We warmly encourage:
- colleagues who would like to support our PGR community
- postgraduate researchers looking for inspiration, dialogue, and connection
- members interested in current PGR research on language, education, and social justice
We are also delighted that the plenary, “Beyond the Default: Rethinking Pseudonymisation in Applied Linguistics Research,” forms part of this year’s BAAL Cambridge University Press Seminars. Delivered by Katie Webb (University of Warwick), Yanyan Li (University of Warwick), and Kathryn Sidaway (University of Bedfordshire), the session will promote the upcoming webinar on pseudonymisation as an ethical and representational issue in applied linguistics research, with particular attention to social justice, identity, and researcher-participant relationships.
The attached leaflet and programme highlight a rich set of concurrent PGR presentations covering themes such as inequality in English language teaching, bilingual education policy, translanguaging, family language policy, community language schools, LGBTQ+ inclusion in ESOL, standard language ideologies in higher education, literacy and materiality, and eco-social justice in language education.
Please do share this invitation with colleagues and postgraduate researchers who may be interested. Please register HERE. See more details and the programme below. The Zoom link will be sent to registered participants ahead of the event.
With best wishes,
The BAAL LESJ SIG Committee
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Call for Proposals
PGR Research Dialogues: Language, Education and Social Justice
Date: Thursday, 23 April 2026
Time: 14:00–16:00
Deadline for proposals: Monday, 16 February 2026 noon.
Overview
We invite Postgraduate Researchers (PGRs) to submit proposals for a two-hour online seminar focused on language, education and social justice. The event aims to provide a supportive and collegial space for PGRs to disseminate their doctoral research, share work in progress, and engage in critical dialogue with peers and senior colleagues.
The seminar foregrounds research that explores how language and education intersect with issues of power, inequality, ideology, and social change, and welcomes contributions from across disciplines and methodological traditions.
Themes
Proposals may engage with, but are not limited to, the following areas:
Format
The seminar will feature a small number of short presentations designed to prioritise discussion and exchange. Contributions may include:
Submission Guidelines
Submissions are welcome from PGRs at any stage of their doctoral studies. We particularly encourage submissions from researchers engaging with minoritised perspectives, communities, or knowledges. Please submit a 250–300 word abstract outlining the details of your presentation. If you are presenting your research, this may involve discussions of design, methodology, participants, significance, findings (if any). Please also include:
Submissions should be posted using this form by February 16, 2026 by noon.
Selection and NotificationProposals will be reviewed by the seminar organisers with the aim of creating a diverse and balanced programme. The abstract will be evaluated based on the quality and relevance to the aims of the Language and Education for Social Justice (LESJ) SIG. Applicants will be notified early March 2026.
Contact
For further information, please contact: [email protected]
Time: 14:00–16:00
Deadline for proposals: Monday, 16 February 2026 noon.
Overview
We invite Postgraduate Researchers (PGRs) to submit proposals for a two-hour online seminar focused on language, education and social justice. The event aims to provide a supportive and collegial space for PGRs to disseminate their doctoral research, share work in progress, and engage in critical dialogue with peers and senior colleagues.
The seminar foregrounds research that explores how language and education intersect with issues of power, inequality, ideology, and social change, and welcomes contributions from across disciplines and methodological traditions.
Themes
Proposals may engage with, but are not limited to, the following areas:
- Language, power, and inequality in educational contexts
- Multilingualism, linguistic diversity, and linguistic justice
- Language policy, educational reform and social movements
- Critical pedagogy, decolonial and postcolonial perspectives
- Intersectionality of race, gender, class, disability, migration, sustainability and education
- Discourse, ideology, and representation in education
- Methodological, ethical, or reflexive issues in social justice–oriented research
Format
The seminar will feature a small number of short presentations designed to prioritise discussion and exchange. Contributions may include:
- Research-in-progress presentations
- Empirical findings from doctoral research
- Methodological or reflexive discussions
- Practice- or policy-focused reflections
Submission Guidelines
Submissions are welcome from PGRs at any stage of their doctoral studies. We particularly encourage submissions from researchers engaging with minoritised perspectives, communities, or knowledges. Please submit a 250–300 word abstract outlining the details of your presentation. If you are presenting your research, this may involve discussions of design, methodology, participants, significance, findings (if any). Please also include:
- Your name
- Email address
- Institutional affiliation
- Stage of doctoral study
- The format of presentation
Submissions should be posted using this form by February 16, 2026 by noon.
Selection and NotificationProposals will be reviewed by the seminar organisers with the aim of creating a diverse and balanced programme. The abstract will be evaluated based on the quality and relevance to the aims of the Language and Education for Social Justice (LESJ) SIG. Applicants will be notified early March 2026.
Contact
For further information, please contact: [email protected]
BAAL Language & Education for Social Justice SIG
Online Summit
Thursday, November 21, 2024
9am - 4:30pm UK time (GMT)
Online Summit
Thursday, November 21, 2024
9am - 4:30pm UK time (GMT)
Register
Theme
Our summit theme, "Bridging Social Justice and Applied Linguistics: Transforming Communities Through Language Education,"
embodies our commitment to fostering positive change through the intersection of social justice and applied linguistics. We believe that
language and applied linguistics are powerful tools for social transformation, and by exploring its application within the realms of
education and community engagement, we can collectively work towards a more just and equitable society.
Conference Goals
We believe that by creating the space for us to share our work related to social justice we can be stronger and tighter as a community
of practices and as such we hope to engage in the following throughout the summit.
Explore our detailed programme and the book of abstracts here.
Theme
Our summit theme, "Bridging Social Justice and Applied Linguistics: Transforming Communities Through Language Education,"
embodies our commitment to fostering positive change through the intersection of social justice and applied linguistics. We believe that
language and applied linguistics are powerful tools for social transformation, and by exploring its application within the realms of
education and community engagement, we can collectively work towards a more just and equitable society.
Conference Goals
We believe that by creating the space for us to share our work related to social justice we can be stronger and tighter as a community
of practices and as such we hope to engage in the following throughout the summit.
- Promoting Critical Inquiry: We seek to facilitate critical inquiry into the intersections of language, power, and social justice within applied linguistics and language education.
- Advancing Anti-Oppressive Pedagogies: Through presentations, and discussions, we aim to advance anti-oppressive pedagogies that challenge systemic inequalities and promote inclusivity.
- Building Collaborative Networks: Our conference will provide a platform for networking and collaboration among scholars, educators, activists, and community members committed to social justice in language education.
- Inspiring Transformative Action: By sharing research, best practices, and lived experiences, we aspire to inspire transformative action both within academic settings and in broader societal contexts.
Explore our detailed programme and the book of abstracts here.
We're happy to announce that we have 2 confirmed plenary speakers for the event - Gavin Lamb and Khawla Badwan - see the the details below.
Plenary Speaker 1:
Bio: Gavin Lamb is an associate professor in the Department of Professional and Intercultural Communication at NHH Norwegian School of Economics and Senior Researcher at the Norwegian Research Centre (NORCE), a climate and sustainability research center in Bergen, Norway. His research draws on ecolinguistics, nexus analysis and multispecies ethnography to examine the sociolinguistics of multilingualism and intercultural communication in wildlife conservation and tourism settings. Towards a decolonial ecolinguistics: Challenging modernity’s triple fracture: In this talk, I explore the implications of Malcom Ferdinand’s (2022) book, Decolonial Ecology: Thinking from the Caribbean World, and his thesis of ‘modernity’s colonial and environmental double fracture’ in the development of a decolonial ecolinguistics better able to address sociolinguistic and environmental (in)justice in a time of interwoven social-ecological crises. To explore how ecologically engaged applied linguists might instead ‘think these fractures together,’ and the implications of this for a decolonial ecolinguistics, I bring this work into dialogue with a growing body of language and communication scholarship drawing on an array of approaches associated with posthumanist theory, multispecies studies, and pluriversal thinking. I further illustrate these ideas with vignettes from my multispecies ethnographic research in Hawai‘i and Norway. I argue that a decolonial ecolinguistics must place at its heart a critique of how modernist ideas about language have functioned as a central device for imagining and reinforcing modernity’s double fracture. In doing so, I suggest that a central task for a decolonial ecolinguistics is to rethink ‘the triple fracture of modernity’—linguistic, ecological and colonial— together again. |
Plenary Speaker 2:
Bio: Khawla Badwan, Reader in Applied Linguistics at Manchester Metropolitan University. Khawla is Reader in Applied Linguistics at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has research expertise in a range of areas including the role of language in social justice struggles, intercultural communication, language education, sociolinguistics of globalisation, and education for ‘good living’ in nature. Pushing language to bear witness: holding the crumbs of words in the face of the unspeakable: In this talk I discuss the affordances and vulnerabilities associated with language in times of collective grief and intersecting forms of injustices. It grapples with the notion of ‘unspeakability’ when speaking becomes a moral imperative associated with a decolonial hospicing project (de Oliveira Andreotti et al, 2015: 28) that deals with anger, helplessness, loss while attempting to create something new. The new-ness is linguistically configured through different forms, processes and genres. The talk offers examples of such forms that respond to the unspeakable with the Arabic لا (No). Not a negative ‘no’, but one that is ‘creative, synthetic, traveling, historical, collective, collecting and stunningly beautiful’ (Komska, et al 2019: 157). |
BAAL Language & Education for Social Justice SIG
Online Summit
Thursday, November 21, 2024
Invitation to Proposal: Autumn 2024 Summit
Dear BAAL Members,
On behalf of our Special Interest Group, it is with great enthusiasm and dedication that we extend this invitation to you for our upcoming summit in Autumn 2024.
Theme:
Our summit theme, "Bridging Social Justice and Applied Linguistics: Transforming Communities Through Language Education," embodies our commitment to fostering positive change through the intersection of social justice and applied linguistics. We believe that language is a powerful tool for social transformation, and by exploring its application within the realms of education and community engagement, we can collectively work towards a more just and equitable society.
Conference Goals:
We believe that by creating the space for us to share our work related to social justice we can be stronger and tighter as a community of practices and as such we hope to engage in the following throughout the summit.
Call for Proposals:
We invite you to contribute to our conference by submitting proposals for presentations and poster sessions that align with our mission and vision. Topics may include but are not limited to:
· Critical approaches to language teaching and learning
· Language policy and planning for social justice
· Language and identity in educational contexts
· Intersectionality and language education
· Community-based language initiatives
· Linguistic diversity and inclusion
· Ethical considerations in applied linguistics research
Important Dates:
Proposal Submission Deadline: July 31, 2024
Notification of Acceptance: August 30, 2024
Conference Date: November 21, 2024
Join Us:
We invite you to join us in this collective endeavour to bridge the gap between social justice and applied linguistics. Together, let us embark on a journey towards transformative pedagogies and equitable societies.
Submit your proposal using this link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdlpFskQkYMqaRJ4KdxInqUAxkEJV6k617zXNpvwTkBmN18GA/viewform
For further inquiries or to volunteer in the organization of this event, please contact the summit chair Yecid Ortega at [email protected]
Warm regards,
Your BAAL LESJ SIG Committee
Dear BAAL Members,
On behalf of our Special Interest Group, it is with great enthusiasm and dedication that we extend this invitation to you for our upcoming summit in Autumn 2024.
Theme:
Our summit theme, "Bridging Social Justice and Applied Linguistics: Transforming Communities Through Language Education," embodies our commitment to fostering positive change through the intersection of social justice and applied linguistics. We believe that language is a powerful tool for social transformation, and by exploring its application within the realms of education and community engagement, we can collectively work towards a more just and equitable society.
Conference Goals:
We believe that by creating the space for us to share our work related to social justice we can be stronger and tighter as a community of practices and as such we hope to engage in the following throughout the summit.
- Promoting Critical Inquiry: We seek to facilitate critical inquiry into the intersections of language, power, and social justice within applied linguistics and language education.
- Advancing Anti-Oppressive Pedagogies: Through presentations, and discussions, we aim to advance anti-oppressive pedagogies that challenge systemic inequalities and promote inclusivity.
- Building Collaborative Networks: Our conference will provide a platform for networking and collaboration among scholars, educators, activists, and community members committed to social justice in language education.
- Inspiring Transformative Action: By sharing research, best practices, and lived experiences, we aspire to inspire transformative action both within academic settings and in broader societal contexts.
Call for Proposals:
We invite you to contribute to our conference by submitting proposals for presentations and poster sessions that align with our mission and vision. Topics may include but are not limited to:
· Critical approaches to language teaching and learning
· Language policy and planning for social justice
· Language and identity in educational contexts
· Intersectionality and language education
· Community-based language initiatives
· Linguistic diversity and inclusion
· Ethical considerations in applied linguistics research
Important Dates:
Proposal Submission Deadline: July 31, 2024
Notification of Acceptance: August 30, 2024
Conference Date: November 21, 2024
Join Us:
We invite you to join us in this collective endeavour to bridge the gap between social justice and applied linguistics. Together, let us embark on a journey towards transformative pedagogies and equitable societies.
Submit your proposal using this link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdlpFskQkYMqaRJ4KdxInqUAxkEJV6k617zXNpvwTkBmN18GA/viewform
For further inquiries or to volunteer in the organization of this event, please contact the summit chair Yecid Ortega at [email protected]
Warm regards,
Your BAAL LESJ SIG Committee
