Languages for specific purposes: opportunities and challenges of teaching and research

Book excerpt: Originally, the 2nd International Conference of the Slovene Association of LSP Teachers "Languages for Specific Purposes: Opportunities and Challenges of Teaching and Research" was planned as a live event that would bring together LSP researchers and teachers and provide opportunities for sharing and disseminating original research data, project findings, classroom practices pertinent to LSP teaching contexts, etc. However, considering the peculiarity of the present pandemic situation, the time has come to add a new goal: to consolidate present partnerships and establish new contacts within the broader international research and teaching community in the form of an online conference. Although a transition from a traditional conference to a virtual one might be seen as a specific situation, we have seen it as an opportunity to learn new forms of cooperation or even as a reference point for all other similar future events. The resulting online conference comprised three plenary sessions and seventy-four presentations in parallel sessions by speakers from fifteen countries who delivered their presentations in five different languages: English, French, German, Italian and Slovene. We are especially pleased that the conference featured a special session dedicated to the Slovene language as LSP with the intent to promote further research and interest in our mother tongue. The present publication presents the abstracts of the conference plenary sessions and presentations.