International Linguistic Association

April 3 – April 5, 2009
St. John's University, Manhattan Campus
New York, New York 10007

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 COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK, NY
DR. CLYDE COREIL – NEW JERSEY CITY UNIVERSITY, JERSEY CITY, NJ
DR. STEVEN BROWN – MCMASTER UNIVERSITY, HAMILTON, ONTARIO, CANADA

This year's Conference is dedicated to the memory of the late Lev Vygotsky, who has become one the most influential figures in our understanding of the imagination, particularly in relation to language teaching.

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.