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CALM Seminar Series 2024-2025 Explored Multilingualism, Migration, and Language Learning

The 2024-25 CALM seminar series brought together researchers from Ireland and abroad to discuss a range of topics related to multilingualism, language learning, translation, and migration and social inclusion.

The series began with Andrea Ciribuco and Pilar Luz-Rodrigues presenting findings from fieldwork with migrants and refugees in rural Ireland, examining language use, community participation, and everyday multilingual experiences. Iker Erdocia continued this focus on migration by exploring the role of language in the inclusion of people who have migrated to Ireland, highlighting the ways in which linguistic and social factors intersect in shaping participation in society.

Other seminars addressed barriers and supports for reading comprehension among English as a Foreign Language learners in Ireland and Saudi Arabia, and the potential of translation technologies to contribute to a more multilingual scholarly communication landscape. Professor Lynne Bowker (Université Laval) discussed both the possibilities and limitations of these technologies in research dissemination.

Several talks focused on bilingualism and language development. Daniela Gatt (University of Malta) examined how social environment and caregiver input influence young children's bilingual vocabulary development, while the GAELFAM project team headed by Cassie Smith-Christmas

shared initial findings on multilingual families in the Gaeltacht. The series concluded with Ciara Egan's eye-tracking research on reading strategies among Welsh-English bilinguals and its relevance for future research on Irish.

Across the academic year, the seminars provided opportunities to engage with current research on language and multilingualism in a variety of social, educational, and community contexts.