LITCON 09 Update : Registration is still open.

CONFERENCE THEME :   

The globalised world of today is plagued by long standing socio-cultural, historical and political issues that threaten to unravel the very fabric of societies both local as well as global. It is in this context that LITCON 2009 will focus on the key issues of Literacy for Unity by offering a platform for interested parties to explore and share ideas on how and why literacy practices can contribute to ameliorating or solving long standing issues of national and international tensions, conflicts and citizenship that threaten the concept of global nationhood, unity and cooperation which are the basis for building a just, peaceful and sustainable global society.

 Literacy practices have the potential not only to modernize society but to liberate the thinking of the people that acquire it.  It encourages a new depth in rationality, objectivity, as well as an ability to empathize with distant peoples and events.  To bestow it on individuals is not only an economic goal, but a spiritual one: acquiring literacy helps one to participate in modern life; it enfranchises one; it extends the privileges of the minority to the masses; it breaks the manacles of the past, manacles one does not even know one has to endure until they are gone. In this context it is worth noting that educational institutions and teachers play a pivotal role in sowing the seeds of such liberation and enfranchisement in terms of classroom practices and curriculum design.

 Literacy practices have the potential to promote and contribute to issues related to conflict resolution, intercultural awareness, tolerance, human rights and the equitable distribution of the world’s resources and wealth. LITCON 2009 offers a platform for policy makers, administrators, parents, learners, community activists, teachers and other practitioners to interact, network, share findings and exchange resources to highlight the fact that literacy is one of a growing number of movements in which people attempt to respond, both in their personal and professional lives to what they see as a "turning point" in global developments that impact on the world. The "turning point" represents a crisis in the way humans perceive and act to transform reality. For humans to solve the twin problems of preserving a livable environment and of restructuring destructive political and economic global relationships, a radical shift in perception and sustainable acts is imperative to help build shared aspirations and work for the common good of all.  

THEME 1: TEACHERS AND LITERACY Practices

n     Empowerment                                             

n     Education                                    

n     Knowledge

n     Reflection                                                                    

n     Curriculum for literacy         

n     Encouraging talk                       

n     Learners needs and literacy practices

·          Relating with parents

·          Student needs

·          Visual aids

·          Documentaries, literature, stories

·          Reading programme

THEME 2: CITIZENSHIP AND UNITY

n        National integration                   

n        Monitoring                          

n        Global citizenship implementations                                                 

n        National identities 

n        Goodwill initiatives

n        Ethics and Moral values

n        Patriotism           

n       Family  values                                                            

n       Borderless perspectives

n        Multiculturalism                     

n        Innovative policies advocating tolerance and respect                  

THEME 3: CONFLICT RESOLUTION

·          Learning to compromise

·          Managing diversity

·          Civilisation Studies

·          Language Culture and Ethnicity

·          Multiliteracies and educational research

·          New literacies: creative, environmental, visual, musical, inter- and intra-personal and religious/spiritual

·          Visions for tomorrow’s citizens

·          War, Peace and Language

·          Human Rights

THEME 4: SUSTAINABLE EDUCATION

n                    Accommodating global perspectives          

n                    Sustainable learning environments

n                    Sustaining diversity and difference

n                    Sharing global experiences           

n                    Open and Distance education

n                    Creating centres of expertise

n                    Educational radio and television

n                    e-Education        

n                    Information and Communications Technologies    

n                    Extra-curricular activities            

n                    Literacies for new economies:

Innovating, and adapting

n             Literacy and technology; CALL,

virtual-classrooms, internet, smart- schools, ICT and multimedia

n             Materials for literacy and language:                          

Design, development and evaluation

n             Parent-Teacher Associations

n                    Respecting teachers         

n             School and community

n                    School and discipline

n                    Sustaining resources       

n                    Staff Evaluation

n                    Sustaining academic success        

n                    Teacher education and development

n                    Teachers, courses and public                        

n                    Trouble-shooting examination practices                  

n             Multiliteracies

THEME 5: GENERAL

n                    Global languages                                              

n                    Historical perspectives: people and policies

n             International experiences                                              

n                    Language and edutainment                         

n                    Language and gender

n                    Language and literacy research: Issues, paradigms, designs

and directions

n                    Language, arts, music, theatre, cinema and home

n                    Language, class and disabilities

n                    Language, class and culture

LITCON 2009 is organised by the School of Languages, Literacies and Translation, Universiti Sains Malaysia - Penang, Malaysia.

Copyright 2009 @ SoLLaT-USM