It is a toss-up between Malaysia and the Philippines to host the 2026 World Congress of Applied Linguistics, said the International Association of Applied Linguistics’ (AILA) secretary general Christina Gitsaki.
AILA held the most recent edition of its triennial congress in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro in July this year, and has decided on South-east Asia for its 2026 gathering. The last time the congress was held in South-east Asia, was in Singapore in 2002.
As it searches for its next venue in the region, Gitsaki said the main consideration was finding a large convention centre with 30 to 35 breakout rooms and a plenary hall to accommodate the targeted turnout of 1,500 to 2,000 delegates.
“Many centres are built for exhibitions and include a large exhibition space but not many breakout rooms. We want a small exhibition space and many breakout rooms.”
Other criteria include three-, four- and five-star hotels within walking distance to the convention centre, or a good public transport system allowing delegates to travel conveniently back and forth.
AILA is open to having the congress outside the capital city too, as long as the main criteria are met.
“It is good if the convention centre adopts green practices, but is it is not as important a consideration as the (aforementioned) criteria,” Gitsaki added.
AILA’s world congress is the largest event in applied linguistics, bringing together researchers and practitioners from all areas of the field for five days.
Different parts of the world are chosen for the different editions of the congress to reflect the association’s global character, TTGmice understands.
