CFP: 2010 Intercultural Competence Conference

Call for Proposals for 2010 Intercultural Competence Conference

Conference Dates: January 29-31, 2010

Conference Theme: Aiming for "The Third Place:" Intercultural Competence
through Foreign Language Teaching and Learning

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Claire Kramsch - University of California, Berkeley

Proposal Types Accepted: Papers, Posters, Workshops

Proposal Submission Deadline: June 15, 2009

Location: The Hotel Arizona in Tucson, Arizona

Conference Website: http://www.cercll.arizona.edu/icc_2010.php

Description: Intercultural competence is [the ability] "to see
relationships between different cultures - both internal and external to
a society - and to mediate, that is interpret each in terms of the
other, either for themselves or for other people." It also encompasses
the ability to critically or analytically understand that one's "own and
other cultures'" perspective is culturally determined rather than
natural.

Michael Byram, Professor, University of Durham

Globalization, having brought individuals in contact with one another at
an unprecedented scale, has also brought forth a general challenge to
traditionally recognized boundaries of nation, language, race, gender,
and class. The challenge moves in two directions simultaneously: on the
one hand, distinctions that were unnoticeable before have been rendered
visible, and in the opposite direction, similarities across traditional
boundaries have been recognized. The end result in both cases is that
boundaries of social practice are being re-negotiated, re-assessed, and
re-considered. For those living within this rapidly changing social
landscape, intercultural competence--as defined by Michael Byram
above--is a necessary skill, and the cultivation of such intercultural
individuals falls on the shoulders of today's educators. They should
provide students with opportunities to help them define and design for
themselves their "third place" or "third culture," a sphere of
interculturality that enables language students to take an insider's
view as well as an outsider's view on both their first and second
cultures. It is this ability to find/establish/adopt this third place
that is at the very core of intercultural competence.

The conference aims to bring researchers and practitioners across
languages, levels and settings to discuss and share research, theory,
and best practices and foster meaningful professional dialogue on issues
related to Intercultural Competence teaching and learning.