Background

International Association for World Englishes (IAWE) is an international scholarly association which aims to establish links among those who are involved with any aspect of World Englishes in research and/or teaching. The association, formally established in May 1992, focuses on global issues relating to three major aspects of World Englishes, language, literature, and pedagogy. It is committed to the study of the forms and functions of varieties of Englishes in diverse cultural and sociolinguistic contexts. It also looks for a more realistic approach and a new framework for looking at English in global contexts and proposes concepts such as appropriateness, intelligibility, comprehensibility, and interpretability as pragmatic factors that determine the uses of English as an international and intra-national language.

IAWE has held conferences in North America, Asia, Africa and Europe. At these conferences the questions discussed have included: the sociolinguistic and political contexts of the countries where English is used as a non-native language; the factors which determine the retention of English after the end of the colonial period; the sociolinguistic and linguistic profile of each variety, particularly with reference to their range of functions and depth of societal penetration; and the linguistic and other processes of nativization and acculturation.

The 14th Conference of the International Association for World Englishes (IAWE) will be held at the City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China, from 3 - 5 December 2008. Pre-conference workshops will be organized two days prior on 1 - 2 December 2008. Members of the Association, scholars and researchers in World Englishes and those who are interested in the field are invited to propose papers for presentation or participate by attending the Conference.

Aims and Objectives

The conference theme is "World Englishes and World's Languages: Convergence, Enrichment, or Death?" What follows are a number of research topics under which the Conference and the discussion on world Englishes can go forward.

1. Use of English(es) in various contexts in the 21st century
2. Diversification/ homogenization of English languages
3. History and possible prospects of the development of World Englishes Studies
4. The dialogues between English languages and social, political, cultural and gender discourses
5. Critical reflections on concepts, definitions and terminologies
6. Pedagogies of Englishes
7. The making of (g)local identities through World Englishes
8. Creativity in Englishes writing in the age of globalization
9. Hong Kong English(es): Linguistic features, literature and history

Conference Convener:

Professor Jonathan Webster
Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics
City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR

Organized by

Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics
City University of Hong Kong