26^th and 27^th January 2017, Université Grenoble Alpes

Argument

Situated in the socio-discoursal and socio-cultural approaches to LSP studies (Belcher 2004), this international conference engages with the dual objective of pursuing enquiry related to studies in FASP (fiction à substrat professionnel), a genre of fiction identified and codified by Michel Petit (1999) and Shaeda Isani (2004), on the one hand and, on the other, exploring new avenues of reflection regarding other narrative forms, both fictional and non-fictional of potential interest to ESP studies. The point of departure resides in the notion of “narrative” as presented by Roland Barthes:

There are countless forms of narrative in the world. First of all, there is a prodigious variety of genres, each of which branches out into a variety of media, as if all substances could be relied upon to accommodate man’s stories. Among the vehicles of narrative are articulated language, whether oral or written, pictures, still or moving, gestures, and an ordered mixture of all those substances; narrative is present in myth, legend, fables, tales, short stories, epics, history, tragedy, drame (suspense drama), comedy, pantomime, paintings […], stained-glass windows, movies, local news, conversation. (1975: 237. Translation Lionel Duisit)

In this wide-ranging acceptance of what narrative is, we welcome proposals both on fictional narrative – FASP novels, plays, films, TV series, graphic novels, video games, etc. – and non-fictional narrative – (auto)biographies, ethnographies, scenarios, storylines, blogs, interviews, and other forms of “creative non-fiction” – relevant to the discipline of languages and cultures for specialised purposes.

 The conference proposes three main thematic axes:

• A theoretical perspective in which papers are invited to explore the generic specificity of different narrative forms in relation to specialised language, discourse and culture.
• In the framework of the socio-cultural and ethnographic approach, proposals are invited with regard to what may be qualified as “professional life narratives” in the sense borrowed from Danvers for whom “it is not a question of talking about one’s job but of engaging professional identity through the experience of professional life” (2009: 472. Our translation). In this respect, we are particularly interested in research showing relevance between (auto)biographies, ethnographies, documentaries, blogs, etc., as related to LSP studies.
• In a teaching/learning perspective, we invite proposals on critical analyses regarding fictional and non-fictional narratives and their potential as pedagogic supports with regard to the different sub-domains of LSP (translation studies, ICT, linguistics, corpus studies or specialised cultures, etc.).

Proposals relating to other angles of approach connected to the narrative/LSP axe are also welcome.

references

• Barthes, Roland. Trs. Lionel Duisit. 1966. An Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narrative. New Literary History, 6/2, (Winter 1975), 237-272.
• Belcher, Diane. 2004. Trends in Teaching English for Specific Purposes. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 24, 165-186.
• Danvers, Francis. 2009. S’orienter dans la vie : une valeur suprême. Dictionnaire des sciences humaines. Villeneuve d’Ascq : Presses universitaires du Septentrion.
• Isani, Shaeda. 2004. FASP and the Genres within the Genre. In Petit, Michel & Isani Shaeda (ed.). Aspects de la fiction à substrat professionnel. Bordeaux : Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, collection Travaux 2025, 25-38.
• Petit, Michel. 1999. La fiction à substrat professionnel : une autre voie d’accès à l’anglais de spécialité. ASp, 23-26, 57-81.

 Submission guidelines

Proposals in French or in English are to be sent

before 30 September 2016

to both addresses: shaeda.isani@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr ; severine.wozniak@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr

 Authors will receive official notification of acceptance by 30^th October, 2016. 

• Diane Belcher (Georgia State University, USA)
• Miguel Angel Campos-Pardillos (Universidad de Alicante, Spain)
• Jean-Pierre Charpy (Université de Bourgogne, France)
• Maurizio Gotti (Università degli Studi di Bergamo, Italy)
• Sarah Hatchuel (Université du Havre, France)
• Ken Hyland (The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)
• Michel Petit (Université de Bordeaux, France)
• John Swales (University of Michigan, USA)
•  Michel van der Yeught (Aix-Marseille Université, France)
• Christopher Williams (Università degli Studi di Foggia, Italy)