October 22-24, 2008
Aogaku Kaikan, Tokyo, Japan

Objectives：

 This seminar will bring together policy-makers, administrators, researchers, teachers and learners in order to discuss how we might respond to the growing linguistic and cultural diversity brought about by globalisation. The purpose is to clarify the various language challenges that different populations face, to explore the determinants of linguistic proficiencies, and to consider ways in which all stakeholders might tackle these issues in the future. There will also be a discussion on “brain science” and learning, an important theme from CERI's previous work exploring learning in the context of the neurosciences, from which the current CERI project, “Globalisation and Linguistic Competencies （GLC）”, has been launched.

Programme：

October 22nd （Wednesday）

10：00 - 10：45

Opening remarks
Minoji Akimoto （Director, Aoyama-Gakuin University Research Institute）
Barbara Ischinger （Director, OECD Directorate for Education）
Teiichi Sato （Advisor to MEXT）
Introducing the key topics of the seminar
Dirk Van Damme （Head of CERI, OECD Directorate for Education）

10：45 - 12：15

Key note session 1： ”Understanding the Brain： The birth of a learning science” - book release presentation, and the transition to the 'Globalisation and Linguistic Competencies （GLC）' project.
Hideaki Koizumi （Chief Scientist, Hitachi Advanced Research Laboratory and Director of Japan Science and Technology Agency）

Lunch Break

13：45 - 14：15

Key note session 2： ”Linguistic challenges facing the OECD countries”
Luis-Felipe Lopez Calva （Chief Economist, UNDP Bureau of Latin America and the Caribbean）

14：15 - 14：45

Key note session 3： ”Linguistic competencies in Canada in a Globalisation context”
Satya Brink （Director of Policy Research, Human Resources and Social Development, Canada）

14：45 - 18：15

Plenary session1： “Globalisation and Linguistic Competencies： Overview of the project”
Bruno della-Chiesa （Senior Analyst, OECD-CERI）
Plenary session 2： “Globalisation and Linguistic Competencies： The role of English as a multicultural language”
Nobuyuki Honna （Professor, Aoyama-Gakuin University）
Plenary session 3： “Globalisation and Linguistic Competencies： The role of motivation in raising linguistic proficiencies”.
Koji Miyamoto （Analyst, OECD-CERI）

19：00 - 21：00

Reception

October 23rd （Thursday）

10：00 - 12：30

Breakout session：
Session1： Status and function of English as a language of international/intercultural communication.
Session2： Understanding language acquisition through brain science.
Session3： Globalisation and linguistic challenges in Japan.

14：00 - 16：30

Breakout session：
Session4： Linguistic challenges for migrants and minorities.
Session5： Responses to diversifying linguistic environments： Visions of linguistic auditing.
Session6： Informal language learning： The role of media and ICT

16：30 - 18：00

Plenary session 4： Reporting back from breakout sessions and general discussions.

18：00 - 18：30

Conclusions and closing of the seminar.

October 24th （Friday）

8：50-13：15

School visit （optional）