According to the Languages for Jobs: Providing Multilingual Communication Skills for the Labour Market report, published by the European Strategic Framework for Education and Training in 2011, language learning should be “better geared to professional contexts and the needs” of the job market; this will benefit learners and “those seeking to employ people who are well-trained and properly qualified to assume their professional responsibilities” (EU, 2011: 4). Language learning assumes increasing relevance at a time of staggering austerity and rising rates of youth throughout Europe. The ability to speak different foreign languages not only can generate economic benefits, and foster employability, but also can promote the mobility of professionals and business activities, enabling companies to perform successfully on the global stage.

This conference aims to bring together educators, researchers, and representatives from the business world to discuss language learning and the market and how languages constitute competitive assets in professional contexts.

Therefore, we encourage contributions which address primarily, though not exclusively, the following topics:

• L1, L2, even L3+, and the market 
•  LSP (Languages for Specific Purposes) and CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) in the areas of Tourism and Hospitality, Medicine, Law, Business Management, among others 
•  Languages, ICT, and the market 
•  Language planning and policy 
•  Languages and Intercultural Competence 
•  Languages and employability: plurilingualism, minority languages and English as an operational global language 
•  Curriculum development in vocational education/training and higher education 
•  Translation studies