[[ SAAL ]]

Events

The 27th SAAL Lecture and Annual General Meeting will be held on the evening of Friday, 16th September and will feature a lecture by Professor Amy Tsui of the University of Hong Kong.

6.00–7.15 pm: SAAL Lecture on ‘Classroom Discourse Research and Classroom Ethnography’ by Professor Amy Tsui, Pro-Vice-Chancellor & Vice-President (Teaching and Learning), University of Hong Kong & Chair Professor, Faculty of Education

7.15–9.00 pm: Dinner & AGM 2011

Venue: Ground Floor, Tanglin Room 2, Regional Language Centre, 30 Orange Grove Road, Singapore

Please see the flier (click here) for more details.

Price: FREE for members, non-members have to pay $30 but if they join SAAL as a member, it is also FREE.

For catering purposes, RSVP (to representatives by Thursday, 1st September 2011).

Past Events

There will be a SAAL talk given by Selim Ben Said (click here to view the flyer).

The talk will be at 6.00–7.00pm, Thursday, 10th March 2011 and will be held in the Staff Lounge, Blk 82, SIM University (UniSIM), 461 Clementi Road. Tea will be served from 5.30pm.

The talk is organised by the Singapore Association for Applied Linguistics in Collaboration with School of Arts and Social Sciences, SIM University

All are welcome!

Linguistic Landscape Research:

Possibilities for Sociolinguistic Explorations of Multilingualism

The study of linguistic landscape (LL) is an emerging interdisciplinary field which encompasses areas of research such as sociolinguistics, language policy and planning, multilingualism as well as other disciplines. Despite the fact that this relatively new research area has been labelled in different ways (‘visual landscaping’; ‘cityscapes’ (Gorter, 2006); ‘geosemiotics’ (Scollon & Scollon, 2003); etc.) a seminal paper by Landry and Bourhis (1997) has provided some defining characteristics which have established LL as a distinct field. In keeping with the latest developments in LL studies (Backhaus, 2007; Gorter & Shohamy, 2009; Jaworski & Thurlow, 2010; Shohamy et al. 2010), this presentation provides an overview of the possibilities which LL research offers for the sociolinguistic examination of multilingualism. Taking up the definition of LL offered by Landry and Bourhis (1997), I will provide an introduction to this emerging area of research and present current methodological challenges in conducting LL studies. The presentation will then focus on my doctoral research conducted in Tunisia and which examined the interconnectedness of language representation, attitudes, and policy. Data consist of different types of private inscriptions and public signs, but also includes governmental decrees as well as attitudes collected from Tunisian respondents. Specifically, the analysis of the data from visual signs will provide an illustrative account of the complexities of the linguistic situation in Tunisia, which blends top-down and bottom-up advocacies of Arabization, Vernacularization and Arabic-French Bilingualism, as well as the more recent use of English as the emergent language of globalization and economic prospects. It is through this illustrative case study that it will be shown how the LL can be used to get a contextual and more dynamic

understanding of the complexities of multilingual environments.

References

Backhaus, P. (2007). Linguistic landscapes: A comparative study of urban multilingualism in Tokyo. Clevedon; Buffalo: Multilingual Matters.

Gorter, D. (2006). Linguistic landscape: A new approach to multilingualism. Clevedon; Buffalo: Multilingual Matters.

Gorter, D., & Shohamy, E. (Eds.). (2009). Linguistic landscape: Expanding the scenery: LEA: Routledge.

Jaworski, A. & Thurlow, C. (2010). Semiotic landscapes: Language, image, space. London: Continuum.

Landry, R., & Bourhis, R. Y. (1997). Linguistic landscape and ethnolinguistic vitality: An empirical study. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 1 (16), 23-49.

Scollon, R., & Scollon, S. B. K. (2003). Discourses in place: Language in the material world. London: Routledge.

Shohamy, E., Ben Rafael, E. & Barni, M. (2010). Linguistic landscape in the city. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

CONVERSATIONAL STORYTELLING

by Professor Neal R. Norrick
Saarland University, Germany

Tuesday, 21 July 2009
2.30pm–4.00pm
HSS Seminar Room 6, S3.2-B3 (South Spine, Building 3.2, Level B3)
Nanyang Technological University (NTU)

This talk is organised by SAAL in collaboration with the division of Linguistics & Multilingual Studies (NTU).

24TH SAAL LECTURE

Language as Local Practice
by Professor Alastair Pennycook, University of Technology Sydney

SCLSIG2

The SCLSIG2 (Second Meeting of the Singapore Child Language Special Interest Group), convened by the SIG chair Dr Madalena Cruz-Ferreira (NUS), took place on 14 October 2006 at the NUS, on the topic "A Survey of Current Research on Language Norming in Singapore". Four papers were presented -- 'Current Research on Language Norming in Singapore' (Madalena Cruz-Ferreira, NUS), 'Infant Vocabulary Norms in Singapore' (Tan Seok Hui, NUS), 'Norming the Wechsler Test of Adult Reading -- WTAR (Steven Graham & Tomasina Oh, both NUS), and 'Spelling Development in Singapore: Does Home Language Make a Difference?' (Susan Rickard Liow, NUS, Sajlia Binte Jalil, NIE & Stephanie Yeong Hui Min, NIE). For full information on the SCLSIG and its activities, please register with its network at groups.yahoo.com/group/sclsig.

SAAL GRADUATE SEMINAR SERIES

SAAL kickstarted the first SAAL Graduate Seminar Series on Friday, 10 November 2006 at NIE/NTU, an initiative organised by postgraduates for postgraduates. Four postgraduate panelists (Aileen Salonga and Christine Xavier from NUS, and Bai Rui and Rachel Tan from NIE/NTU) shared their personal journeys on the topic: Deciding on your Research Topic & Design. A total of 14 postgrads from NTU, NUS and other universities locally and abroad attended this highly successful session. There were 4 professors in attendance, each of whom have supervised postgraduate students before. It was suggested that this seminar should occur once per quarter and that the different institutions can take turns playing host. The topic for the next session was also decided on: Sharing your Research Proposal. SAAL will continue to spearhead efforts to offer every support possible to keep up the interest and networking opportunities offered by this Seminar Series.

23RD SAAL LECTURE

The 23rd SAAL Lecture was delivered by Associate Professor Anne Pakir of the English Language & Literature Department from the National University of Singapore on 29 July 2006 at the RELC, Singapore. The lecture was well attended, about 55 participants (mostly SAAL members or new members). Prof Pakir spoke on the topic: Applied Linguistics in Asia: Pathways, Patterns & Predictions. A short summary of her lecture follows:

Summary

This lecture examined language trends in 21st century Asia and reports on the development of Applied Linguistics (AL) in the region. It had a dual focus: the first analyses the unique preoccupations of Asian and Asia-based applied linguistics that have given rise to present research directions and preferences. These, however, seem to be not much recognized in the currently British and North American (BANA) dominated field. A second focal point considered the larger concerns and issues that might lead to future and different directions in AL scholarship once 'proper applied linguistics' -– currently originating in the West and dominating research directions – reorients and realigns itself to include these Asian research and findings. She predicted that with this realignment, AL will grow as a field of inquiry in leaps and bounds along with the imminent rise of Asia by the middle of the twenty-first century.

SAAL'S 20TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS 2005

We marked SAAL's 20th Anniversary in 2005-2006 with a series of academic and social activities:

1. The 22nd SAAL lecture
Professor Sandra Lee McKay's (San Francisco State University) SAAL lecture (No. 22), 'The cultural basis of teaching English as an international language', held on 10th March 2005 at Ngee Ann Polytechnic was attended by about 50 people.

2. SAAL talk
Associate Professor David Deterding's (NIE/NTU) talk entitled 'The status and intelligibility of Singapore English in other parts of the world', held on 7 April 2005, jointly hosted by SAAL and the Centre for English Language Communication (CELC/NUS) was attended by 30 people.

3. 1st Special Interest Group (SIG) Meeting
The first SAAL Special Interest Group or SIG on 'Child Language Research in Singapore' led by Dr Madalena Cruz-Ferreira held on 3rd September 2005, saw about 25 students, teachers and researchers and 4 panelists gathered at NUS. This SIG has continued to share their work over email and in person, and has reported regularly on their progress in the SAAL Quarterly. I hope more SIGs will be created in the years ahead.

4. SAAL Gala Dinner
The finale event for SAAL's 20th Anniversary was the gala dinner held on 28 October 2005 (Friday) at the NUSS Guildhouse at Suntec City. 71 members and friends attended this dinner.

5. Other Events
In addition to these activities, on 22nd February 2006, SAAL again co-hosted a talk given by KC Lee entitled, 'Tracing ideas from a pre-writing discussion session to individual drafts'. 20 people attended this talk.

SAAL-STU COLLOQUIUM

The SAAL-STU Colloquium on "The English Language in Singapore: Changing Perspectives on Grammar in the Classroom" was held on 27-28 November 2003 at the Regional Language Centre (RELC), Orange Grove Road. Keynote speakers included Prof Tom McArthur (UK) and Prof Tony Hung (HK). The guest-of-honour was Col David Wong, Chairman of the Speak Good English Movement.

AILA2002

SAAL also hosted the 13th World Congress of Applied Linguistics from 16th to 21st December 2002 at the Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre, Suntec City. Invited speakers were Ulrich Ammon (Germany), Marilda Cavalcanti (Brazil), Andrew Chesterman (Finland), Michael Halliday (Australia), Shirley Brice Heath (USA), Hu Wenzhong (PRC), Claire Kramsch (USA), Allan Luke (Australia), Geoffrey Pullum (USA),Stanley Ridge (South Africa), Yoji Tanabe (Japan), and Edwin Thumboo (Singapore).