The English Studies Department co-organises the 6th International Language in Focus Conference in Dubrovnik

The 6^th International Language in Focus Conference: ‘Language, Research, and Teaching in the 21^st Century’, co-organised by Çukurova University, Turkey and the English Studies Department of CITY College, International Faculty of the University of Sheffield has been successfully completed.

The 3-day conference, which took place at Importanne Resort in Dubrovnik, Croatia on May 2-4, attracted academics and researchers from various institutions around the globe. In particular, the conference featured over 180 presentations in six parallel sessions and welcomed attendees from more than 40 countries from all over the world. Moreover, the keynote speakers included inspiring and prominent figures in the fields of applied linguistics and language teaching; namely, Guy Cook, Emeritus Professor of Language in Education at King’s College London, Susan Hunston, Professor of English Language at the University of Birmingham, Suzanne Romaine, Merton Professor of English Language at the University of Oxford until 2014, Nina Spada, Professor in the Language and Literacies Education program at the University of Toronto and Penny Ur, Professor at Oranim Academic College and Haifa University in Israel. David Singleton, Emeritus Professor at Trinity College Dublin, was the guest of honour.

The Department had a strong presence at the conference as apart from Dr Zoi Tatsioka, Head of the Department, who was one of the conference organisers, Dr Vicky Papachristou and Ms Maria-Araxi Sachpazian, lecturers of the Department, delivered an enlightening talk on ‘Teacher Identities: A Comparative Study in the Construction of the Teacher-self in Greece and Europe’. Furthermore, Ms Arta Musollaj, PhD Candidate at the School of English was a member of the organising committee but also had the opportunity to present her work on ‘Attitudes towards Minority Languages in Kosovo’.

The English Studies Department has forged a strong collaboration with Çukurova University and Associate Professor Cem Can, President of Language in Focus Conferences. Thus, we are pleased to announce the co-organisation of the 7^th International Language in Focus Conference in Valletta, Malta in 2020.