18 Dec 2014|Noida | F2 Auditorium
20th International Conference on World Englishes held at Amity University
Amity University inassociation with International Association for World Englishes (IAWE) started20th International Conference on “World Englishes” on theme‘Asian/African Contexts and World Englishes’ in Amity Campus, Sector 125,Noida. The aim of the conference is to focus on different aspects of Englishincluding the learning, research, pedagogy and functional usage of English.
The event witnessed the presence of more than 150 delegates,researchers, academicians and scholars from 37 countries. The conference received more than 200abstracts worldwide.
Theconference was inaugurated by Prof.Ravinder Gargesh, Conference Chairperson; Prof. (Dr.) Balvinder Shukla, ViceChancellor, Amity University; Prof. Cecil Nelson, Vice President, IAWE and CaptH A Arfi, Advisor, AIESR and AICC.
Welcomingthe guests, Prof. Anamika Sharmasaid that India is a land of varied experiences, in terms of heritage andculture, and attracts visitors from around the world. She further added that Indiais also known for usage of various types of English which comes under theumbrella of Indian English. She expressed her hope that the conference willenrich the knowledge of participants regarding various types of English spokenin India.
Sharing hisviews on Indian English, Prof. RavinderGargesh said that in India, people believe that they learn British Englishbut in reality, Indian English has also a touch of US English. He alsomentioned that researchers across the world are keen on knowing and learningthe situation of English in the context of the upward growing business presenceof India. Prof. Ravinder urged the participants to deliberate upon new researchtopics in English which will emerge by end of the conference.
Addressingthe gathering, Dr. Balvinder Shuklasaid that in many countries, English has become the first language that helpspeople across globe to get connected easily. She mentioned that every country has people speaking English indifferent dialect. She further added that the conference is a platform forresearchers, scholars and academicians to study the forms and functions ofvarieties of Englishes in diverse cultural and sociolinguistic contexts.
During thefirst plenary session, Mr. Tej K Bhatiapresented his paper on “Targeting Multilingual Consumers: A Global AdvertisingPerspective” wherein he briefed about the intricate mechanism of language andmodality selection by advertisers in targeting multilingual consumers in theirquest to market identities, products and services.
During thethree day International Conference, various topics will be discussed includingEnglish in the outer & expanding circles, Teacher Education & WorldEnglishes, Impact of World Englishes on Educational/language policy Chair,Challenges in Asian/African classrooms, Social Identity of World Englishes andGlobalization & World Englishes.