Programme

Download the program book
including abstracts

(Updated on 9 February 2009)

Dec 11, 2008 (Thu)

Special Workshop: Methods for Automatic Computational Analysis of Data on Bilingual Acquisition
- Speaker: Brian MacWhinney
- Time: 5:30pm - 6:30pm
- Venue: Cho Yiu Conference Hall

Dec 12, 2008 (Fri)

Special Panel: Childhood Multilingualism: International Perspectives
- Speakers: Johanne Paradis, Annick De Houwer, Shyamala Chengappa,
  Madalena Cruz-Ferreira, Bee Chin Ng and Virginia Yip
- Time: 4:00pm - 6:15pm
- Venue: ERB Lecture Theatre, 8/F, William M.W.Mong Engineering Building

Download the special panel
registration form

(This registration form is for participants who intend to attend ONLY this special panel, e.g. language professionals in education and speech and language therapy, journalists, and people from the general public. Participants who have already registered for the conference (including day attendance for Dec 12, or full attendance for both Dec 11 and Dec 12) need not register for this special panel separately. Your conference registration will automatically include registration for the special panel.)

Note: The Special Panel registration fee (HKD250) allows attendance at all talks and tea/coffee breaks (except conference lunch and dinner) of the "Conference on Bilingual Acquisition in Early Childhood" on Dec 12 2008.

Registration

Full attendance registration fees include attendance on the two days,
lunches, and morning and afternoon refreshments on 11-12 Dec. Day rates
are also available and include attendance at all sessions, lunch,
and morning and afternoon refreshments on the day of your choice. Each
participant will receive a copy of the programme upon arrival.

Full attendance (11 and 12 Dec)
- On or before November 10:
  - HK$500 (US$64)
  - Student: HK$250 (US$32)
- After November 10:
  - HK$700 (US$90)
  - Student: HK350 (US$45)

Day attendance (11 or 12 Dec)
- On or before November 10:
  - HK$250 (US$32)
  - Student: HK$125 (US$16)
- After November 10:
  - HK$350 (US$45)
  - Student: HK175 (US$23)

The conference dinner will be held at the Royal Park Hotel on the evening of 12 Dec. The dinner costs HKD 300 (US$39) per person. A tentative menu can be found here. Since we have to confirm with the hotel the number of tables we need by early November, please register for the conference dinner latest by November 10.

Download the conference
registration form

Cancellation Policy

Conference (including day attendance and full attendance):

On or before 3 December 2008: 50% of the registration fees can be refunded
On or after 4 December 2008: registration fees are non-refundable

Conference Dinner:

On or before 3 December 2008: 50% of the registration fees can be refunded
On or after 4 December 2008: registration fees are non-refundable

Special Panel: registration fees are non-refundable

A cheque, issued by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, will be mailed to the registrant. Please note that our University accounting office will process the request for refund after the conference.

Accomodation

Regal Riverside Hotel provides discount hotel rates for Conference participants.
- hotel reservation form
Other hotels:
- For information about other hotels that offer reasonable rates, please visit the following websites:
- Royal Park Hotel
  - 8 Pak Hok Ting Street, Shatin, Hong Kong
- Harbour Plaza Metropolis
  - 7 Metropolis Drive, Hunghom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
- Horizon Suite Hotel
  - 29 On Chun Street, Ma On Shan, Shatin, Hong Kong

Transportation

Campus map of the Chinese University of Hong Kong: print version .

Transportation between the Airport and Regal Riverside Hotel
- Regal Riverside Hotel
  34-36 Tai Chung Kiu Road, Shatin, Hong Kong
  Phone: (852) 2649 7878
  Fax: (852) 2637 4748
- By Airbus A41: Take Airbus A41 at the airport and get off at the Regal Riverside Hotel Bus Stop (or vice versa) (HK$20, duration: 50 mins).
- By taxi : Take the taxi in the color of green (fares around HK$380, duration: 45 mins).
Transportation from Regal Riverside Hotel to The Chinese University of Hong Kong
- By bus 86K or 89X and MTR train : Take bus outside the hotel and get off at Shatin Central Bus Stop (around HK$4.4 - HK$4.9, duration: 13 mins). Then take the MTR train at the Shatin Station to the University Station (HK$4, duration: 7 mins).
- By taxi : Take the taxi in the color of red and get off at the conference builiding, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (fares around HK$60, duration: 15 mins).

Transportation from the University Train Station to the Conference Venue
- The University provides regular free school bus services from the MTR (formerly KCR) University train station to the main campus throughout the day. Conference volunteers will be available at Exit A (CHINESE UNIVERSITY) of the train station between 7:45 and 8:15am on both 11 and 12 Dec 2008 to guide participants of the conference to the shuttle bus and the conference venue. These volunteers can be found near the sign "Conference on Bilingual Acquisition" on the University side of the train station.
- Participants who wish to arrive after 8:15am may also consult this campus map indicating the location of the major conference venues.
  - First day (11 Dec): Take the shuttle bus from the University train station and exit the bus at the second stop (near Y.C. Liang Hall). Follow the map provided to the conference venues (Cho Yiu Hall at the University Administration Building and the Institute of Chinese Studies). It will only be a 3 minute walk.
  - Second Day (12 Dec): Take the shuttle bus from the University train station and exit the bus at the second stop (near Y.C. Liang Hall). Follow the map provided to the conference venue (William M.W.Mong Engineering Building, ERB 8/F). It will only be a 5 minute walk.

Transportation from the University to the Royal Park Hotel for Conference Dinner
- Shuttle Bus service will be provided to the conference dinner attendants to the Royal Park Hotel on 12 December 2008. Ths bus will depart at 6.45 pm from the William M.W.Mong Engineering Building.

Leaving the conference venue
- Shuttle bus service to the MTR (formerly KCR) University train station will be provided. The bus will depart at 6.45pm (i) from the University Administration Building on 11 Dec; and (ii) from the William M.W.Mong Engineering Building on 12 Dec.
- Participants who wish to leave the conference venue after 6:45pm may refer to the following information:
  - First day (11 Dec):
    - Route 1: Exit the Institute of Chinese Studies and face toward the University Library, look to your left and you will see a staircase. Walk down the staircase. Look to your right, and you will find the school bus stop "University Administration Building". It will only be a 1 min walk. School buses will stop regularly at this bus stop to the MTR (formerly KCR) University train station. The bus ride will only be about 5-10 minutes.
    - Route 2: Exit the Institute of Chinese Studies and face toward the University Library, look to your left and you will see a staircase. Walk down the staircase. Turn right, walk along the "Univesity Avenue" and get out of the University main entrance/exit and you will be on the main Road "Tai Po Road" with all the major public transport passing by. It will only be a 5 min walk. You may then either flag a taxi to your preferred destination. Or, look to your left, you will find mini-bus stops and a KMB bus stop called "Chinese University" ahead. You may either flag one of the following mini-buses or buses:
      - Green mini-bus no. 28K stops at the Fo Tan MTR (formerly KCR) station
      - Red mini-bus goes to the Mong Kok MTR station (the ride is about 25 minutes)
      - Bus no. 72
        http://www.kmb.hk/english.php?page=search&prog=route_
        stops.php&route_no=72&bound=1&select_from=&select_to=
      - Bus no. 73A
        http://www.kmb.hk/english.php?page=search&prog=route_
        stops.php&route_no=73A&bound=1&select_from=&select_to=
      - Bus no. 74A
        http://www.kmb.hk/english.php?page=search&prog=route_
        stops.php&route_no=74A&bound=1&select_from=&select_to=
  - Second day (12 Dec):
    - Take the elevator to the ground floor, exit the William M.W.Mong Engineering Building, turn right and walk along the main road, along the way you will see the chapel on your right, continue to walk ahead along the main road until you meet "Ho Tim Building" on the left, turn left into a short road (only about 30 meters), then turn right and walk down the road (you will see a stadium on the left), continue to walk down the road, and you will see the MTR (formerly KCR) University train station. It will only be 10-15 minute walk in total.
Local Transportation in Hong Kong
- Mass Transit Railway (MTR)
  http://www.mtr.com.hk/eng/homepage/cust_index.html
  MTR Route Map
- Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB)
  http://www.kmb.hk/english.php
- Citybus
  https://www.nwstbus.com.hk/home/default.aspx?intLangID=1

Call For Papers

An international conference on Bilingual Acquisition in Early Childhood will be held at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) from 11-12 December 2008. The conference is organized by the newly established Childhood Bilingualism Research Centre at CUHK.

The conference aims to draw together researchers interested in the linguistic development of children exposed to two or more languages in childhood. In many parts of the world including Asia, there has been a growing awareness of the significance of raising bilingual children and investigating their language development. We hope to invite papers which address childhood bilingualism involving any combination of languages, especially with an East Asian language. The processes and pathways of development in bilingual children are often more complex than those in monolingual children. We explore the impact of the multitude of factors that contribute to the complexities in bilingual acquisition including properties of the dual input, balance of input, and affinities or contrasts between the language pairs being acquired. Contributions from any theoretical framework are welcome.

We hope to promote the study of childhood bilingualism in diverse environments and communities, providing a forum for the exchange of views between researchers working with bilingual children and contributing to a better understanding of language acquisition and childhood bilingualism.

Our Keynote Speakers:

Brian MacWhinney (Carnegie Mellon University)
- Language Learning in Childhood and Adulthood: How different are they?
William O’Grady (University of Hawai’i)
- Scope in Two Languages
Johanne Paradis (University of Alberta)
- Are Bilingual Children Slower to Acquire Language than Monolingual Children?
Yasuhiro Shirai (University of Pittsburgh)
- The Acquisition of Tense-Aspect Marking by Cantonese-English Bilingual Children

We invite proposals for paper presentations on relevant topics including (but not restricted to) the following:

Bilingual acquisition of East Asian languages
Bilingual acquisition in special populations
Bilingual first language acquisition
Child second language acquisition
Cross-linguistic influence in bilingual development
Input studies in bilingual acquisition

Organizing Committee:

Paper Presentation:

Each author may submit one proposal as the first author and another as co-author. Each paper presentation will be 30 minutes in length (20 minutes for presentation, followed by a 10-minute question & answer period). The language of presentation may be English, Cantonese or Mandarin.

Deadline for submission of abstract: June 15, 2008

Please send your submissions for paper presentations to the following email address, in the following manner:

To: cbrc@cuhk.edu.hk
Subject: paper submission

Please send the following information in the main text of your email and your abstract as an attachment no later than 15 June 2008.

1. title of paper
2. name(s) of author(s)
3. affiliations of author(s)
4. mailing address for contact person
5. email address(es) of author(s)
6. telephone number for contact person
7. keywords (about 5 words)

Title and Abstract:

Please do not include any information in your abstract which may reveal your identity, as the review process will be conducted anonymously.

(a) Format

1. Number of pages
paper: maximum 2 pages A4 or letter-size paper (including title, tables, figures, & references)
2. Paper size: A4 or letter-size
3. Margins:
In the case of A4, Top and Bottom: 30mm, Left and Right: 25mm

In the case of letter-size, all margins: 1 inch
4. Font: Times New Roman (or a similar font)
5. Font size: 12 point for text, 10 point for references
6. Length of abstract & line spacing: single-space, 500 words maximum

(b) Please save the file as a pdf file, text file, or Word file under your last name (e.g., chan.pdf).

Notification of acceptance will be made by the middle of July 2008.

Feedback on the Conference:

Here are some written comments received from presenters and participants on the conference:

The Conference on Bilingual Acquisition in Early Childhood was in many respects a ‘breakthrough event’ for linguistics in Asia. It was the first-ever conference in this part of the world on bilingualism—a long-over due event, especially in light of the importance of bilingualism to life in Hong Kong and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

Moreover, it marked the inauguration of the Childhood Bilingualism Research Centre, which will help the Chinese University of Hong Kong assume the leadership role in the study of bilingual language acquisition that one would expect, given its location and its distinguished faculty.

In that regard, by the way, it is no coincidence that the first day of the conference included the announcement that Virginia Yip and Stephen Matthews have won the Bloomfield Award for their book, The Bilingual Child. The future is indeed bright for the study of bilingualism.

It was a pleasure and a privilege to have participated in this conference, which was "one-of-a-kind" because of the focus on child bilinguals. I don't often get the opportunity to meet and share ideas with colleagues from east Asia and it was a very enriching experience for me to have done so. It was particularly exciting to find out that the applied issues around educational choices, speech and language assessment and intervention for bilingual children are similar across many countries and we can learn a lot from each other. Conferences like this one allow us to do just that. Finally, I would like to add that this was one of the best organized conferences I have ever been to, and I would like to express my warmest thanks to all the students who worked so hard to make sure it was a great experience for all of us.
I wanted to thank you again for your great initiative in organising the bilingual acquisition conference. It was very enjoyable and educational… The real treat, though, was seeing your two beautiful girls! They are both very gracious. You must be so proud.
Thank you for organising a fab(=fabulous) conference!
I was very glad to learn more about your Centre, and the important work it aims to do. your logo is particularly charming, and impressive! I expect the grapes in the picture will also yield vintage wine in time...
Congratulations on the successful conference. I enjoyed the presentations and have learnt a lot from the special panel.
Thank you very much for everything. The conference was very good and most successful. Congratulations!
I did have a great time and others told me the same. Congratulations on the great success of the conference. And on the book award (Leonard Bloomfield Book Award, Linguistic Society of America). Like William says it’s probably the highest honor that a linguist can achieve. I am now inspired to write a book, instead of bunch of papers... I felt that you guys are really making an impact on the lives of Hong Kong people, and beyond.
It was my honor to participate in the Conference on Bilingual Acquisition in Early Childhood. The conference captured the latest empirical and theoretical work on bilingualism. In addition, it provided us insights into cross-linguistic and cross-cultural differences in bilingual acquisition. I wish the conference would be held regularly and in Hong Kong as well.
This is just to express my heartfelt thanks for the wonderful opportunity you gave me to share my work with colleagues in Hong Kong and for an impeccable conference organization. I appreciate all the hard work that went into this as well as the comfort you provided me with during my stay. I am sure this will be only the first of many fruitful joint ventures for the benefit of small multilinguals! I wish you a very well-deserved rest after all the trouble you took.
Thank you for the wonderful conference and the banquet, both of which I really enjoyed. I wish I could have stayed in HK longer. This is my first visit to HK but I really enjoyed my short stay. I wish I could come to HK again. I would also like extend my thanks to you for your efforts you made to have our paper included in the program. We got good feedback from a participant whose interesting data, we believe, will justify our framework.
I enjoyed the conference very much, it was very interesting to hear what different countries face in terms of multilingualism, and especially Hong Kong.
I came especially to attend the special panel on childhood multilingualism: international perspectives. The speakers were world class. What a world class Conference! Congratulations!
I’d like to congratulate you on your sheer success of the conference. Though I have to admit that some of the topics were really above my head, I enjoyed most of the presentations. What impressed me most was the Q/A after each presentation. The dynamics of giving-as-good-as-one-gets were gripping. Oftentimes the presenter seemed to have proved his/her points convincingly and to the satisfaction of most listeners. Then a critical someone from the audience would fire away deadly questions or comments that cornered the presenter who had to struggle to find a way out. If it was a clash of heavyweights like in the first keynote speech … it was literally breathtaking…

Oddly enough, with just a handout and no slides, Prof O’Grady presented his keynote speech most comprehensibly to me. I was impressed by his clarity and economy with words. You (i.e. Yip) said he got some teaching awards. They were well-deserved indeed.

On a different note, I think a lot of successful people have a hard time balancing career and family. They may be very successful in their careers, but often at the expense of their family life. So you’re immensely blessed by being able to spend quality time with your children, as you put it in your book, which is also a major part of your work. So allow me add one more line to the Beatitudes: Blessed are those who can build their careers around their families, for no life can be more fulfilling…

May God continue to bless you and your family and your labour in the vineyard of childhood bilingualism...

At the conference I met two PhD students from psychology dept, one practicing speech therapist, and a BEd student from Macao majoring English teaching. We exchanged our emails. They also committed two days to attending every session of the conference. They must have gained something out of it.

From student presenters and helpers:

Congratulations on the exceptional conference last week! It was really a great one.
In recent years, the topic of childhood bilingualism and multilingualism has become more and more popular among both the general public and the academic community. The presentations in the parallel sessions generated discussions that were more fruitful than I had expected. A wide range of topics and languages were covered: the acquisition of temporal terms and concepts in Chinese-English bilingual children, the interaction between a sign language and a spoken language in a deaf child, and the phonological characteristics in Japanese-English and Cantonese-English bilingual children. The keynote speeches given by the four experts in language acquisition also gave us opportunities to explore the ultimate level of attainment in bilingual children who are exposed to two or more languages in childhood. Secondly, the special panel successfully drew the attention of the general public in Hong Kong to issues in childhood multilingualism around the world as well as in the local community. Finally, the presentation of flowers to the speakers by Prof. Yip’s two bilingual children in the closing ceremony was a nice surprise!
Being both a student helper and presenter, I have received valuable comments from the participants. All contributions, including the keynote speeches and paper presentations, were extremely interesting. Congratulations again on the success of the conference!
兩天的會議, 主題演講和來自世界各地的學者的演說, 讓我們對雙語研究有了更深入的了解。以前處在內地的單語環境中, 一直沒有想到globalization已經深刻地影響了我們的生活, 越來越多的雙語、多語家庭出現, 尤其是在加拿大、歐洲、印度、新加坡和香港各地。所以雙語習得很有意義, 從議會的人數就可以看到越來越多的學者開始研究這個有趣的問題。

“I gained a better understanding of bilingualism through the keynote speeches and presentations by speakers from different parts of the world. I was not aware of the huge impact of globalization on our daily life when I lived in mainland China, which is a monolingual environment. There is an increasing number of bilingual and multilingual families, especially in Canada, Europe, India, Singapore and Hong Kong. From the number of participants in this conference, we can see that more and more scholars have started to investigate the interesting phenomenon of bilingualism.”
I’ve learnt a lot through the whole experience, I mean, assist in organizing the conference, even though my specialty is not acquisition. Thank you for bringing us such a wonderful occasion.
It was a great experience for me, both in presenting and in attending the other presentations. The dinner was lovely too. Congratulations on a stellar conference!
It was an honor to be the student helper of the conference and I enjoyed it very much. Hope we can organize such great conference in future. Once again, thanks so much! :)
Thank you for organizing the BAEC conference in Hong Kong! I was inspired a lot by scholars working on child bilingualism. Thank you again for the international, upbeat, and inspirational conference! I am also glad to know that there are many people interested in and working on child bilingualism. Hope I can see you again in the future!
Thank you for your organizing the conference and congratulations on your success regarding this great job. I would like to share something that I gained from this conference. Firstly, the papers that every presenter presented might seem to be hard for me but I really enjoyed a lot in this conference even though it was beyond my present level and it inspired me a lot on language field. It widened my vision in language acquisition. Although I am still an undergraduate and need a longer time to be as professional as yours, I very much appreciate this conference.

Secondly, the keynote speaker- Brain made a lot of comments about critical period hypothesis and Chomsky's idea towards language development that urged me to think deeply about the theories and the meaning behind it. I will not forget these two days.

Thirdly, the panel discussion that made me receive a lot of inspirations especially the sociolinguistics in Singapore - How culture affects the language development and policies in society? This was the climax of this conference.

Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to say a thank you to you and all of the volunteers with my high sincerity and respect. Without all of you, this conference would not be run smoothly and perfectly. All of you have contributed a lot of effort in this job. Thank you very much. Thank you for all the participants who involved in such a great conference. Also, thank you J, K and M who I met at the conference and we became friends. This was a sweet memory that I cherished.

Once again, thank you for accepting a new language-field beginner to register in this wonderful conference.

My thankful heart

Gentle smiles and gentle help, I find every concern
Sometimes I am scared
Sometimes I am nervous
But I would like to say a few words, may I?

Time is flying fast,
Language conference went to the last
When I first decided to come for it
I was happy and afraid
But I should say a thank you for the committee's guidance, when I dared to come from afar

When the new place is of extreme intricacy
And I feel something is threatening me
Here I gain experiences and friends
Here I would like to miss
And I find people treat me nice

Gentle smiles and gentle guide, I find it every concern,
Not to worry, not to scare
I listen and I learn
The conference made me see more deeply in language vision
I could not have asked for more, could I ?

Please send all inquiries regarding the 2008 conference to: cbrc@cuhk.edu.hk

Conference on Bilingual Acquisition in Early Childhood

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