FLTAL ’16 Conference Held

On May 12 through 14, 2016, the Association for Applied Linguistics in Bosnia and Herzegovina (AALBiH) and BURCH University, with the support of a number of local and regional partners, including US Embassy in Sarajevo and the British Council as well as 15 partner universities, organized the 6th annual Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics conference (FLTAL). A number of prominent speakers addressed the assembled audience during the opening ceremony, including presidents of the International, Brazilian, and Korean associations of applied linguistics, respectively.

Throughout the three days over 300 participants from 60 countries presented their research in a number of fields, ranging from language teaching to linguistics and education. Conference chairman Prof. Dr.Azamat Akbarov opened the conference greeting the audience in different languages thus promoting multilingualism and diversity. Additionally, the conference hosted eight prominent keynote speakers coming from the world-class universities. The lineup included Claire Kramsch, the current president of AILA, as well as Elana Shohamy, Henry Widdowson, Richard Hudson, Kendall King, Nicholas Evans, Heidi Byrnes, and Patsy Lightbown. The conference was closed with an award ceremony, where three students received the Best Graduate Student Paper award, while keynote lecturers and the rector of the University received plaques of appreciation. The ceremony was followed up by a concert and a trip to Mostar the next day.

The organizers express their gratitude to the sponsors, partners, and volunteers who helped organize the conference.