Symposium on Diversity in Early Multilingualism

Many children worldwide grow up learning and using two or more languages. Early multilingualism can provide numerous benefits, but often comes with unique challenges. The experiences of multilingual children vary greatly. Multilingual children differ from one another, for example, in the languages they speak, how different these languages are from each other, how often they use each language, or the societal prestige associated with their languages. Therefore, it is impossible to treat multilingual children as a homogeneous group, and an increasing body of research examines how multilinguals differ from one another and how these differences influence their development. We aim to bring together interdisciplinary researchers who have adopted this perspective and are working toward a more realistic and inclusive view of early multilingualism for a two-day symposium.

Dates: 6th and 7th of October 2026
Place: Rämistrasse 59, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Keynote speakers:

• Debra Titone  (McGill University)
• Rachel Barr (Georgetown University)

Participation fee: none

Timeline:

• Registration application closes: 14th of August 2026
• Notification of the outcome of registration applications: 1st of September 2026

Guidelines for oral and poster presentations

• Please prepare for 15-minute oral presentations followed by a 15-minute discussion.
• Presentation slides should be sent to weltentdecker@psychologie.uzh.ch at the latest 2 days before the symposium (4th of October 2026). They will be presented from a shared device.
• Posters (A1 portrait: 594 mm x 841 mm) may present empirical, conceptual, theoretical, or methodological research.
• Please note that all talks and posters must be presented exclusively in English.
• PDFs of the posters should be sent toweltentdecker@psychologie.uzh.ch at the latest 2 days before the symposium (4th of October 2026). They will be shared on this website.

Symposium Program

Online Participation
All the talks will be streamed through an online platform, such as zoom. Online participants will be given an opportunity to watch the talks, but not to interact with the speakers or ask questions. In addition, they will be able to read all the abstracts and the posters, once they are shared on this website.

Registration
You can apply to register for the symposium by filling out the following form. We have limited capacity for participants. Presenters of oral contributions and posters are automatically approved. Please note that if you are a presenter, you need to attend the symposium on-site. We ask all other on-site participants to shortly describe their motivation for participation below.

If you have any queries, please contact us at weltentdecker@psychologie.uzh.ch

We will inform you about the result of your registration application by September 1st, 2026.

Financial support
Unfortunately, we cannot provide financial support to symposium participants. However, there is no participation fee, and parts of the symposium will be streamed online.