February NUI Galway Launch New Centre for Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism (CALM)

NUI Galway also announce details of new MSc in Applied Multilingualism

NUI Galway recently launched a new research centre, the Centre for Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism (CALM). The new centre, which is based in the Moore Institute for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, will provide a platform for interdisciplinary research in the area of applied linguistics and multilingualism and increase the awareness of issues related to language learning, language processing and multilingualism within NUI Galway and the wider community. 

CALM’s research themes reflect increasing linguistic diversity in communities in Ireland, EU and globally. In particular, Galway was identified in the Census of 2016 as the most diverse city in Ireland, having the highest percentage of non-nationals and over 60 languages. This has significant impacts on education resulting in many multilingual children in some of the city’s and county’s schools. In addition, there is a high percentage of children and a progressively higher number of adults in speech and language therapy and other related health services in the city and county and also across Ireland.

The proximity of Galway to the Connemara Gaeltacht links NUI Galway to the largest Irish-speaking population in Ireland. The University offers a bilingual environment where the Irish language is regularly used in academic and social life. The provision of education through Irish is among the University’s strategic aims.

"Research on Irish will feature strongly in the work of CALM", said Dr John Walsh, Senior Lecturer in Irish and Co-Director of the Centre. "Language change in the Gaeltacht and the relationships between native and ‘new’ speakers are interesting fields for research in multilingualism, sociolinguistics, language acquisition and speech and language therapy."

"The launch of CALM is a significant development that will enhance the visibility of the considerable amount of research being carried out at NUI Galway in the fields of applied linguistics and multilingualism, increase interdisciplinary and cross-college collaboration and ultimately impact both students and the wider community", said Dr Laura McLoughlin, Senior Lecturer in Italian and CALM Co-Director.

"CALM offers fantastic opportunities to firmly establish NUI Galway as a centre of excellence in the field of multilingualism", said Dr Stanislava Antonijevic-Elliott, Senior Lecturer in Speech and Language Therapy and CALM founding member.

The launch of CALM coincides with announcement of the new MSc in Applied Multilingualism due to start in September 2020, which is designed to cater for increasing linguistic diversity in communities in Ireland, the EU and globally. The MSc is the only course of its kind in Ireland and is aimed at students from a variety of background including languages, humanities, social sciences and speech and language therapy. For more information on the MSc in Applied Multilingualism visit https://bit.ly/2voCxlk.

Further information: www.nuigalway.ie/calm

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