The last week of April, WhatsInApp project leader Professor Åsa Palviainen and WhatsInApp project associate Professor Xiao Lan Curdt-Christiansen visited Hamar and DigiMulti. What’s in the app. Digitally-mediated communication within contemporary multilingual families across time and space (WhatsInApp) is a 4-year project 2018-2022 funded by the Academy of Finland, running at the University of Jyväskylä. Kristin is international collaborator of the project, while Åsa is international collaborator of DigiMulti. Thanks to the combination of funding from the two projects, both Åsa and Xiao Lan could come to Hamar for two intensive workdays. Åsa gave a rich and very interesting lecture on nexus analysis to the research group ‘Language teaching and learning in multilingual contexts’ at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences.
Åsa gave a great introduction to the tool, based on her own applications of nexus analysis. It was very interesting to learn about the range of possibilities application and inspiring to hear about Åsa’s different research projects.
There was additional participation by Professor Hilde Sollid from the MultiTrans project at the Arctic University of Norway and the four PhD students Lucy Mwesa, Josephine Musonda, Patricia Makina and Emmanuel Mwila from the University of Zambia, from the Literacy Education in Multilingual Settings project (NORPART funding).
In the same session, DigiMulti PhD fellow Hilde Thyness gave a trial presentation of her paper for the Nordand conference on Iceland in May 2022: Teachers’ negotiation of their role and responsibility for inclusion of multilingual parents. Xiao Lan acted as discussant. Many interesting reflections were made and Hilde is now ready to go for the 15th Nordand conference.
The second day, Hilde and Kristin presented the DigiMulti status quo, and Åsa and Xiao Lan gave feedback on various aspects of the project, helping us moving forward. Thank you very much for a lovely visit, Åsa Palviainen and Xiao Lan Curdt-Christiansen, leaving us inspired and hopeful about the future of the project!
