The 1st International Symposium on
“Conversation Analysis: Research and Development Innovations in Thailand (CARDIT)”
Invited Speakers & Colloquium Presenters
Numa Markee
Emeritus Research Professor
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA & Regional English Language Office (RELO) English language specialist
Hansun Zhang Waring
Professor
Applied Linguistics and TESOL Teacher College, Columbia University, USA
Silvia Kunitz
Associate Professor
Language, Culture and Interaction Linköping University, Sweden
Olcay Sert
Professor
English Language Education Mälardalen University, Sweden
Paul Seedhouse
Professor
Educational and Applied Linguistics, Newcastle University, UK (Online via Zoom)
Søren Wind Eskildsen
Associate Professor
Department of Design, Media and Educational Science Faculty of Humanities University of Southern Denmark
Bio
Proposals
Scholars and practitioners are invited to submit proposals for colloquia, papers, poster sessions, data sessions, or practical workshops for teachers which focus on CA(-informed) curriculum work. This is broadly defined as any aspect of theoretically motivated or practitioner-oriented activity that focuses on pre- or in-service teacher training and development work, needs analysis, materials design, methodology and formative/summative assessment that is achieved in and through classroom-related talk, including online chat-based interactions. Important dates include: 300-word abstract submission Jan. 1-31, 2024; Acceptance notification: Feb 28, 2024; Payment confirmation: March 15-25, 2024.
Download Template
All proposals should include:
- 1) information about which kind of presentation is being submitted and which audience(s) is/are being targeted;
- 2) the title of the presentation (no longer than 15 words);
- 3) an academic abstract for reviewers (maximum of 300 words, plus a 50 word lay summary that will be published in the symposium program.
These documents should:
- a) describe the topic/research question(s) that are investigated in the submission;
- b) provide information about the participants, the data and the method(s) used in the study;
- and c) summarize the empirical findings of the submission.
Abstracts will be blind reviewed by CARDIT reviewers, who will evaluate the clarity, specificity, and originality of the proposals and submit their reviews and recommendations to the symposium organizers. The decisions based on this review process are final. All submissions should plan for 20 minutes of presentation + 10 minutes for discussion with the audience (total 30 minutes). See below for additional information for colloquia, poster sessions, data sessions and practical workshops.
Rationale
Conversation Analysis (CA)
is a research approach developed by Harvey Sacks in sociology that has gained popularity in various disciplines, including anthropology, communication studies, health science, social psychology, linguistics, and language education. It has expanded to reveal how social beings carry themselves and participate in interactions in non-institutional and institutional settings. In the East, CA-oriented research has gained a presence in countries like Japan, South Korea, and China, exploring how different languages influence conversational practices and cultural norms. CA has also been applied in online interactions, multimodal CA, and healthcare and education, with research focusing on improving doctor-patient communication and language teaching and learning processes.
Why a CA-Conference in Thailand?
Thailand’s CA-informed research is in its infancy, with most of its research confined to EFL teaching contexts. CA requires specialized training, a linguistics background, and specialized software access. Training programs, workshops, and consultations with experienced researchers are necessary to provide guidance, mentorship, and inspiration for teachers and novice researchers. However, Thailand has not yet hosted specific events to identify CA-informed researchers, introduce CA, and promote collaboration in developing and spreading CA-informed research for national, educational, and academic growth. Thus, we propose convening the first International Symposium on Conversation Analysis: Research and Development Innovations in Thailand (CARDIT). We therefore cordially invite all participants from across the world and especially in the ASEAN region to submit their proposals.
Aims and Expected Benefits
This symposium aims to initiate an on-going conversation among teachers, teacher trainers, administrators and scholars to discuss the most recent advances in Conversation Analysis (CA) and how insights from this field might be applied to meet the everyday needs of teachers and researchers at all levels of Thai education. Thus, the main objective of this symposium is to bridge the well-known gap between classroom practice and CA theory in Thailand and, by extension, other ASEAN countries which use English (with varying success) as an official language or lingua franca in areas of national importance such as economic development, health, communication, and education. Abstracts may be submitted in Thai or English.
The desired products of this symposium include:
- 1) increasing awareness and understanding of CA among Thai/ASEAN attendees, with a view to inspiring them to integrate CA principles into their research programs and EFL curricula;
- 2) equipping Thai/ASEAN attendees with the tools they need to apply CA insights in different real-world contexts;
- 3) forming and/or strengthening cross-disciplinary collaborations between Thai/ASEAN stakeholders and their US and European counterparts by showcasing innovative approaches to doing (applied) CA in Thailand and other ASEAN countries;
- 4a) laying the groundwork for founding a professional organization called CACTUS (Conversation Analysis for Thai Universities and Schools) to institutionalize the momentum for change generated by the symposium;
- 4b) relatedly, laying the groundwork to found a specialist journal in this area that is dedicated to promoting these aims in Thailand and South East Asia;
- 5) publish outstanding papers from the symposium in a SCOPUS-indexed journal and the Journal of Liberal Arts (published by the Faculty of Liberal Arts at Prince of Songkla University), and an edited book published by the University of Malaya, which especially welcomes submissions by graduate students.