The 15th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB15) | 9-13 June 2025 | Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain | Call for Papers

The 15th International Symposium on Bilingualism
- The Different Faces of Bilingualism –

Call for Papers

The 15th International Symposium on Bilingualism will take place on 9-13 June 2025 in Donostia-San Sebastián (Spain) and will be hosted by the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language.

The theme of the conference is The Different Faces of Bilingualism. This deliberately broad theme for ISB15 is aimed at meeting ISB’s mission to create a space for researchers with a diverse range of interests to share their knowledge and gain new perspectives, and to foster meaningful cross-disciplinary collaborations. We hope to bring together researchers working on different faces of bilingualism, including different research areas, methodological approaches, and populations. In line with this aim, we have invited plenary speakers who represent different faces of bilingualism, from sociolinguistics to education, psycholinguistics to translation. This broad theme reflects the multidisciplinary nature of the organizing committee, based in a center of excellence for neuroscientific research into language and bilingualism. To capitalize on this expertise, ISB15 will feature The Bilingual Brain Day, which is intended to share the core insights of the field with researchers of other areas and to discuss the state-of-the-art with researchers in the field. The conference theme also aims to promote inclusivity, inspired by its location in the Spanish Basque Country, one of the few regions in the world that has successfully revived its bilingual heritage across all aspects of society.

ISB15 invites submissions in all areas of research on bilingualism and multilingualism, including but not limited to: linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, applied linguistics, neuropsychology, language acquisition, clinical linguistics, language and education, and multilingual societies.

Keynote speakers:

  • Laura Bosch (University of Barcelona)
  • Jasone Cenoz (University of the Basque Country)
  • Robert Hartsuiker (Ghent University)
  • Janet van Hell (The Pennsylvania State University)
  • Pia Lane (University of Oslo)
  • Rajend Mesthrie (University of Cape Town)
  • Elizabeth D. Peña (University of California, Irvine)
  • Anthony Pym (Universitat Rovira i Virgili)

We invite abstracts for two categories of submissions: individual papers and posters.

Individual papers are formal presentations on original research or pedagogy-focused topics by one or more authors, lasting a maximum of 20 minutes with 5 additional minutes for discussion.

Posters on original research or pedagogy will be displayed in sessions that offer the opportunity for individualized, informal discussion with others in the field. Posters are especially effective for presenting work-in-progress, fieldwork, and results of empirical research for which data can be presented visually. On each day of the conference, there will be a 90-minute poster session with presenters in attendance. Posters can be left on display throughout the entire day of their session.

Preference will be given to abstracts describing completed work with research results available, but abstracts featuring preliminary data are also welcome. Abstracts describing research plans will be considered for poster presentation only.

Abstract submission for individual papers and posters will open on 18 September 2024 and end at 23:59 (CET) on 13 November 2024. Please note that individual submissions cannot be made while the call for symposia is still open, which will end on 16 September.

Abstracts should be a maximum of 300 words in length (including any references), anonymized and submitted in English via the submission portal: https://www.bcbl.eu/events/isb15/en/abstract/

Abstracts will be reviewed anonymously. Notification of acceptance will be sent by 3 February 2025.

For any inquiries, please contact ISB2025@bcbl.eu