Erika Darics, "Applied to what", 10 September, 9:00 am, Room SM O3.01

Applied linguistics for professional practice has built powerful tools for understanding language in context. But what now? For 15 years, ALAPP has brought together researchers to make sense of language/communication at work. We have built a field defined by rich analytical tools and detailed descriptions, and we have got our message across within and across disciplines that language and communication matter! But in a world shaped by major ecological, epistemic, and political crises, the ground beneath our field has shifted. In this presentation, I ask how applied linguistics can claim new ground – not by extending its analytical reach, but by stepping into a more transformative role: shaping how people think, relate, and act through and with language.

The talk will introduce four capacities that can reposition applied linguistics as a force for change. As part of what is called Critical Language Awareness (CLA), I will explore how awareness, agency, advocacy, and activism are not optional extras, but our civic and professional imperative. During the talk, moments of shared reflection and disruption will help us consider what it means to move beyond critical observation toward ethical responsibility. My hope is to shift the question from how we analyse language to what we do with that knowledge in the face of collapsing systems and futures at stake.

Peter Roger, "Patterns of collaboration in applied linguistic research: solving real problems in healthcare practice", 11 September, 9:00 am, Room SM O3.01

Healthcare interactions have long held a particular fascination for applied linguists, sometimes involving collaboration across the boundaries. Three strands of research collaboration can be discerned. The traditional lines of applied linguistic research have sought to analyse provider-patient interactions from a ‘detached observer’ standpoint, generating findings and conclusions expressed in technical language that is largely inaccessible to the participants themselves. This extractive cross-disciplinary model (where one discipline is examined from the perspective of another) can generate novel insights but will generally have a negligeable impact on actual professional practice. In a sense, it is not really collaboration at all. More recently, interdisciplinary models of collaboration have become common, where healthcare scholars and applied linguists integrate their disciplinary perspectives to frame problems collaboratively and co-design research that will inform practical solutions. Particularly exciting, however, is the more practice-oriented interprofessional collaboration, where healthcare professionals and applied linguistic professionals converge in their perspectives and become fluent in each other’s practices, adopting at times a hybrid stance.

As an applied linguist, I have been fortunate to participate in projects that reflect each of these different models of collaborative research, but for me, it is the convergence which underpins interdisciplinary and (in particular) interprofessional research that makes it by far the most rewarding. In this presentation, I will discuss examples of collaborative projects involving novice and expert professionals from the fields of nursing, medicine, speech pathology, and healthcare interpreting. I will outline the key elements of these collaborative endeavours that provide the fertile ground for insights from applied linguistics to drive positive changes in clinical communicative practices.
 

Alice Delorme Benites , "Escaping the echo chambers: renegotiating the role of language/communication professionals in AI-enhanced communication", 12 September, 9:00 am, Room SM O4.01

In my talk, I will discuss the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in communication and its impact on the work of language and communication experts. As a case in point, I will use the recent developments in the field of translation and interpreting studies. 
Generative AI has brought communication tasks such as translation, summarization, and explanation to the forefront of automation. Drawing on my experience in a leading role in a translation and interpreting institute, I will describe how AI has impacted the field and how experts have reacted to this disruption. Language professionals are often portrayed as critics and victims of AI, and they are rarely included in public discussions. Algorithmic filter bubbles and echo chambers confine their voices, and biases such as correlation neglect, confirmation bias, and selection bias reinforce their isolation. As a result, language/communication specialists and technologists fail to share a common language, and the decision-making power remains unbalanced.

One way to bridge this gap is to cultivate interactional expertise by learning the vocabulary and conceptual frameworks of AI to meaningfully engage with engineers and policy makers. However, in interdisciplinary settings where many specialties compete, interactional expertise alone may not suffice. Therefore, I will propose a cautious, context-sensitive use of interactional expertise: language/communication professionals must acquire enough technical fluency to participate in discussions, but we also need institutional mechanisms to ensure that linguistic expertise is valued.