Approaches to conversation in language teaching are currently in a state of change, as is natural when any discipline is undergoing so much theoretical and procedural revision. One change may have taken place in recent conceptual frameworks within the field, which now view conversation as a much more complex phenomenon than was previously thought. The evolution of conversation in language teaching has gone from the communicative approach, whose main aim is to make learners engage in oral interaction fluently and creatively through the so-called communicative activities, to a more input-based approach which bears upon other academic domains such as conversation analysis, speech act theory, politeness, discourse analysis, context-theory, nonverbal communication, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, the grammar of spoken language, pragmatic phonology.

This International Symposium, organised by R&D project ADELEX (HUM2007-61766, Department of English, University of Granada), coordinated by Dr Carmen Perez Basanta, seeks to address some major concerns in the state of the art of the real nature of conversation in SLA/language teaching as well as examine the tension between "expressing oneself spontaneously" and "expressing oneself appropriately and correctly." The integration of related disciplines to enlighten the complexity of oral interaction and its consequent classroom procedures would seem to be one way of moving forward and solving this dilemma. Moreover, a rigorous exploration of these related areas of study might contribute to a more comprehensive and interdisciplinary statement into the nature of conversational competence and, on the other hand, it attempts to discuss current research into the issues and problems that have arisen in learning and teaching conversation.

• Svenja Adolphs (University of Nottingham, UK) Bionote
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• Karin Aijmer (University of Gothenburg, Sweden) Bionote
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• Anthony Baldry (University of Messina, Italy) Bionote
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• Sabine Braun (University of Surrey, UK) Bionote
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• Gabriele Kasper (University of Hawaii, USA) Bionote
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• Joaquim Llisterri (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona & Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Spain) Bionote
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• Anne O'Keeffe (University of Limerick, Ireland) Bionote
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• Christoph Rühlemann (Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany) Bionote
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• Paul Seedhouse (University of Newcastle, UK) Bionote
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• Paul Seligson (Freelance teacher trainer and materials writer, Brighton, UK) Bionote
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• Regina Weinert (University of Sheffield, UK / Ikerbasque-UPV/EHU, Spain) Bionote
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• Seminar on CLIL, conversation, multimodality and online tools

  Chair: Prof Rita Kupetz, University of Hannover
  Speakers: Fabrizio Maggi, University of Pavia; Maxi Kupetz, University of Potsdam; Ivana Marenzi, LS3 Research Centre, University of Hannover; Rosalba Rizzo, CLAM (Language Centre) University of Messina

• Seminar on Living Knowledge, Diversity Awareness, Multimodal Genre Analysis and Internet Training

  Chair: Prof Anthony Baldry, Universities of Messina and Pavia
  Speakers: Maria Grazia Sindoni, Faculty of Letters, University of Messina; Francesca Coccetta, Universities of Padua and Pavia; Mariavita Cambria, Faculty of Letters, University of Messina; Deirdre Kantz, Universities of Genoa and Pavia.