At the cutting edge of ELT in a plurilingual environment with Silvana Richardson

We are delighted to announce Silvana Richardson will help us stay on the cutting edge of ELT practice with a fascinating plenary on the latest thinking a key new area in our industry - ELT in a plurilingual environment and 'the multilingual turn.'

Opening the second day of our ELT Conference on 17 - 18 January, Silvana will bring her wealth of knowledge to bear on teaching English to multilingual students. This session will help teachers and their centres move away from the traditional methodologies and views of ELT and adapt their teaching and offering to the realities of the modern world.

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Recent research into multilingualism and translanguaging has inspired new language teaching approaches. These recognise the multilingual nature of language learners and language classrooms (both physical and virtual) and are ushering in a new view of the languages that learners know as a valuable resource for learning new languages.

English, while still lingua franca for international communication, business and academia, Silvana explains, is increasingly seen as one language 'in the mix.' English is deployed by global plurilingual citizens who use their full linguistic repertoires and, in order to do so, require plurilingual competencies and mediation strategies. This is in addition to the traditional English language skills that ELT courses, materials and tests have promoted over the last 50 years.

Does this matter to UK English language centres? Where does this multilingual turn leave the monolingual English teacher and the English-only, four-skills coursebook and assessment?

Silvana will ask if a largely monocultural focus and English-only methodology is still fit for purpose. And if not, what new skills do teachers need to support students from diverse cultural, educational and linguistic backgrounds. Many of whom are competent users of more than one language.

English UK members benefit from discounted member rates and a special members-only limited edition early bird for the first 50 tickets sold for each day.

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Silvana joins a varied programme that includes sessions on teaching exam classes (including IELTS), teaching reading and listening skills, the psychology of the teacher and learner, the environmental impact of ELT, and Susie Dent closing the conference with a talk on the origins of words.

Many thanks to Trinity College London for supporting the conference and to our drinks reception sponsor Macmillan Education.

Silvana Richardson Silvana Richardson is head of teacher development at Bell Educational Services and programme quality manager at the Bell Foundation, a charity for research, thought leadership and training to overcome exclusion through language education. Silvana has over 30 years of experience in various roles: teacher, teacher educator, academic manager, materials writer and consultant. Silvana will also run a Friday morning elective session on moving from teaching to impact on learning. View the ELT Conference programme