Linguistic mediation for higher education language instructors and students
The Forum is hosted and co-organised by the Faculty of Linguistics, National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”
ECSPM
( h t t p s : //e c s p m . o rg / )
A leading European social and academic platform making it possible to share of ideas, policies, research, and good practices with stakeholders across Europe. It collectively advocates actions which aim to ensure that all languages spoken in Europe (national, regional, minority and migrant languages) are seen as assets that need to be supported, promoted and protected. It is structured as an umbrella organisation for 22 European academic/university centres, researching and supporting bi-/multilingualism in education, 4 European and international networks for the teaching, learning and testing of languages, 4 European networks for the promotion and support of European national, regional and minority languages
and 2 associations related to the arts. ECSPM is also in partnership with ECML and a number of other institutions, working for greater linguistic justice and language equality, driving for change in attitudes towards languages and the monolingual ethos of communication in society and in its institutions – especially education. ECSPM members and partners represent more than 200 institutions which reach out to thousands of beneficiaries.
THE HOST
From the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”
- Professor Zoia Kornieva: Dean of the Faculty of Linguistics, Doctor of Pedagogy, Professor at the Department of Theory, Practice and Translation of English.
- Professor Yuliana Lavrysh, Doctor of Science in Education, Head of the Department of English for Engineering, Faculty of Linguistics.
- Professor Iryna Simkova, Professor, Doctor of Science in Education, Head of the Department of English for Humanities, Faculty of Linguistics.
THE SPEAKERS
- Enrica Piccardo: Professor of Applied Linguistics and Language Education at OISE, University of Toronto. A collaborator with the Council of Europe since 2008, she co-authored the 2020 CEFR Companion Volume (CEFRCV). Her research spans language teaching approaches and curricula, plurilingualism, creativity and complexity in language education. Among her extensive list of publications, in different languages, is The Routledge Handbook of Plurilingual Language Education (Routledge 2022).
- Giacomo Folinazzo: Professor and the Head of the Centre for Research in Education at Niagara College in the School of English Language Studies, he holds a PhD in Language and Literacies Education from OISE, University of Toronto. He has taught languages across Canada, Italy and Japan and lectured on a diverse range of subjects, including language, culture, communication, second language learning and TESL at various post-secondary institutions.
- Johann Fischer: Director of ZESS (Centre for Languages and Transferable Skills) at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. Head of the Scientific Committee of UNIcert, member of the Board of the German association of university language centres, he has coordinated European Commission and ECML projects. His research and publications are on the implementation of the CEFR, task-based teaching and assessment, staff development and change management.
- Maria Stathopoulou: Adjunct Lecturer at the National Technical University of Athens, she is a member of the English team preparing the national foreign language exams in Greece and of the authoring team for the mediation descriptors of the CEFRCV (2014–2017). She is also coordinator of the ECML project “Mediation in Teaching, Learning and Assessment” (2020–2023). She has published extensively on linguistic mediation.
- Bessie Dendrinos: Professor Emerita and Director of the Research Institute for Multilingualism and Language Policy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Chair of the Central Board for the state foreign language exams in Greece and president of the European Civil Society Platform for Multilingualism, home to the Cluster of University Research Units on Multilingualism. Among her wide-ranging publications, in different languages, is her latest edited volume on Mediation as Negotiation of Meanings, Plurilingualism and Language Education (Routledge 2024).