In the postcolonial and multilingual context of South Asia, language remains a matter of social, political and economic concern. Be it the question of appointing a ‘national language’ drafting language policy; the status of dialects and unrecognised ‘mother tongues’ or the marginalisation of indigenous, tribal and minority (ITM) languages — the issue of language continues to pose a challenge to policymakers, academics, educators, and civil society alike.

As we move forward in a world gripped by urgent issues of climate change, collapsing social fabrics of South Asian nations along the fault-lines of inequality, and an increased role of technology and artificial intelligence in society, this conference will bring the future of language education into focus. How does language education feature within the UN Sustainable Development Goals aimed at 2030? What is the language of sustainability in South Asia and does it determine which issues are covered in education? How will language learning and teaching develop in an era of AI, DuoLingo and ChatGPT? Does language-in-education policy play an important role in determining classroom dynamics and feelings of inclusion and exclusion in education spaces? 

This conference hopes to answer some of these questions during the course of one day filled with stimulating paper presentation panels from across the world.

For more details, please email oxedsouthasia@gmail.com.