The Clarion Online
Issue 3 | Summer 2006

Good things always come in threes!

Welcome to the Clarion Online Issue 3. Again, alas, there were some delays in the delivery of promised copy. However, once again I’d like to thank those hard-pressed colleagues who were good enough to put pen to paper (to use that pre-word-processing phrase!) or to send me the fruits of their photographic skills!

In this issue we have a review of the Dubrovnik conference from Danijela Trenkic, some photographic impressions of the same conference courtesy of Vivian Cook and Richard Towell, an autobiographical piece from Yan-kit Ingrid Leung (a newcomer to EUROSLA), and a preview of this year’s conference from Ayşe Gürel.

Bonne lecture!

Anyone who would like to write a piece for the magazine – of whatever length on whatever topic – is, as always, most warmly invited to contact me at dsnglton@tcd.ie.

David Singleton

Impressions of EUROSLA 15
Danijela Trenkic

Strange as it may sound, I’ve always associated Dubrovnik with school trips. Growing up in former Yugoslavia, it seemed only natural to me that our school would take us there at regular intervals. After all, where better to get introduced to the dramatic mastery of the Renaissance and Baroque architecture, to the pristine blueness of the Adriatic, to have your first taste of seafood? I certainly loved it. But then came the war, and for a while Croatia remained an inaccessible territory for me. Not for longer than was absolutely necessary: with the abolition of visas in 2003, I rushed to visit friends in Rijeka (admittedly, on a pretext of a conference in Opatija), then returned for summer holidays on Krk, and a year later on the island of Vis. But I hadn’t revisited Dubrovnik since 1987. Eighteen long years! So I knew that EUROSLA this year would be special.

The nature of the trip, of course, I expected to be different this time. I now have a proper job as an academic in the UK. I’m on my way to present a scientific paper to an international audience of world-class experts. It’s all very aloof, serious and intimidating. But by the time I’ve boarded the plane at Gatwick, I realise I know half of the passengers. Yes, many of them are renowned linguists, others promising young researchers and PhD students, but they all very nice people who I meet regularly at similar meetings, and some of whom I even have a great joy of calling friends. So the old feeling is there, only this time, as my heart pounds wildly on catching the first glimpse of Dubrovnik’s magnificent city walls, it’s not Bojan and Olivera, but Paul and Benedetta who are sitting next to me.

At the International Centre of Croatian Universities where I was staying, I met even more colleagues. For the next few days, we learnt with interest about new research everyone was doing, over breakfast in a charming little café just down a stone paved lane, and during scenic bus-rides to the conference site. The Hotel Dubrovnik Palace, where EUROSLA was happening, was indeed palatial, set in an old pine grove, built in a rock just above the sea. This meant that apart from stunning views, we were only a quick lift-ride to the hotel beach and swimming pool. A quick dip at lunch breaks was definitely most refreshing and enjoyable, and though a new one to me, people who’d been to San Sebastian the previous year, seemed to consider it a standard EUROSLA feature now. Last one in the water in Newcastle 2007 is a wuss!

At first I thought it rather foolish of the organisers to have chosen a venue where participants could be easily tempted to have a cocktail too many and spend the rest of the day by the swimming pool. But I soon realised they had a compelling alternative: the quality of the talks. Whether I’m getting better at choosing, or the general quality of SLA research is constantly improving, the fact remains that year after year, the number of superb presentations increases. The absolute highlights for me this year were Marianne Gullberg’s talk (with Christine Dimroth and Leah Roberts) on an experiment that tested what one knows after 7 minutes of exposure to a new language, and Rebekah Rast (with Clive Perdue) on how previously acquired languages get activated upon first contact with a new foreign language. Another highly enjoyable session was on bilingual cognition. Panos Athanasopoulos talked on non-verbal classification preferences in Japanese-English bilinguals, and Benedetta Bassetti’s on grammatical gender and object perception in Italian-German bilingual children, for which she received the closest thing to a standing ovation that I’ve ever seen at a conference.

Alas, it was not all swimming and enjoying other people’s presentations: there was work to be done, too. I had a privilege to be a discussant of a paper by a highly talented PhD student Maja Miličević on the acquisition of verbal reflexives and reciprocals. I also chaired an excellent session on the last day, comprising papers by Sarah Liszka, Ayse Gürel and Pascale Leclercq (with Monique Lambert). And then, there was my paper to present, too. I left York concerned about how it would go, having received, just days before the conference, a request for major changes on the written version from Second Language Research. From this perspective, I know I shouldn’t have worried. EUROSLA is exactly the place to go to find the missing pieces for your jigsaw puzzle: it was invaluable comments and suggestions from the audience that helped me re-structure the paper, and it has now been accepted for publication. Looking back now on all my past visits to Dubrovnik, this one, clearly, was very different: I don’t remember having dined under the palms of the Excelsior Hotel, or attending a reception at the Sponza Palace on previous occasions. These are things that I appreciated and enjoyed. Still, it is the spirit of friendship and camaraderie, the same one I associated with my school trips, that also makes EUROSLA conferences what they are, and that counts most. Well done Dubrovnik, and I can’t wait till Antalya 2006!


Hong Kong – Montréal – L.A. – Colchester
Yan-kit Ingrid Leung

I moved from L.A. to Colchester in January 2004 to join the Essex linguistics department and began a life-changing experience. I was originally from Hong Kong, did my PhD at McGill in Montréal and then got a post-doc position at USC in L.A. David suggested that I write about my transformation from a Hong Kong girl to an “Essex girl” for Clarion. I must emphasize that (fortunately or not) I don’t quite qualify to be called an “Essex girl” myself. Yes, I live in Essex now, but my life here is mainly about work. Colchester is not a very exciting town. Being a big city person, I go to London to recharge batteries (i.e., eat, shop, people-watch…) whenever I have time. I met Rebekah Rast for the first time at EUROSLA in Dubrovnik just last week; on top of discussing serious academic matters such as those related to L3, UG and the initial state, I told her how much I envy her being able to live in Paris – good food, good life. She suggested that Paris is within easy reach from London so why not take the Eurostar there whenever I want to eat good food. Bonne idée!

Work-wise, I have always considered myself very lucky being able to land a tenure-track faculty position soon after I got my PhD. Essex is a prestigious department, whether in theoretical linguistics or SLA. I am very grateful for the opportunity they offer me. I am learning a lot from senior colleagues at the department about research, teaching and various aspects of being a good scholar. One of the challenges when I first started teaching at Essex was having to convince students that I was indeed a faculty member. I suppose it must be because I don’t look serious/academic/professional/intellectual enough – almost nobody believed that I was a teacher and not a student. I also feel so lucky to have met Vivian (Cook) who is now with Newcastle. I didn’t know at the time I got the job that he’d be retiring from Essex. Vivian and Pam are like my “adoptive parents” in Colchester. I am so thankful for their warmth, love, care and concern for me – this lonely soul made in China and transported from North America. When I first arrived in England, I didn’t know a single person. Now I have made some new friends both inside and outside of my academic life. Some of my good old friends from Hong Kong are also working and living in or close to London. I am very happy about that.

One good thing about living in England is being able to visit (Continental) Europe often. I love travelling. I love going from one place to another. I love the excitement associated with anticipating, planning and packing for a trip. I also love the anonymity and temporary loss of identity I can enjoy when I travel to a (semi-)unknown place and be a stranger there (that is when I am travelling alone; of course I love travelling with friends too.) To someone living in Asia or North America, travelling to Europe is a luxury. I am so glad that I have the privilege to be actually living here. My (non-academic) friends in Hong Kong and North America are always so envious of me having so many travel opportunities especially within Europe. I had in fact always dreamed of living in Europe. I had visited Europe a few times before I went to study in Canada. Although the memory had turned vague over the years, I always remembered how beautiful and romantic Europe was. (That was also why Montréal has become my most beloved city – to many, it is Europe in North America.) I first came to Europe some 10-12 years ago for a French language summer course in Brest, France and visited quite a few other countries as well (including Italy!). I visited Europe twice subsequently (one time it was to Nijmegen for my first EUROSLA (10 years later, I was in Dubrovnik for my second EUROSLA!); the other time was to Besançon, France for a summer course in applied linguistics). Since I arrived in England last year, I have visited various places within the U.K. such as Edinburgh, the Lake District and the neighbouring counties of Essex; outside of U.K., I have been to Trondheim, Fribourg (yes – the L3 Conference this year!) and Bern, and Paris again. My next destinations hopefully will be Prague, Budapest, Provence, as well as other parts of Scandinavia and Switzerland (and Paris!) again. And of course I should not forget to work hard on some new research in order to be able to go to Antalya where the next EUROSLA organized by Ayse Gürel (a good friend back from McGill) and her colleagues in Turkey will be held.

This little piece that David asked me to write seems to be getting longer and longer. I’d better stop here and start preparing for my SLRF poster presentation – it is happening early next month in one of my favourite North American cities – New York! I’ll tell you about it another time.

Eurosla 15 through the camera of Vivian Cook












Eurosla through the camera of Richard Towell












EUROSLA 16: Antalya, Turkey

The 16th Annual Conference of the European Second Language Association will be organized by Bogazici University, Department of Foreign Language Education on 13-16 September 2006. The theme of this year’s EUROSLA conference is “Theories of Second Language Acquisition and Their Implications”. We will have four plenary speakers: Cem Alptekin, Vivian Cook, Jan H. Hulstijn and Lydia White.

There has been much interest in this year’s conference. We received many outstanding abstracts. We believe that EUROSLA 2006 will be a very interesting and stimulating event.

The conference will take place at Resort Dedeman Hotel in Antalya, a city known as the Turkish Riviera. Antalya is an attractive city on the Mediterranean coast and one of the world's most visited and attractive holiday resorts. Visit http://www.goturkey.com/ and http://www.gototurkey.co.uk/ to learn more about this beautiful city.

All the announcements about the conference organization can be found at the conference web site: http://www.eurosla2006.boun.edu.tr/

We hope to see you all in Antalya in September!