Call for Symposium and Poster Abstracts
The IASCL 2011 Committee is working with its colleagues around the world to develop a scientific meeting of the highest caliber, with an innovative and exciting scientific program. The theme of the Congress will be Social, Genetic and cognitive determinants in the acquisition and development of language.
IASCL 2011 CONGRESS OBJECTIVES
- To provide a forum for the presentation of high quality, original scientific research and clinical practice
- To promote the exchange of scientific, practical, educational and clinical information and ideas
- To provide an educational resource appropriate to all those interested in all aspects of the acquisition and development of language and its problems
- To give delegates the opportunity to network with colleagues.
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
Deadline for Symposium abstracts: Closed
Deadline for Individual poster abstracts: Closed
I. Who is responsible for an abstract (symposium and poster presentations)?
There is one responsible person per abstract. Although co-authors and their affiliations may be listed in an abstract, a contributor may only be responsible for one oral (symposium) presentation and one poster presentation. Responsible authors appear as first author in the abstracts that they are presenting (one oral and/or one poster presentation). The number of times a contributor may be listed as a co-author is not limited.
II. How to Submit Abstracts
An abstract must be submitted on the official abstract web form. Abstracts are submitted in English. Abstracts are required for all poster presentations and for the student competitions.
IV. Preparation of Abstracts (Poster presentations)
The abstract (maximum 250 words) should contain a concise statement of (i) the problem under investigation, (ii) the empirical methods used, (iii) the essential results obtained, and (iv) a conclusion. Do not state, for example that "the results will be discussed". An abstract is not a formal publication and therefore should not include literature references or grant acknowledgements, etc. Deadline for Individual abstracts is October 30, 2010.
Program and Abstracts of this meeting will be prepared electronically. Abstracts will not be edited in any way. Thus, every error that appears in the submitted abstract will appear in the printed abstract. Abstract text (without title) should be no longer than 250 words.
V. Subject Categories
For the purpose of review and programming only, abstracts will be divided into categories. Please, indicate on the web form the category you have chosen.
List of categories on language acquisition and development
Bilingual first language acquisition
Child second language acquisition
Cognition and language development
Cultural and social factors
First language acquisition
Genetic and biological determinants
Language evolution and language acquisition
Language development in atypical populations
Literacy and language
Music and language
Neural networks
Neurocognitive correlates
New methods in Child Language Research
Numeracy and language
Quantitative and qualitative input factors
Sign language and gestures
Speech
Theory of mind
Other (please, specify).
VI. Student Award - Symposium Competition
Attention Students: Benefits of participating in the Student Award competition. If you are one of the 5 students selected for the Student Symposium (Participants will be declared after the competition deadline):
- participate in the travel bursary
- certificate of participation
- opportunity to win a cash prize and a plaque
Two awards will be presented to the two best student oral presentations and extended abstracts. Each award consists of CA$ 200.00 cash and a plaque.
Procedure
A maximum of five (5) oral presentations (student as first author) will be made in a Student Award Symposium. The selection of students for this symposium will be made on the basis of a previously submitted written extended abstract. If more than five students apply for the awards, extended abstracts will be pre-judged by three judges from the IASCL Scientific Committee, and the five best selected for the symposium. The other abstracts will be scheduled in the poster sessions. Extended abstracts are due on or before October 30, 2010.
A.To enter
To enter the competition, students must do the following:
1. All abstracts must first be submitted using the appropriate regular web form for individual (poster) abstracts on the official abstract web form. Complete all sections of the web form as indicated.
2. Submit this abstract form by October 30, 2010. At this time, the student should also indicate his/her intention to enter the competition. A student cannot submit more than one (1) abstract as the presenting author in this competition.
3. In addition, submit an extended abstract (pdf) of up to 600 words, including a maximum of 2 figures or tables that will be included. The extended abstract must be submitted no later than October 30, 2010 to Prof. Henri Cohen ( / ).
4. The extended abstract. The extended abstract must have its own abstract consisting of no more than 50 words. Do not use section headings in the body of the paper. Include a brief introduction, methods, results and discussion in a single section. The text (including abstract) should not exceed 600 words. A maximum of 2 figures or tables is allowed. Materials and methods should be described in the text, not in figure legends or table footnotes. The Literature Cited section should conform to the format used by the APA (Publication style manual, American Psychological Association).
5. The submitted material will be adjudicated as follows:
- Abstracts submitted for the Students Award by the October 30, 2010 deadline will be reviewed along with all other abstracts submitted for the annual meeting.
- Extended abstracts received by the Chair of the Scientific Committee will be distributed to members of the committee for judging. The extended abstracts will be judged according to their scientific merit (see Competition guidelines, below). The students will be notified as to whether or not their paper has been chosen for the Student Award Symposium.)
- For evaluation of the oral presentations, the Chair of the Scientific Committee will select a panel of at least three (3) members from the Scientific Committee or the membership at large to grade the oral presentations. This panel will not include members of the Scientific Committee involved in the pre-judging (see Competition guidelines) or the symposium chair.
- The two winners will be selected from the combined assessment of their extended abstract and oral presentation. The awards will be presented by the Chair of the Scientific Committee at the surprise cultural event.
B. Competition Guidelines
A student is defined as being registered at a University for a Masters or PhD program
1. Written Submission
Members of the Scientific Committee will review each extended abstract submitted for the competition and award a mark out of 20, as follows:
- Scientific merit (12 marks): Is the work scientifically sound? Does the work significantly advance knowledge in the discipline? Are the methods and results reliable? Do the results support the conclusions?
- Clearly defined objectives of the research (4 marks).
- Strict adherence of the abstract in length and format guidelines. (For example, is the bibliography presented in APA style?) (2 marks).
- Suitability of Figures and Tables for presentation (2 marks).
2. The Presentation
Each presentation will last a maximum of 12 minutes followed by 3 minutes for questions from the audience. The panel of judges will evaluate the presentations (65 marks). The judges have no knowledge of the written evaluation and rate each presentation using the following criteria:
- A brief and lucid introduction to the research (5 marks). A person unfamiliar with the subject should be able to ascertain what the research is about and what knowledge currently exists on the subject.
- A clear definition of the objectives of the work (5 marks).
- A clear, audible speaking style and speed at all times (5 marks).
- The student addresses the audience rather than the notes, blackboard, slides, or feet (5 marks).
- Distinctly visible, understandable, and properly labeled graphics (Figures, Tables, etc.) (10 marks).
- The student specifically indicates to the audience the significant information contained in the graphics (10 marks).
- The scientific content of the paper is of good quality and the message is clearly imparted to the audience (10 marks).
- A summary or a list of conclusions is presented at the end of the talk (5 marks).
- Ending within the allotted time. (5 marks).
- Ability to respond to questions (5 marks).
IASCL will be providing some assistance to students competing in the Student Award Competition. A total of $800.00 will be available to help defray the travel costs of students who have been selected to compete in the competition. This is a bursary, not a prize, and those who have the greatest travel expenses will benefit the most.
The 5 students selected to compete in the IASCL Student Award Competition are eligible to receive reimbursement for travel costs (or portion thereof) incurred in attending the IASCL 2011 meeting. This travel bursary can be obtained by submitting official receipts (or legible copies thereof) from the commercial carrier (gasoline receipts may be acceptable, if applicable). That portion of travel expense to be supported by IASCL will be determined by dividing the $800 by the total amount claimed by all students. Only travel expenses may be submitted. Receipts should be submitted after the meeting and must be received by the IASCL 2011 Secretariat by August 30 of the meeting year. Bank drafts will be mailed by August 30, 2011 to the person or institution designated by the application.
VII. Student Award - Poster Competition
The poster competition is intended to give students a forum to compete for a prize that should exemplify excellent work as well as clear communication of results and conclusions in the poster format. Two (2) ex aequo cash prizes will be awarded.
A willingness to participate in the poster competition will be made with the submission of the abstract. Not all abstracts submitted will be chosen. A student can submit only one abstract as presenter in a Student Award Competition, and this abstract can be submitted to only one Student Award Competition.
To enter the competition, students must do the following:
All abstracts must be submitted using the web form on the official abstract web form. Complete all sections of the web form as indicated. Submit this abstract form by October 30, 2010. At this time, the student should also indicate, in the Section ?Comments to the Review Committee? her/his intention to enter the competition.
VIII. Selection of competitors
The selection of abstracts for the poster competition will be the responsibility of the chair and members of the Scientific Committee. If necessary, the chair can appoint other referees to assist with the rankings (eg, conflict of interest, time constraint). A maximum of six (6) posters will be retained for the competition, while the other posters will be presented as part of the regular poster sessions.
The overall ranking of the poster abstracts eligible for the competition (student as first author) will be based on the scientific merit of the materials described in the abstract. The contestants will then be notified as to whether their abstract has been selected for the poster competition. (The right to have a number less than 6 can be exercised if the quality of the abstracts does not warrant that the poster should enter the competition.)
The Competition
No less than 14 days prior to the conference, the contestants will submit a pdf file that will contain their poster as it will be presented. For IASCL 2011 competition, the pdf files are to be sent to Lucie Ménard at the following address: .
Judging panel
Each poster will be judged by three people. Judges #1 and #2 will contribute 35 marks each, Judge #3 will contribute 30 marks for a total score out or 100. The scores will be given to the chair of the Scientific Committee or his delegate who will oversee the tabulation of the scores. The judges and the person compiling and tabulating the scores must not have been a judge in the poster award competition, nor can be a co-author on any of the posters in competition.
Judge #1 and #2 criteria
25 marks judging submitted pdf
10 marks judging by questions to poster presenter
35 marks
The rationale for this portion is that the poster should be finished ahead of time. This will allow the judges to look through the data, judge the poster as a written document, and formulate intelligent questions to ask prior to the actual poster session. This will allow the poster section to go more quickly. As well it will mean the student should be aware that the poster is to be understandable in their absence.
The third judge will be judging the poster and the contents without having the benefit of seeing the poster ahead of time. Many times you actually do not get a chance to see a poster presenter and need to make a poster out depending on what you overhear or can make out by yourself under crowded circumstances. This is the role of Judge 3. Whereas the other judges will have prepared questions and hopefully developed an understanding of the material presented from the pre-submitted pdf, Judge 3 will really be the person who sees the poster for the first time and will judge it accordingly.