Call for papers for the 18th Conference of the International Association for World Englishes (IAWE) at City University of Hong Kong and Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, from December 6-9, 2012.

The 18th Conference of the International Association for World Englishes (IAWE) will be jointly hosted by the City University of Hong Kong and Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, from December 6-9, 2012. The theme of the conference this year is 'World Englishes: Contexts, Challenges and Opportunities'. The Organising Committee invites proposals for individual presentations (20 minutes plus 5 minutes) for discussion on any area of research related to world Englishes. Abstracts addressing the conference theme, 'World Englishes: Contexts, Challenges and Opportunities' are particularly welcome. In addition to the topics of theory, methodology, and pedagogy, papers may address other areas of relevance to world Englishes scholarship. These include, but are not limited to, the following:

Asian Englishes
English as a Lingua Franca and world Englishes
Intercultural communication
Language and globalization
Language, media and world Englishes
Multilingualism and world Englishes
The sociolinguistics of English in China
World Englishes and corpus linguistics
World Englishes and linguistic landscapes
World Englishes and education
World Englishes and world cultures
World Englishes and world literatures
Varieties of English in China
Varieties of English worldwide

Applying to participate as a speaker in the conference

Interested scholars, graduate students, and others are invited to submit short abstracts of 300 words, outlining their proposed presentations. These should be sent to the conference email: iawe2012@cityu.edu.hk. The deadline for submission of abstracts is June 20, 2012. You will be sent confirmation of the acceptance of your paper by late July.

Announcement of 2012 Braj B. Kachru Student Award

The International Association for World Englishes (IAWE) is pleased to announce the inauguration of the Braj B. Kachru Student Award, which will be given for the best paper presented by a student at the Association's international conference. The award is named in honor of Prof. Braj B. Kachru, whose influential scholarship established the field of World Englishes, and is in recognition in particular of his exceptional commitment to student scholarship throughout his career.

The award carries a US $800.00 check prize as well as a cash reimbursement of the current year's IAWE membership and conference registration fees. IAWE 2012 marks the first year the award will be given.

Detailed information about the award and the application process will be posted by the end of May, 2012 at the IAWE website.