Welcome to ARLE!

The International Association for Research in L1 Education welcomes researchers, teachers, teacher educators and subject methodology teachers involved in the teaching of all aspects of L1 teaching, including language and literature. Join the association for free and participate in conferences, book publications, newsletters and the research journal L1 - Educational Studies in Language and Literature to exchange the experiences and to learn from other educational cultures.

Read more about ARLE, our mission, and our Board here.

ARLE is since 2014 the continuation of International Association for the Improvement of Mother Tongue Education (IAIMTE), established in 1996 by Ken Watson (Australia) and Gert Rijlaarsdam (Netherlands).

ARLE is registered in Germany, at the Amtsgericht (=district court) Hildesheim, under No VR 200959.

ARLE/IFTE BARCELONA 2026 – EXTENDED DEADLINE!

New abstract submission deadline:
March 1, 2026

Join us in the vibrant city of Barcelona, June 25–27, 2026, for ARLE/IFTE 2026!
Share your research and ideas through communications, symposia, roundtables, and workshops
Contribute to key debates on language, identity, equity, diversity, and transformation in L1 education.
Please click here for the conference website and abstract submissions.

ARLE SIG Events in 2025

ARLE SIGs are continually working to promote research and learning! Please visit the SIG page to receive updates from your favorite SIGs.

SIG Technology and Literacy Education (TALE)
The SIG Technology and Literacy Education (TALE) announces the beginning of an online seminar series exploring digital technologies and literacy education.

The first seminar, titled "Literacy education and the postdigital: International perspectives", is taking place onThursday, 20 November 2025 | 7pm AEDT, 8am GMT, 9am CET, 10am EET, and hosts two distinguished speakers:

Dr. Jennifer Rowsell, Sheffield - Talk title: "Towards postdigital literacies: Our ambivalent dance"

Dr. Alex Bacalja, Melbourne - Talk title: "Postdigital L1 English education: New theoretical frames for new and old challenges"

For more details and to register, check the seminar poster here.

SIG Dialogic Teaching
The SIG invites members who want to organize a symposium or a roundtable session for the ARLE/IFTE 2026 Conference to reach out for partners by using the SIG website or contacting one of the coordinators.

SIG Multilingualism
The SIG (Special Interest Group) Multilingualism has recently hosted Dr. Elias Ribeiro da Silva (Federal University of Alfenas) and Dr. Leandro Rodrigues Alves Diniz (Federal University of Minas Gerais & University of Hamburg) as part of their 4th SIG Multilingualism speaker series. The talk was titled, Trajectories of Languages in/of Brazil: From Constitutive Multilingualism to Idealized Monolingualism.

The SIG also invites everyone to become a member of SIG Multilingualism using this link.

SIG Literacies - Reading, Writing and Oracies
On September 17–18, 2025, our SIG had the privilege of co-hosting the TRAIL Conference – Transnational Reading Approaches in Inclusive Learning Environments at the University of Potsdam with Prof. Winnie-Karen Giera, supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The name TRAIL (meaning path) perfectly reflected our mission: bringing together researchers and practitioners from across borders to exchange ideas and co-create new approaches to reading promotion for 10–16 year-olds. We welcomed 65 (onsite and online) participants from 10 countries (Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Germany, England, Ghana, Italy, Austria, USA, Cyprus). The conference highlighted the strength of international collaboration between two networks: ELINET (European Literacy Policy Network) and ARLE (International Association for Research in L1 Education). What made TRAIL special: it was open, free, and inclusive — bridging research and practice in education. We would like also to share the attached Call for Abstracts.