The 16th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB16) will be held in person and in partial online format in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, June 14-18, 2027.
We will be posting the information about the conference as it becomes available.
Veronika Makarova, Chair of Local Organizing Committee
Important dates
- Call for symposia: starts on 06 April 2026, deadline 30 June 2026
- Abstract submissions for individual papers: starts on 02 July 2026, deadline 01 October 2026
- Registration: starts on January 15, 2027, deadline 15 April, 2027
ISB 16 Conference Theme
Our theme for ISB 16 is Languages in Academia and in Communities, reflecting both scholarly excellence and community engagement. The theme is aimed at meeting ISB’s mission to create a space for researchers with a diverse range of interests to share their knowledge and gain new perspectives, and to foster meaningful cross-disciplinary collaborations. We hope to bring together researchers working on different faces of bilingualism, including different research areas, methodological approaches, and populations. In line with this aim, we have invited plenary speakers who represent different faces of bilingualism, from sociolinguistics to education, psycholinguistics to translation. This broad theme reflects the multidisciplinary nature of the organizing committee, based in a center of excellence for neuroscientific research into language and bilingualism.
To capitalize on this expertise, ISB16 will feature the Community Outreach Event to engage with parents, language teachers, practitioners and general public on issues of bilingualism and multilingualism. Reflecting the home of the conference, our special focus is on linguistic inclusion and diversity, as we have distinct areas of Indigenous languages as well as bilingualism and multilingualism in official, heritage, immigrant, regional and other minority languages.
ISB 16 Areas
- Bi-multilingual speech and communication
- Cognitive, neuro- and psycholinguistics
- Child and adolescent bi-multilingual development
- Adult bi-multilingual development
- Education and pedagogy HJ
- Heritage, immigrant, regional and other minority languages
- Indigenous languages
- Translation and Interpreting
- Sociolinguistics and Sociology of language
- Speech-language pathology; Health Communication
ISB 16 Plenary Speakers
- John Anderson
- Marianne Ignace
- Johanne Paradis
- Devyani Sharma
- Ianthi-Maria Tsimpli
ISB History
The International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB) is a biennial conference on a wide range of issues concerning bi/multilingualism. Since its inaugural conference in 1997 at Newcastle University, ISB has become the most significant conference in the field of bi/multilingualism. ISB has a strong focus on showcasing multidisciplinary research with a representation from a range of disciplines at every conference, including education, linguistics, neuroscience, psychology and sociology. The aim of ISB is to bring together bi/multilingualism researchers from all around the globe to advance theoretical and applied research in bi/multilingualism, and to support bi/multilingualism practices in the community.