Fostering Multilingual Perspectives in Applied Linguistics Research: AILA Ibero-America
AILA Ibero-America will be formally launched in August of 2020 as the regional network including AILA affiliates in Ibero-American-speaking regions. Its abbreviation reads AIALA in both Spanish – Asociación Iberoamericana de Lingüística Aplicada – and Portuguese: Associação Ibero-Americana de Linguística Aplicada.
AIALA’s formation was inspired by the need to reflect the rich linguistic diversity in the world within the global organization of AILA, and current events that have demonstrated the critical importance for global collaboration and multilingual perspectives in all areas of science, including and especially in applied linguistics. In creating AIALA, AILA broadens the concept of “regional” membership in terms of Spanish, Portuguese, and affiliated minority and indigenous language(s) spoken and researched by applied linguists around the world, regardless of current physical residence/geographical location.
AILA’s Ibero-American Association of Applied Linguistics (AIALA), is a collaboration between AAAL (USA), ALAB (Brazil), AMLA (Mexico), and AESLA (Spain), with additional opportunity for membership by AILA members-at-large where there are (yet) no national affiliates, including but not limited to Portugal, Argentina, Colombia, and Chile. In presentations both at the AILA 2021 World Congress and at AILA national affiliates’ congresses such as AAAL 2021, the founding team will present and discuss the formative process in creating this regional organization, the events planned for the inaugural year, ways to get involved, and their vision for this organization that will support and amplify Spanish, Portuguese, and affiliated minority languages, both in terms of applied linguistics research foci and in terms of supporting applied linguists who speak and research these languages worldwide.
Moreover, the presentation is meant to demonstrate how AIALA learned from the existing AILA regional organizations, as well as professional organizations supporting Spanish, Portuguese, and affiliated minority and indigenous languages, in hopes of maximizing participation and benefit to all involved, and all whom AILA serves. The work in AIALA, as with all of the AILA regional organizations is aimed towards the common goal of demonstrating how multilingual perspectives in applied linguistics research will always offer a more complete view of and service to all languages and speakers, and the conviction that the increasing viewpoints with which one can engage, the more inclusive and progressive the world will be.
Contact:
Laura Gurzynski-Weiss (lgurzyns@indiana.edu), Kyria Finardi (kyria.finardi@gmail.com)