Bloomsbury Round Table on Communication, Cognition and Culture
Dr Kate Hammer blogs about her recent experience at the Bloomsbury Round Table.
This post was contributed by Dr Kate Hammer, Associate Research Fellow at Birkbeck’s Department of Applied Linguistics and Communication.
A very well-attended international conference took place last month at the Department of Applied Linguistics and Communication, Birkbeck, University of London. The Bloomsbury Round Table on Communication, Cognition and Culture, organised by Professor Jean-Marc Dewaele, took place over two days, 13th and 14th June, and focused on the multifaceted relationship between language, culture and emotions.
The plenary speakers, apart from Professor Dewaele, included Aneta Pavlenko, Professor of Applied Linguistics at Temple University in Philadelphia, Dr Jozefien De Leersnyder of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Dr Sofie Bager-Charleson from the Metanoia Institute in London, and Dr Beverley Costa, founder of Mothertongue and Honorary Research Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London. The event attracted the maximum number of attendees and the talks sparked interesting discussions, exchanges of opinions and points of view.
The talks on day one ranged from the issues of recognising, perceiving and expressing emotions in native and foreign languages, though the use of multiple languages in psychotherapy and emotional acculturation, to the issues of practical application of applied linguistics research in policing and judicial proceedings. Both past and present PhD students from Birkbeck’s Department of Applied Linguistics and Communication presented their research. The parallel sessions offered a wide range of interesting presentations, the topics of which included translation and conceptual non-equivalence of emotion words between languages; research on links between language, culture and personality; the power of emotion words in different languages; language use in psychotherapy; emotional consequences of not speaking the language of one’s ancestors; as well as acculturation, attachment and the perception of being yourself in a new language.
Day two of the conference was devoted to state-of the-art Masterclasses delivered by Professor Pavlenko, and Dr De Leersnyder with Ms Alba Jasini. The Masterclasses focused on the forensics of understanding and practical use of applied linguistics research in the real world; and methodological issues in research on emotional acculturation respectively. The Masterclasses were very informative and intellectually stimulating.
The event proved to be a great success and an excellent networking opportunity for the participants and presenters. Thanks to such events as this, research in applied linguistics, and particularly its implications outside the classroom, gain further prominence and help researchers realise that their work is not only their vocation, but that it is important and applicable in the real world.