ESFLC 2020: 30th European Systemic Functional Linguistics Conference Sheffield Hallam University Sheffield, UK, July 1-3, 2020 |
Conference website | https://www.esflc2020.org.uk |
Submission link | https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=esflc2020 |
Submission deadline | January 24, 2020 |
Call for Papers
Social Semiotics and Social Justice
Calls for greater social justice appear to be ignored in an age of increasing economic inequality (Piketty & Goldhammer, 2014), particularly in many of the leading and growing economies around the world where we find the rising forces of nationalism and xenophobia, climate change denial and the normalisation of radical right-wing ideologies. At the same time, the recognition of the key role that language plays in establishing and maintaining relations of power has never been greater, with discourse now recognised in popular culture and in a range of disciplines as a major force in social change. The need to apply the analysis of discourse and other forms of meaning-making to the improvement of social justice has never been more urgent.
Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) has a long tradition of analysing language with the aim of reducing social inequity, reaching back to one of its original aims of promoting linguistic equality (Halliday, 2015). The analytical toolbox offered by SFL has been instrumental in establishing reliable frameworks of analysis in critical discourse analysis, in multimodal semiotics and in educational linguistics. Consequently, in recent years we have exponentially improved our ability to identify how meaning-making resources are deployed in written, spoken, visual and multi-channel modalities across a range of contexts, often with the aim of exposing hegemonic power structures. For instance, SFL has had a significant impact on narrowing the attainment gap for children in schools combining functional grammar with social realism in order to expose how the language of schooling works to the advantage of dominant social groups (Rose & Martin, 2012).
This conference aims to explore the many ways that language and other modes of meaning-making play an integral role in preventing or promoting social justice. The conference expects SFL and associated disciplines to bring diverse perspectives to bear on the understanding, intervention and disruption of embedded power relations and ideologies through the analysis of semiotic processes. We especially welcome papers that connect the theme to these areas of research:
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- Multimodality and social semiotics
- Critical & positive discourse analysis
- Appliable linguistics
- Political economy & social structure
- Education & applied linguistics
We also welcome other papers that relate to the theme of 'Social Semiotics and Social Justice' and as always we aim to provide a forum for all SFL research. Our experienced scientific committee will review submissions for 1-hour workshops, single-themed symposia with multiple speakers, 30-minute talks (including 10 minutes for questions & discussion) and 10-minute Lightning Talks.
References
Halliday, M.A.K. (2015) The Influence of Marxism. In J. Webster (Ed.) The Bloomsbury Companion to M.A.K. Halliday. London: Bloomsbury
Piketty, T. & Goldhammer, A. (2014). Capital in the Twenty-first Century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Rose, D. & Martin, J.R. (2012) Learning to Write, Reading to Learn. Sheffield: Equinox
Submission Guidelines
All submissions for papers, lightning talks, workshops & symposia will be evaluated by our scientific committee according to: their contribution to SFL; their relevance to the conference theme; the coherence & clarity of the abstract; and the originality and importance of the paper.
Papers & Workshops
Submissions for workshops and papers will be accepted through EasyChair between 15th November 2019 and 10th January 2020. Proposals will need to include:
- Title of paper / workshop
- Name of presenter(s) & affiliation(s)
- Abstract of up to 250 words (excluding references)
- Keywords (up to 5)
- Request for specialist equipment or room
- Conference Strand that most aligns with paper (choose 1)
Papers should highlight the main contributions of the paper to SFL and to the conference theme. Presentations should last no more than 20 minutes to allow 5 minutes for questions at the end.
Workshops should be practical and involve participants in activities. Ideally, participants will experience methods of SFL analysis. All workshops need to state the level of prior knowledge or experience expected. If more than one hour is required, this should be stated on the submission form.
Lightning Talks
Submissions for Lightning Talks will be accepted through EasyChair between 15th November 2019 and 10th January 2020. Proposals will need to include:
- Title of paper / workshop
- Name of presenter(s) & affiliation(s)
- Abstract of up to 100 words (excluding references). You are advised to highlight the main contributions of the paper to SFL and to the conference theme.
- Keywords (up to 3)
- Conference Strand that most aligns with paper (choose 1)
Lightning Talks will be given just 10 minutes each. They should present an idea briefly and coherently, in a similar manner to TED Talks (see www.ted.com for examples). Lightning Talks are should particularly attract inexperienced presenters, students, early career researchers, and researchers new to SFL and presentations of preliminary findings.
Symposia
Proposals for a symposium need to be made directly to the organising committee between 15th November 2019 and 10th January 2020 at esflc2020@shu.ac.uk . The submission needs to include:
- Title
- Name, affiliation & contact details of Chair
- Length of time required for symposium (in multiples of 30 minutes)
- Names of speakers & abstracts (up to 250 words, excluding references) for all talks
- Outline of discussion / roundtable including participants, chair & proposed topics for discussion.
A Symposium needs to be focussed on a single topic or theme (see list of Symposia for examples). The organiser(s) of each symposium are responsible for: inviting speakers; deciding on the theme (which should be aligned with the conference theme as far as possible); gathering abstracts (up to 250 words, excluding references) and biographical information (up to 40 words) from each speaker; organising the order of the symposium; and any discussion or roundtable session. The information, including the total length of the symposium, is then sent to the conference organisers who will elicit comments & feedback from members of the scientific committee.
List of Topics
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Advances in SFL research
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Advances in SFL theory
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Analysis of political discourse
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Applied & Appliable linguistics
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Critical &/or Positive Discourse Analysis
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Discourse analysis
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Ecolinguistics
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Education & pedagogy, including multi-literacies
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Legitimation Code Theory
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Multimodality
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Political economy
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Synthesis of SFL with other approaches
Organising Committee
- Brett Clifton
- Gail Forey
- Jill Hitchenor
- Nick Hague
- Stephen Hughes
- Nick Moore
- Alice Oxholm
- Roberta Taylor
- Jo Webster
- John Wrigglesworth
Venue
The conference will be held in Charles Street building, Sheffield Institute of Education, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, U.K.
Contact
All questions about submissions should be emailed to esflc2020@shu.ac.uk