6th International Conference on Chinese as a Second Language Research Conference in Washington DC

02/09/2020

Call for papers
Location: George Washington University, Washington D.C., USA
Conference website: https://eall.columbian.gwu.edu/caslar-6-2020
Meeting Email: caslar2020gwu@gmail.com
CASLAR website: www.caslarcenter.com
Subject Language(s): Chinese, English
Important Dates:
Abstract Submission Deadline 15 February 2020
Acceptance Notification (by email) 15 March 2020
Early Bird Registration Deadline   15 May 2020
Registration Deadline    30 June 2020
Conference Dates 5-7 August 2020


Conference Formats:
This conference will offer keynote speeches, breakout sessions, panel presentations, poster presentations, workshops,
publisher exhibitions, etc. to promote collaboration, provide new knowledge, support peer-to-peer learning, and deepen
communications between researchers and Chinese language practitioners at all levels.
Meeting Description:
CASLAR is a biennial conference with the goal to bring together scholars from all over the world whose research focuses on
the acquisition, development and use of Chinese as a second language to survey available knowledge in the field, exchange
ideas and initiate research projects. The conference is a part of the CASLAR movement that aims to transform a field from a
primarily experienced-and practice-based discipline into a discipline based on and supported by research and theory. The first
CASLAR conference was held at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou in 2010, the second one was in Taipei, Taiwan in 2012, the
third conference was held in Parma, Italy in 2014 , CASLAR-4 was held at East China Normal University, China in 2016,
and CASLAR-5 was held at University of Hong Kong in 2018. Another means supporting the CASLAR movement is a
bilingual journal Chinese as a Second Language Research 漢語作為第二語言研究 published by De Gruyter Mouton;
Berlin/New York. Copies of the journal will be available at the conference. Website of the journal:
http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/caslar
The CASLAR-6 conference is co-organized by the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures (EALL), and East
Asian National Resource Center (NRC), the George Washington University (GWU). The GWU Foggy Bottom campus is
conveniently located in the heart of Washington, D.C., close to the White House, the Kennedy Center and a number of federal
and international agencies.
The Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures (EALL) at the George Washington University focuses on the
teaching and research of the Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages and cultures, both classical and modern. The
department offers majors and minors in all three East Asian languages and the MA program in Chinese Language and
Culture. A major in EALL will achieve an advanced competence in one of the three languages and a deep knowledge of the
literary and cultural tradition of the region represented by the language.
The East Asia National Resource Center (NRC) at the George Washington University is funded by the U.S. Department of
Education’s Title VI programs, National Resource Centers and Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships. The goal of
NRC is to address a national need for greater knowledge and expertise on East Asia through expanded language instruction,
area studies educational programs, outreach and teacher training. The NRC also seeks to provide historically
underrepresented communities with academic and professional opportunities, resources, and access to expertise that
encourage public service and facilitate critical discussion on issues of global importance. With GWU having the largest and
most influential Asian studies program in the D.C. area, the NRC’s aim is to facilitate the university’s ability to share that
knowledge with the broader public. The programs of NRC support international and foreign language education.



Organizers:
Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures (EALL), the George Washington University
East Asia National Resource Center (NRC), the George Washington University
Chinese as a Second Language Research (CASLAR) Association
Organizing Committee (in alphabetical order):
Emir Bailey, East Asia National Resource Center, GWU
Liana Chen, Dept. of East Asian Languages and Literatures, GWU
Matt Coss, Dept. of East Asian Languages and Literatures, GWU
Hongyuan Dong, Dept. of East Asian Languages and Literatures, GWU
Richard Haddock, East Asia National Resource Center, GWU
Shoko Hamano, Dept. of East Asian Languages and Literatures, GWU
Miaochun Wei, Dept. of East Asian Languages and Literatures, GWU
Phyllis Zhang, Dept. of East Asian Languages and Literatures, GWU
Hang Zhang, Dept. of East Asian Languages and Literatures, GWU
Conference Co-Chairs:
Hang Zhang, Associate Professor of Chinese Language and Linguistics, EALL, George Washington University, USA.
Distinguished Professor Istvan Kecskes, Chairman of CASLAR, Editor-in-Chief of Intercultural Pragmatics and the
CASLAR journal, State University of New York, Albany, USA.
Confirmed Plenary Speakers:
Prof. Jane Orton, The University of Melbourne, Australia
Prof. Wen Cao, Beijing Language and Culture University, China
Prof. Chiara Romagnoli, Università Degli Studi Roma Tre, Italy.
Prof. Fangyuan Yuan, United States Naval Academy, President of Chinese Language Teachers Association-USA.
Call for Papers:
CASLAR-6 invites proposals for presentations that are related to research in any area of Chinese as a Second Language
(CSL). Those wishing to participate should prepare abstracts for 20-minute oral presentations or poster presentations. Below
there are some suggested categories for topics, though submissions need not be limited to these areas.
Suggested Topic Areas:
• Acquisition and development of CSL: phonetics & phonology, semantics, morphology, syntax, pragmatics, etc.
• Chinese character acquisition and development of CSL reading and writing
• Application of linguistic theories to Chinese L2 data
• Cognitive aspects of CSL acquisition
• Motivation to learn Chinese
• Role of culture in the acquisition of CSL
• Discourse in CSL
• Technology and CSL: Corpus and Learner Errors, Distance Learning in CSL, etc.
• Curriculum and instruction
• Research-based Language Teaching Methodology for CSL at all levels
• Designing materials for CSL
• Conceptual socialization in the process of developing CSL
• Assessment of proficiency in CSL
Publication:
There will be two selected-papers volumes published from conference presentations. One of them will select the best papers
focusing on linguistics (Routledge) and discourse issues of CSL/CFL while the second one will select the best papers
focusing on language learning and teaching issues (DeGruyter). Papers can also be submitted for consideration to the
CASLAR journal.
Abstract Submissions:
Abstract submission Deadline: February 15, 2020
Please submit abstracts to EASYABS at http://linguistlist.org/easyabs/caslar-6

Abstract Guidelines:
• Abstracts should be written in English or Chinese and be submitted as a WORD doc (not a PDF file).
• Your personal information such as name, affiliation, and email can NOT be included in the abstract. The personal
information will be collected before uploading your abstracts on EasyAbs.
• Each proposal should include: the title, the abstract, three to five keywords and a summary (A4 or Letter size, 12
points in single space). The first keyword should indicate the topic area of your study, such as ‘Phonology,’
‘Pragmatics,’ ‘Textbook,’ etc. (please refer to the aforementioned “Suggested Topic Areas”). The summaries may be
used in the conference program.
• You will be asked to indicate your proposal category on EasyAbs. Both Individual Presentations and Panels are
acceptable.
o Individual Presentations: This category is for proposals to give a 20-minute oral presentation (15 minutes plus
5 minute Q & A) or in the format of poster presentation. The abstract should not exceed 350 English words (or
about 600 Chinese characters) with title and keywords. The abstract should summarize the purpose of the study,
methods, main results, and implications (if relevant). A summary of your proposal should not exceed 60 English
words (or 90 Chinese characters). Poster presentations usually focus on an on-going project. They combine text
and graphics to present the project in a way that is visually interesting and accessible. The format of the
presentations will be subject to the Organizing Committee’s final decision.
o Panels: This category is for an hour-long panel comprised with three, or four, presentations on a common theme.
Each panel must have a representative submitting a proposal, which should include: a) the main theme of the
panel; b) individual topics and abstracts; c) five key words and a summary. The proposal should not exceed 500
English words in total (or 750 Chinese characters) and the summary should not exceed 100 English words (or
about 150 Chinese characters). Conference participants may use the google docs below to organize panels and
look for potential panel contributors, if needed:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_oVsvnIozwQAhGuiXOPBNuhhe8yJaZom...
it?ts=5da8982a#gid=0

Other Activities:
In addition to keynote addresses, breakout sessions, poster presentations and publisher exhibitions, the CASLAR-6
Conference will also offer two more activities:
1) CASRI Roundtables (CASLAR Research Initiative): CASRI research groups (see caslarcenter.com website) will offer
round table discussions about the topics they focus on: 1) prosody and tone, 2) formulaic language, idioms, situation-bound
utterances, 3) acquisition and use of modality, 4) innovative pedagogical approaches, 5) vocabulary, speech acts and
discourse, 6) neural mechanism of cognitive/psychological process in the Chinese language as related to language acquisition.
Participation in these round-table discussions is voluntary.
2) A couple of workshops with the objective of bridging the research and practice of Chinese language acquisition. For
example, the From Paper to Practice workshops will present research findings in a way that is accessible and applicable to
practitioners in a variety of teaching contexts and will also present opportunities for collaboration and communication
between researchers with similar interests and classroom language instructors. Workshops are open to conference attendees,
free of charge. However, participants are required to sign up for workshops in advance.

Contact: CASLAR-6 Organizing Committee at caslar2020gwu@gmail.com
The conference attendees who register for the conference and need a Professional Development Point (PDP) certificate,
please email us in advance.