Online Lecture Series: Current Research in Literary Multilingualism

In our lecture series, researchers in literary multilingualism from all over Europe and beyond present their actual projects and initiatives in the field.

Please join us for discussion and exchange on this vibrant topic within our COST-Action MultiLiliTrans.

Zoom link will follow via the COST mail system

Next:

30th of November, 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. CET

Literary Multilingualism and Academic Writing in Superdiverse Societies

By Jennifer Lewin (University of Haifa)

The development of academic writing in higher education increasingly has been understood as a process of participation in discipline-specific ways of constructing knowledge. Scholars have long argued that enculturation is inseparable from epistemology, identity, and social practice, emphasizing that skill acquisition occurs within communities of origin and institutions. Superdiverse societies complicate the situation, and institutions have improved at recognizing diverse literacy histories. My current project attempts to create a model for addressing these challenges among undergraduates in literary studies at a regional university in such a society. My talk reports on findings that show how student work and attitudes are shaped by multilingual reading and creative expression. Analytical writing entails generating interpretive environments that are textually grounded and that preserve the voice of the author.

Jennifer Lewin is a senior lecturer at the University of Haifa, where she teaches in the Department of English Language and Literature. Her research is on early modern English literature and on academic writing. Her forthcoming book, Wild Work: Dreaming in Early Modern England, will be published in April 2027 by Kent State University Press. Her research on academic writing focuses on multilingualism, literary pedagogy, and generative AI, and she has articles on the topic forthcoming in Studies in Higher Education and Computers and Education.

“Intruded bilingualism”: Structural Language Dominance in North Macedonia

By Vesna Prodanovska-Poposka (University St. Kliment Ohridski-Bitola, North Macedonia)

This talk revisits the concept of "intruded bilingualism," first proposed in my 2018 study based on a survey conducted in 2010 among Macedonian speakers using Serbian/Serbo-Croatian and English in academic and professional contexts. I coined the term to describe a form of bilingual practice that develops not simply through individual

preference, but through sustained exposure to another language within education, access to knowledge, professional communication, and institutional practice. The talk brings the earlier findings into dialogue with a new 2026 survey of Macedonian-speaking professionals and academics. Particular attention is given to the changing roles of Serbo-Croatian and English and to the broader structural conditions that may shape language choices in academic and professional life. Vesna Prodanovska-Poposka is Associate Professor and Vice Dean for Science and International Cooperation at the Faculty of Biotechnical Sciences, University "St. Kliment Ohridski" – Bitola, North Macedonia. She holds a PhD in Teaching English as a Foreign Language and works in applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, English for Specific Purposes, language contact, and language education in higher education. Selected publications: Prodanovska-Poposka, V. (2018). Languages in Contact and Applied Linguistics – "Intruded" Bilingualism. 16th International Conference on Literature, Languages, Humanities & Social Sciences (LLHSS-18), Budapest; Prodanovska-Poposka, V. (2022). Teachers' Perspectives on Prevalence of the Mother Tongue in Foreign Language Teaching. Vospitanie – Journal of Educational Sciences, Theory and Practice, 17(1), pp. 34–39. ISSN 1857-8705.

22th of February 2027, 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. CET

Link: to follow

The Book of One Thousand and One Nights:Translation and the Construction of National Literatures

By Hattice Yurttas (ISU Istanbul)

Translingual Homophony as Literary Device and Hermeneutic Strategy: Arabic, German, Hebrew Intersections

By Jan Kühne (Franz Rosenzweig Center Jerusalem)