There is general consensus among linguists and language experts that slightly more than 7,000 languages (Ethnologue 2013) are spoken across the world today and that half of them are under threat of extinction within fifty to one hundred years. Today at least 3,000 tongues are endangered, seriously endangered or dying in many parts of the universe. It is a deplorable fact that many linguists have remained rather ignorant to the threat to most of the world’s languages until fairly recently. This conference aims to examine the reasons behind this dramatic loss of linguistic diversity, why this matters, and what can be done and achieved to document and support endangered, moribund and small languages especially in the context of an ever increasing globalized world. In fact, to date there is very little empirical research on the impact of globalization on endangered languages and language shift. How can a minority/indigenous language be maintained in this era of globalisation and what is the role of language policies and language planning strategies in multilingual contexts? And finally, what are the benefits of documenting and archiving endangered languages for linguistics, related disciplines and human cultural heritage in general, especially in the light of new advances in technology and data collection methodologies? In this vein, the context of globalization and language threat will be explored, with all the challenges and consequences involved and discussed from a variety of perspectives: sociolinguistics and the sociology of language, language contact, language policy/planning, language ecology, language endangerment and documentation.

Martin Pütz
University of Koblenz-Landau FB 6 Institut für Fremdsprachliche Philologien, Fach Anglistik, Marktstr. 40
76829  Landau/Pf., Germany
+49(0)634128033204
Puetz@uni-landau.de
http://www.poliglotti4.eu/docs/Agenda/LAUD_2014_CfP.pdf

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Par Catherine Seewald. Cette conférence sur le Cadre européen commun de référence pour les langues durera deux jours et est destinée aux enseignants de langues en exercice. L'événement permettra aux participants non seulement de partager leurs idées sur la meilleure façon d´utiliser le CECR dans les salles de classe partout dans le monde et de discuter de son application dans la conception de cours et d´examens et dans la promotion de l´enseignement et l´apprentissage de langues, mais aussi de répondre à la question fondamentale : Que signifie 'apprendre une langue' ?
Le CECR a été conçu par le Conseil de l´Europe dans l´objectif de fournir un mécanisme pour la reconnaissance  mutuelle des qualifications et pour décrire (et non pour prescrire), sur la base de six niveaux de compétences, les connaissances et les capacités permettant une communication efficace entre les locuteurs d´une langue.
Orateurs principaux : Daniel Coste, Frank Heyworth, David Little, Brian North, Johanna Panthier (Unité des politiques linguistiques du Conseil de l´Europe), Joe Sheils, Susanna Slivensky (CELV/Conseil de l´Europe), .

Programme de la conférence (en anglais)

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MINGLE takes into account the main principles of lifelong learning and liberal adult education, as the key to develop work related skills and competencies but also skills for personal formation in the community.
Moreover, the core concept of this proposal is based on the assertion that liberal adult education has significant outcomes for the development of skills required for active citizenship and full participation in society. We assert that civil society is based on active citizenship; the latter requires strong social capital, social networks, and lifelong learning skills. Through the proposed project we aim at upgrading self-initiated participation in informal or formal adult lifelong learning activities (often seen as leisure time activity), to a valuable easy-to-access and easy-to-follow process for individuals, enhancing at the same time its benefits for society in general. Project Website.

How can less used languages, including Regional and Minority languages, benefit from Open Educational Practices (OEP)? How can Open Educational Resources (OER) be shaped to foster linguistic and cultural diversity in Europe? What policies are favourable to the uptake of quality OER in less used language communities?
Less used languages face the risk of linguistic/cultural dependence in the fast evolving OER/OEP landscape currently dominated by English. The LangOER network addresses the needs of two main target groups: educators and policy makers. For the former, the project offers face-to-face and online training sessions in 7 languages, aimed at raising awareness of OER/OEP and covering the creation and use of multilingual and interactive OER. For the latter, capacity building is targeted through expert pan-European events, policy support and consultation mechanisms seeking to overcome barriers to OER uptake. LangOER.