AILA Newsletter – June 2026
What's on in Applied Linguistics ...
Newsletter
June 2026
Welcome to the second edition of the AILA newsletter in 2026. We invite all to read, share, subscribe and contribute to this vehicle to stay tuned with news from the AILA family. To access a comprehensive archive of past newsletters, please visit https://aila.info/members/welcome/newsletter/.
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If you wish to share news or contents to the newsletter, please send your contributions via email to by the following deadlines: February 15th (for the March issue), May 15th (for the June issue), August 15th (for the September issue), and November 15th (for the December issue).
The newsletter reaches approximately 10,000 recipients across all continents and serves as an excellent platform for staying informed and sharing news relevant to the AILA community.
Education Beyond 2030: UNESCO Launches Global Consultations
As the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals approaches, progress toward inclusive and equitable quality education (SDG 4) remains increasingly fragile. Gains in access have slowed, and the out-of-school population has risen for a seventh consecutive year, reaching an estimated 273 million children and youth. In response to these challenges and accelerating global shifts—such as climate pressures, rising inequalities, and technological transformation—there is an urgent need for a whole-of-society effort to reimagine the future of education.
To shape this future, the SDG 4 High-Level Steering Committee has launched a three-year global consultation process running from January 2026 to December 2028. This initiative seeks to build consensus around post-2030 education priorities and strategies, upholding education as a fundamental human right and ensuring that inclusion and equity remain the cornerstone of the agenda.
The timeline for the consultations spans three key phases:
- Phase 1 (Ongoing): Features a foresight exercise alongside a global youth and student consultation. These efforts will result in working papers that will be presented at the 2027 Global Education Meeting.
- Phase 2 (Starts 2027): Will expand engagement to regional, national, and stakeholder groups, involving civil society, governments, teachers, and youth.
- Phase 3: Will synthesize all contributions into a consolidated framework designed to inform the United Nations about inter-governmental discussions on the post-2030 development agenda.
This consultation represents a critical opportunity to ensure future education systems equip everyone to navigate a changing world and actively contribute to a more just, peaceful, and sustainable future. To know more about this visit https://www.unesco.org/sdg4education2030/en/consultations.
Important Dates (April–June)
As part of AILA’s commitment to multilingualism, equity, and global cooperation, we highlight key international dates that resonate with our shared values and ongoing work in applied linguistics:
April 23 – World Book and Copyright Day (UNESCO)
This day (https://www.unesco.org/en/days/world-book-and-copyright) celebrates books as powerful vehicles for knowledge creation and dissemination. For the AILA community, it is also an opportunity to reflect on issues of access, open science, and the linguistic dimensions of academic publishing, particularly the need to support more inclusive and multilingual knowledge production. For more information on AILA endorsed principles see https://aila.info/about/endorsements/.
May 5 – World Portuguese Language Day (UNESCO)
Observed across diverse regions of the Global South and beyond, this day highlights the richness and global reach of Portuguese as a pluricentric language. It invites reflection on linguistic diversity, South–South cooperation, and the importance of valuing multiple languages in research, education, and internationalization.
The date is also closely associated with the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) https://www.cplp.org/ which brings together nine member states across Africa, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. The CPLP plays a key role in promoting the Portuguese language as a means of cultural connection, political dialogue, and educational collaboration, reinforcing the importance of multilingual and pluricentric perspectives in global knowledge exchange.
May 16 – International Day of Living Together in Peace (UN)
The mural at the United Nations Headquarters by Spanish artist Jose Vela Zanetti illustrates mankind’s enduring quest for lasting peace. Spanning more than 18 meters in length and nearly 4 meters in height, it vividly captures this universal struggle.
PHOTO: ©UN / John Isaac https://www.un.org/en/observances/living-in-peace-day
This day calls for dialogue, tolerance, and solidarity across differences. It aligns closely with AILA’s engagement with intercultural communication, emphasizing the role of language in fostering understanding and building more peaceful and inclusive societies.
Living together in peace is all about accepting differences and having the ability to listen to, recognize, respect, and appreciate others. In this sense, language plays a central role in enabling dialogue across cultural, linguistic, and epistemic boundaries.
The United Nations General Assembly, in its resolution 72/130, declared 16 May the International Day of Living Together in Peace as a means of regularly mobilizing the efforts of the international community to promote peace, tolerance, inclusion, understanding, and solidarity. The Day aims to uphold the desire to live and act together, united in differences and diversity, in order to build a sustainable world of peace, solidarity, and harmony.
May 21 – World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (UNESCO)
https://www.unesco.org/en/days/cultural-diversity-dialogue-development
A key date for the applied linguistics community, this day underscores the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity as foundations for sustainable development. It reinforces the need to promote inclusive educational practices and equitable participation in global knowledge exchange.
Held every year on 21 May, the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development celebrates not only the richness of the world’s cultures, but also the essential role of intercultural dialogue for achieving peace and sustainable development. The United Nations General Assembly first declared this World Day in 2002, following UNESCO’s adoption of the 2001 Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, recognizing the need to enhance the potential of culture as a means of achieving prosperity, sustainable development, and global peaceful coexistence.
With the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015, and the UN General Assembly Resolution A/C.2/70/L.59 on Culture and Sustainable Development, the message of this Day has become even more relevant. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals can best be achieved by drawing upon the creative potential of the world’s diverse cultures and by engaging in continuous dialogue to ensure that all members of society benefit from sustainable development.
For AILA, this day resonates strongly with ongoing efforts to promote multilingualism, intercultural dialogue, and more equitable knowledge ecologies in a superdiverse and interconnected world. In line with these commitments, AILA endorses the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: https://aila.info/about/endorsements/policies-guidelines/un-2030-sustainable-development/.
June 20 – World Refugee Day (UN)
This day (https://www.un.org/en/observances/refugee-day) draws attention to the experiences of displaced populations worldwide and highlights the critical role of language in access, integration, and social inclusion. It invites the AILA community to continue engaging with issues of linguistic justice, migration, and education in multilingual contexts of displacement.
AILA 2027 World Congress: Call for Papers Now Open
The Call for Papers for the AILA 2027 World Congress is now open, and we warmly invite scholars, educators, and practitioners in Applied Linguistics to submit proposals. Held every three years, the AILA World Congress is the leading international forum for advancing research, dialogue, and innovation in the field.
Proposals are welcome across a broad range of strands and topics in Applied Linguistics and may be submitted as paper presentations, poster presentations, or symposia. The Congress provides a unique opportunity to engage with an international scholarly community, share cutting-edge research, and contribute to discussions shaping the future of Applied Linguistics.
The abstract submission deadline is June 30, 2026. Full submission guidelines and detailed instructions are available on the conference website: Call For Papers: AILA 2027 World Congress.
News from AILA ReNs
The AILA Research Networks (ReNs) are now approaching the midpoint of their activity for the 2024–2027 period. In 2025, the ReNs further strengthened their research and collaborative activities, organising symposia, webinars, and international conferences on topics such as multilingualism and linguistic diversity; applied linguistics and education research; language policy, ideology and inclusion; academic communication and scholarly publishing; as well as digital transformation, AI, and multimodality.
Several ReNs have published books, special journal issues, and open-access teaching resources, while also increasing their visibility at major events organised by AILA affiliates. Some networks have had to adapt to increasing academic constraints and emerging contemporary challenges by reframing their research agendas in order to remain relevant.
In addition, initiatives such as the creation of collaborative platforms and mailing lists have helped expand membership and facilitate exchange. The ReNs have also been actively preparing for AILA 2027 by developing symposium proposals and consolidating their structures for the years ahead. One of the key advantages of AILA ReNs is that they are granted an invited slot at each AILA Congress.
There is now just one year left before the AILA 2027 Congress, when the call for ReNs for the 2027–2030 period will open. You are encouraged to begin reflecting on contemporary themes linked to real-world issues that could be highlighted within AILA ReNs.
News from AILA Affiliates
By The Society for the Advancement of Applied Linguistics in Bosnia and Herzegovina (SAALinBiH)
75 years of the Department of English Language and Literature at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Sarajevo
The year 2026 marks the 75th anniversary of the Department of English Language and Literature at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Over the past decades, the Department has grown through the dedication, collaboration, and intellectual effort and engagement of generations of scholars, students, and associates. The English Department in Sarajevo played a crucial role in founding The Society for the Advancement of Applied Linguistics in Bosnia and Herzegovina (SAALinBiH), which has been a national affiliate of AILA since 2019. It is our hope that this fruitful collaboration will continue for years to come and that it will lead to a better understanding of different languages, cultures and identities.
Publications
AILA 60 Years Anniversary Book
We are thrilled to share the publication of 60 Years of Applied Linguistics: Toward More Engaged Research, a landmark volume published by John Benjamins Publishing Company. This book captures the spirit of the AILA World Congress 2023 in Lyon, where scholars gathered to reflect on six decades of applied linguistics and chart a path toward more socially engaged research in response to today’s pressing educational and societal challenges.
This project began as a deeply human adventure—a meeting in 2017 with Isabel Colón de Carvajal and Nathalie Blanc that sparked a journey of collaboration to promote applied linguistics. Completed with Shona Whyte, this book stands as a testament to countless hours of collective work and the enduring legacy of both the Association internationale de linguistique appliquée and the Association française de linguistique appliquée since 1964. It is a celebration of the field’s evolution, its challenges, and its commitment to fostering meaningful change.
The book is available in open access, reflecting our unwavering belief in open science. We extend our deepest gratitude to the esteemed applied linguists—Henry Widdowson, Claire J. Kramsch, Diane Larsen-Freeman, Angela Creese, Azirah Hashim, Kyria Finardi, Virginia Yip, Annick De Houwer, Alexandre Duchêne, Jean-Paul Narcy-Combes, Georges Daniel Véronique, Eilika Fobbe, Alice Burrows, and Luisa Fernanda Acosta Córdoba—for their invaluable contributions. From a historical perspective to emerging discourses for social change, this book explores the diverse roles of applied linguistics in shaping education and society. It is a call to action, inviting researchers to engage more deeply with the world around them regarding real-world problems.
Discover the book here: https://benjamins.com/catalog/aals.22
Plurilingual Perspectives on Scholarly Writing
Following the recent announcement of Plurilingual Perspectives on Scholarly Writing for Publication: Within, Através y au-delà des Frontières “nas Américas” in our March newsletter, we are pleased to highlight some of the chapters from the volume.
The introduction chapter: Plurilingual Editor Perspectives on Scholarly Writing for Publication: Subjetividades et Ontoepistemologias is polyvocalic, plurilingual and sets the groundwork for an exploration of scholarly writing for publication practices in “the Americas.” Adopting a self-reflexive posture, the author-editors begin by reflecting upon the adequacy of language as an entry point for understanding the politics of global knowledge exchange, the use of particular terminology (e.g., “English for research publication purposes,” “critical,” “plurilingual”), and the raisons d’être or missions of this project. After considering the variety of ways in which we draw on our diverse linguistic repertoires and how this shapes how we see and negotiate ourselves in an asymmetrical world of academic knowledge production, we turn to epistemological considerations as we interrogate our ways of taking up the term plurilingual in scholarly writing (research) and teaching. We conclude with a plurilingual overview of this extensive volume.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/INT-B.2026.2821.1.3
Link to PDF: https://wacclearinghouse.org/docs/books/plurilingual/intro.pdf
Upcoming Events and CFP
AAAL
The Call for Proposals for the AAAL 2027 Conference opens on Monday, June 1, 2026!
Please visit the Call for Proposals website, where additional information and instructions for how to submit are available for your review including information on the AAAL 2027 Virtual Conference. We look forward to receiving your submissions and are excited to welcome you to Atlanta and online for AAAL 2027!
AFLA
The upcoming conference of the French Association of Applied Linguistics (AFLA) “Circulation and Interaction of Knowledge in Applied Linguistics” (CISELA 2027) will take place from May 26 to 28, 2027, at the Annie Ernaux House of Humanities at CY Cergy Paris University. It is organized by the AGORA, EMA, and LT2D research teams.
The relationship between science and society is currently evolving and numerous initiatives encourage the shared production of knowledge and a broader dissemination of scientific work. Linguistics and language sciences are fully aligned with this dynamic, which emphasizes the importance of opening applied linguistics to social needs and interdisciplinary collaborations. Building on the latest conferences organized by the French Association for Applied Linguistics (CRELA 2013, TRELA 2015, PRELA 2019, AILA 2023, NéALA 2025), CISELA 2027 aims to examine the circulation, dissemination, and popularization of knowledge and to explore how linguistics can be practically applied and find its place in society, particularly in the non-academic world.
The conference aims to explore those transformations through three main themes:
- Circulation, dissemination, and popularization of knowledge;
- Challenges and applications of applied linguistics in professional settings;
- Interdisciplinarity and applied linguistics.
The call for papers, posters, and symposia is available in French and in English on the conference website: https://afla2027.sciencesconf.org/resource/page/id/3. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact: .
Papers must be submitted via Sciencesconf by September 1, 2026.
ChinaCALL 2026 & ICELEAL 2026 (Guangzhou, China | November 13–15, 2026)
Hosted by Computer-Assisted Language Learning Association, China Association for Comparative Studies of English and Chinese (ChinaCALL), organized by Institute of Online Education, Artificial Intelligence and Human Languages Lab at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU), School of Foreign Studies at South China Normal University (SCNU). This event is cohosted by The Education University of Hong Kong, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, City University of Macau, Online Confucius Institute at The Open University, Virtual Exchange (VE) China Hub, Journal of China Computer-Assisted Language Learning (JCCALL), Beijing Waiyan Online Digital Technology Co., Ltd and LANGUAGECERT.
Themed around “AI-empowered Digital Language Education and Applied Linguistics: Bridging Theory and Practice”, the conference aims to share knowledge, skills, and ideas on the integration of technologies and language learning in the forms of pre-conference workshops, keynote speeches, symposia, individual presentations and a colloquium.
Deadline for proposal submission is August 15th and more info can be found here: https://www.chinacall.org.cn/conference2026/en_index.html.
Important Notice: Phishing Attempts
We have recently become aware of several phishing attempts targeting AILA members. These fraudulent emails falsely claim to be from members of the Executive Board and request funds or urgent financial assistance. These messages are scams and are not sent by AILA.
Please do not respond to such emails, do not click on any links, and do not download attachments. We strongly advise against forwarding these messages. Instead, delete them immediately.
If you are uncertain about any message claiming to be from AILA, please contact the Secretary General directly at for verification.
We are taking steps to reduce the risk of further incidents, including removing email addresses from the AILA website and strengthening protective measures.
Thank you for your vigilance and cooperation.
Looking Ahead: Building Bridges Through Applied Linguistics
As we move toward the second half of 2026 and continue preparing for AILA 2027, we invite affiliates, Research Networks, and partner organizations to keep sharing their initiatives, calls, publications, and events for future editions of the newsletter.
In a world increasingly marked by uncertainty, mobility, technological transformation, and growing inequalities, Applied Linguistics continues to play a vital role in fostering dialogue, understanding, and more equitable forms of knowledge exchange. Across languages, cultures, and borders, our community reminds us that communication is not only about words, but also about building bridges, sustaining cooperation, and imagining alternative futures.
May the months ahead inspire renewed collaboration, critical reflection, and collective engagement as we continue advancing multilingualism, intercultural dialogue, and socially responsible research worldwide.
Best wishes,
Kyria
Professor Kyria Finardi
President, AILA International Association of Applied Linguistics