Submitted by Dr Connie P.Y. Tang on Fri, 23/02/2024 - 12:14
4-6 October 2023
The 7th International Conference on Language and Education (7MLE), which took place on October 4-6, 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand, was focused on "Multilingual education for transformative education systems and resilient futures." Professor Ianthi Tsimpli delivered a compelling keynote address (see video here). During the conference, she discussed the crucial role of language in education and its impact on accessibility to knowledge and skills, especially for young learners. She highlighted the challenges faced by multilingual learners and shared research findings on the advantages of bilingual education. Her insights shed light on the difficulties faced by marginalised learners, particularly in English medium instruction schools. Furthermore, she presented recent findings from an intervention program in Hyderabad aimed at improving reading comprehension skills in government school learners. She emphasised the importance of adopting multilingual teaching, learning, and assessment tools for learners growing up in diverse multilingual societies worldwide.