Oxford World English Symposium 2022

12-13 April 2022

Bringing together Oxford University Press’ dictionary teams with academic researchers, teachers, lexicographers, and other language practitioners to share research findings, experiences, and insights on World Englishes, in order to come up with innovative approaches to the creation of dictionaries and other lexical resources.

Register for all events or for individual events below. Parallel sessions can be accessed at every 15 mins on 12 April. More will be added below as they become available.

12 April 2022: Parallel sessions

13 April 2022: Live panel discussions

Panel 1. Dictionaries and the decolonization of English

The participants in this panel will discuss the role that dictionaries can play in the decolonization of English, so that the language can truly evolve from an instrument of colonial domination into an authentic medium of expression that can serve as a key to personal development and social mobility for its speakers in postcolonial nations.

Panel 2. Language corpora and research resources

The participants in this panel will discuss the different sources of textual evidence that can be used to create dictionaries of World Englishes, from traditional printed texts to synchronic and diachronic language corpora and digital text databases. Panellists will also share insights on the use of less formal and mediated forms of expression such as song lyrics, film and television scripts, blogs, wikis, and posts on social media sites as alternative resources for lexical research on varieties of English.

Panel 3. Dictionaries, World Englishes, and ELT

The participants in this panel will discuss the apparent tension between the need to create dictionaries and other learning materials that recognize the diversity and pluricentricity of English, and the need to provide adequate instruction to English language learners who are under pressure to develop language skills and proficiency as defined by norms that are still largely based on the idea of a single standard English. Panellists will share insights on how this tension can be resolved so that dictionaries can be more responsive to the needs, interests, and experiences of diverse learners.

Panel 4. Spectrum of variation in English

The participants in this panel will discuss the different manifestations of variation and change in English (e.g., regional and social dialects, hybrid Englishes, pidgins and creoles), as well as the various theoretical frameworks that have been used to describe and analyze varieties of English (e.g., World Englishes, Global Englishes, English as a Lingua Franca). Panellists will also share insights on how these categories and research paradigms have influenced the documentation of World English vocabulary.

Register here to secure your place.

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