Digital technologies are in the process of fundamentally reshaping communication. There are significant opportunities: chatbots can personalize language teaching in a way unimaginable until recently and machine translation promises to widen participation for ever more people, regardless of their language proficiency. Yet these opportunities come with the harms caused by screen addiction, surveillance, and environmental destruction.

In this one-day research symposium we move beyond both the hype and the fearmongering to examine the real-life use of digital technologies in multilingual and intercultural communication. How can digital technologies help to bridge language barriers to social participation? What new barriers do they create? And what research agenda do we need to harness technological transformation for social inclusion in our linguistically and culturally diverse society?

For details see https://www.languageonthemove.com/event-new-technologies-in-intercultural-communication/

Draft Program

09:30-10:00 Arrival, Meet & Greet

10:00-10:30 Welcome

10:30-11:15 Laura Smith-Khan (UNE), “Connectivity is the central thing”: Developing legal literacy post-migration

11:15-12:00 Julia Kantek and Thilakshi Mallawa Arachchi (WSU), Sustaining livelihoods in ‘the shadows’: International students’ use of GenAI as digital shadow care support

12:00-13:00 Lunch break

13:00-13:45 Ana Sofia Bruzon (MQ), Using tech in bilingual transnational parenting

13:45-14:30 Hye Eun Chu (MQ), Bridging Language and Inquiry in Diverse Science Classrooms

14:30-15:15 Yeong-Ju Lee (MQ), Social Media and Language Learning

15:15-15:45 Coffee break

15:45-17:00 Roundtable: Looking to the future and developing a new research agenda [Chair: Ingrid Piller (MQ&UHH), Loy Lising (MQ), Sarah McMonagle (UHH)]

17:00-18:30 Reception & networking