Call for Papers: International Conference on Chinese as a Second Language

From http://www.umdcsl.umd.edu/call.html

The Ph.D. Program in Second Language Acquisition and the Confucius Institute at the University of Maryland will host their first international conference on Chinese as a Second Language (CSL) on November 10 and 11, 2012 on the College Park campus. The past decade has witnessed a rapid growth in the learning and teaching of Chinese as a second language around the globe. Set in this context, this conference is intended to facilitate scholarly exchanges of research ideas and findings; encourage interdisciplinary collaborations, and promote research on the understanding of linguistic, psycholinguistic, and socio-cultural processes involved in the learning and teaching of Chinese as a Second Language (CSL). While all papers are welcome that are related to CSL learning and teaching, the organizers are particularly interested in research that focuses on the following topics:

Pronunciation, vocabulary, and syntax acquisition by CSL learners
The development of listening, speaking, reading/literacy, and writing skills by CSL learners
Characterizing CSL learner language and competence
Psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic study of phonological, lexical, syntactic/sentence processing by non-native speakers of Chinese
Instruction and CSL acquisition
CSL in K-12
CSL in intensive and immersion programs
Language acquisition by Chinese heritage learners
CSL in Study Abroad contexts

Abstracts of 400-500 words in either English or Chinese on any topics related to CSL learning and teaching are welcome. Please send the abstracts to cslconference at umd dot edu by May 31, 2012. The conference languages are English and Mandarin Chinese. More information about the conference and online registration will become available at http://www.umdcsl.umd.edu soon.