2024 Keynote by Carme Pérez

On December 3, 2024, Professor Carme Pérez joined us as the keynote speaker for 2024, delivering an inspiring talk titled, “Study Abroad (or in an International Milieu): Unveiling the Linguistic, Cultural, and Personal Growth Behind the Experience.” Following the event, a light buffet provided an opportunity for students to engage in conversation with our guest.

Abstract: Many of us may have had the experience of what is known as 'studying abroad'. The study of the linguistic, cultural and personal development effects of a period of study in a country other than one's own has been the subject of scientific research in at least three fields: applied linguistics, sociolinguistics and educational policy. Dr Pérez's applied linguisticsresearch has recently been devoted to this. In this talk, she summarised the results of the most recent empirical studies on these issues, in an attempt to provide a description of the ins and outs of studying abroad. The keynote resonated with the individual experiences of students on our programme in this regard. Ultimately, the (academic) benefits of studying abroad are largely the result of how we manage these dimensions: how we use our language(s) and engage in personal communication while abroad, and how we grow as people and develop linguistically and academically as a result.

Professor Pérez’s bio: Chair Professor in English Linguistics and Language Acquisition at the Department of Translation and Language Sciences at UPF. She holds degrees in Spanish Philology and in English and German Philology, a Master’s Degree in Applied Linguistics from the University of Reading (UK) and a PhD in Bilingual Language Acquisition at the Universitat de Barcelona.

https://carmenperezvidal.wixsite.com/carmenperezvidal