Virtual Conference Provides Linguistic Insights

Comprising of faculty members of CityU’s Department of English, the local organising committee of the sixth International Conference of the Asia-Pacific Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP) and Professional Communication Association had made an all-out effort to make the conference happened amid the continuing pandemic. Themed “Multimodality and Beyond: Addressing Complexity and Emerging Needs in LSP”, it eventually held online from 3 to 5 June 2021.

The advance in technologies has impacted the study of Languages for Specific Purposes and Professional Communication. The use of technology and digital media has led to the development of academic and professional practices that are multimodal, plurilingual and often seek to engage diversified audiences, and widened the perspectives of the study of the field. The conference, held in collaboration with the International Society of Gesture Studies – Hong Kong, aimed to develop a high resolution picture of how the field is dealing with scientific and technological advances.

The three-day event featured five plenary lectures and hands-on workshops delivered by internationally renowned scholars, three invited panels, and numerous parallel sessions. The topics and speakers of the plenary lectures were “Defining the Elusive ‘Digital Genre’ and Contemplating Implications for LSP Research and Pedagogy” by Professor Diane BELCHER; “Multimodality and Beyond” by Professor Kay O’HALLORAN; “What Surprises Academic Writers: a Diachronic Perspective” by Professor HU Guangwei; “The Emergence of Conceptual Actions” by Professor Jürgen STREECK; and “Rethinking LSP, Academic Language and Professional Communication from a Translanguaging Perspective” by Professor LI Wei. These speakers also guided pre-registered participants through understanding and applying different practices and pedagogical approaches in the workshops.

Three invited panels, each allowed in-depth discussions among four to six scholars, were also arranged. CityU’s Associate Professor Dr Christoph HAFNER was the convenor of the panel “Specialised Genres Online”, while Professor Sue STARFIELD and Dr Renia LOPEZ convened the panels “English for Research Publication Purposes” and “Gesture in Teaching and Learning”, respectively. There were also close to 150 paper/poster presentations by presenters from all over the world during the parallel sessions.

Starting from the hard decision to change from a physical event to a virtual one, the conference turned out to be a huge success. It has been an excellent opportunity for scholars specialising in LSP and Professional Communication to gather for intellectual exchange.