International Linguistic Association

IMAGINATION AND LANGUAGE
LEARNING AND TEACHING

 Invited Speakers:

DR. ELENA KRAVTSOVA-VYGOTSKY– RUSSIAN STATE UNIVERSITY FOR HUMANITIES, MOSCOW, RUSSIA; GRANDDAUGHTER OF LEV S. VYGOTSKY
DR. MAXINE GREENE – TEACHERS CLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK, NY
DR. CLYDE COREIL – NEW JERSEY CITY UNIVERSITY, JERSEY CITY, NJ
DR. STEVEN BROWN – MCMASTER UNIVERSITY, HAMILTON, ONTARIO, CANADA

As the key that opens the gates to all education, imagination embodies the creative approach to language learning and teaching. Traditional methods are rooted almost exclusively in linguistics and focus on syntactic rules, memorization based on the lexicon, and practice in oral and silent reading. Imaginative methods, on the other hand, embrace nontraditional approaches where music, dance, art, theater, dreams and creative writing are indispensable elements or pegs to the learning and teaching processes. These methods are powerful in their ability to motivate and reach children and adults as well as special populations such as persons with learning disabilities. By engaging the imagination, we can effectively promote the students’ creativity and imagination, lead them to a higher level of cognitive development, and help them reach a new level of intellectual possibilities.

This conference elaborates the above principles and exemplifies related methods of instruction by bringing together scholars in the broad area of language and imagination. While papers on the main topic are particularly welcome, individuals are encouraged to submit abstracts on any subject in theoretical and applied linguistics.

Submit abstracts in an anonymous, titled, single-spaced attachment of not more than 425 words in length, with name, address and affiliation in the body of an e-mail. Please send abstracts as a camera-ready attachment (in a Microsoft Word file, if possible) to the conference coordinator. Within the body of the e-mail, please also indicate any audio-visual equipment needed. Those wishing to propose panels or special sessions should contact the conference chair (Ninah Beliavsky) before submitting an abstract for the panel together with abstracts for each of the constituent papers.