Press release of the Publik from 27.07.2016: Kassel professor unanimously re-elected president of the world association Association for Language Awareness

Prof. Dr. Claudia Finkbeiner, an English and American Studies scholar from Kassel, has now been unanimously confirmed as President of the Association for Language Awareness (ALA) in Vienna. The election took place during the biennial congress of the ALA from July 19 to 22, 2016.
The host university was the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration; the gathering of nearly 300 international language researchers from 40 countries was organized by Prof. Dr. Martin Stegu. Prof. Finkbeiner has been teaching and researching at the University of Kassel since  1998 at the Chair of Foreign Language Teaching and Learning Research and Intercultural Communication.
The congress, titled "Languages for Life: Educational, Professional and Social Contexts," addressed first, second, and foreign language acquisition as well as multilingualism. The ALA is an established international network of researchers. With more than two hundred presentations and workshops, the conference encouraged exchange about research projects and practical implementations in the field of language awareness and cultural awareness, reports Finkbeiner.
New questions included how languages can be used effectively in international business processes and what role language awareness plays in forensic linguistics, for example, including asylum recognition procedures. A special focus was on language awareness in professional and economic contexts. According to Prof. Stegu, this topic is of great relevance for economic processes in the globalized world. The role of language in the discourse and negotiation of migration processes was also a topic. An international symposium was organized on this topic by Prof. Finkbeiner in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Andrea Young (Strasbourg) as well as Prof. Dr. Joanna White (Montreal) and Dr. Sabine Lehner (Vienna). "Against the background of the events of the last few days, this topic is more important than ever," explains Finkbeiner.  
The fact that scientists participating from Turkey left in a hurry was viewed with concern by the newly elected president. Against the backdrop of current events, she pointed out the importance of academics from around the world standing together for internationally recognized free research and teaching.
The international networking of the University of Kassel was clearly demonstrated at the ALA congress: in addition to Prof. Dr. Claudia Finkbeiner, Prof. Dr. Bernd Tesch, a Romance scholar from Kassel, and three doctoral students were in Vienna. Numerous colleagues from partner universities in the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Spain and Turkey also participated.

Photos of Prof. Dr. Claudia Finkbeiner are available to editorial offices upon request.
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Claudia Finkbeiner
University of Kassel
Department of Humanities and Cultural Studies
Chair of Foreign Language Teaching and Learning Research, Intercultural Communication
Kurt-Wolters-Strasse 5, 34125 Kassel
Tel.:  561 804-3353
E-Mail.: cfink@uni-kassel.de