Less commonly taught languages at EUROCALL: what has changed over the years?

Abstract

The world of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is dominated by English, and to a lesser extent, French, Spanish, and German. While these languages are the main focus of EUROCALL conferences, there has always been a presence of Less Commonly Taught Languages (LCTLs) at these conferences. Most of the official languages of the EU and European languages more generally have been discussed by CALL researchers at EUROCALL conferences, but some languages have yet to make an appearance. There have also been presentations on other LCLTs outside of Europe, including Mandarin, Arabic, Japanese, and less widely spoken languages such as Thai and Nahuatl. This paper looks at the presence of LCTLs at EUROCALL conferences since 1993 and reflects on what has changed over the years. It notes the importance of the conference location on the languages discussed at the conference and the role of EU projects in supporting LCTLs.