AILA RESEARCH NETWORK FOR CLIL
Our Events
The CLIL ReN has a presence at various local and international events, and also organises (online) events of its own. Take a look here to see where we have been and which events are coming up.
CALL FOR PAPERS
CLIL REN Symposium at AILA 2027
Voices from the CLIL practice-research nexus
Time & Location: August 9-13, 2027 | Vancouver, Canada
Moderators: Yuen Yi LO & Tessa Mearns
Deadline for submission: June 15, 2026
Call for papers:
At each AILA World Congress, the AILA Research Network on Content and Language Integrated Learning and Immersion Classrooms (CLIL ReN) presents a symposium representing research conducted by its members, focusing on the core themes the ReN is working on at that time. In 2025-27, the ReN’s focus has been on what and how practitioners and researchers can learn from and with each other. It is argued that researchers and practitioners possess complementary professional knowledge, and their collaboration can better achieve the common goal of promoting student learning. Rigorous academic research can inform pedagogical decision-making, and at the same time, teachers’ experience and intuitions may generate new research agendas (Sato & Loewen, 2022). Our theme for the AILA 2027 World Congress symposium is therefore: Voices from the CLIL practice-research nexus.
In order to construct the symposium programme, we invite submissions of research in which voices from practice (teachers, learners or other practice-based stakeholders) are clearly and meaningfully represented. We are interested in presentations which showcase teachers’ contributions at the intersection of practice and research. We hope for representation from across educational levels and contexts: from pre-primary to tertiary, including vocational education, teacher education and teacher professional development, and in diverse local and national contexts, with their accompanying interpretations and manifestations of CLIL.
We welcome submissions from university-based as well as practice-based researchers. Do note that accepted proposals will be incorporated into the symposium programme for presentation at the AILA 2027 World Congress, on location in Vancouver, Canada. Like all presenters at the conference, speakers in the CLIL ReN symposium are required to register and attend as paying conference participants (see the conference website for details). ReN symposia will be scheduled on the first two days of the conference.
Proposals can be submitted via the button below, and should adhere to the following criteria:
● Abstract should be no more than 300 words and written in English;
● Abstract should address: the purpose and relevance of the study, its methodology, and its (preliminary/expected) findings/results, conclusions and implications for practice and/or research.
● The role of voices from practice should be clear from the abstract, but can also be explained further in a separate part of the submission form.
The deadline for submission is 15 June 2026. Notification of acceptance will be sent by 28 June, which is shortly before the deadline for submissions to the general conference programme.
Workshop at World CLIL 2025
Creating connections: A round-table discussion with the CLIL Research Network, for teachers and researchers
Date: 14th June, 2025
Abstract:
How can teachers and researchers work together to keep strengthening and developing CLIL? This is the question at the top of the agenda for the AILA CLIL Research Network (ReN). In 2025-27, we aim to address this theme across educational levels and contexts, by inviting practitioners to contribute to and ask questions of research, and by facilitating scientific networking and knowledge-sharing in ways that are relevant and accessible to both researchers and practitioners.
To situate our understanding of collaboration, this session integrates two key frameworks to conceptualise quality, socially just education and professional development: (1) Tikly and Barret's (2011) dimensions of inclusion, relevance, and democracy, and (2) Medina's (2013) epistemology of resistance. Both aim at ensuring that different voices and ways of thinking and doing are represented in the imagining and constructing of education.
During the session, the ReN's new co-convenors will share some examples of how teacher and researcher collaboration has worked in practice, addressing benefits and challenges. We will pitch our idea for a shared online space for exchange and inspiration across teaching and research. Together, we will open a conversation on how the ReN can act as a platform for teachers as well as researchers and promote further collaboration. We aim to carry the resulting ideas forward into the ReN's activities up to 2027, and hopefully beyond.