Early language education is undergoing a multilingual turn, shifting from traditional monolingual approaches to a more inclusive and flexible view of language use, identity and learning (Conteh & Meier, 2014). Being in contact with and learning to communicate in more than one language from an early age has been shown to favour enriched cognitive development and opens doors to a deeper appreciation and understanding of other cultures, perspectives and backgrounds (Cenoz & Gorter, 2021; García 2009).
In many classrooms around the world, children come from a wide range of socio-economic, linguistic, cultural, and ethnic backdrops. Embracing such diversity through multilingual educational practices not only contributes to acknowledging students’ unique identities but also promotes inclusion and a sense of belonging from a very young age (ELLRA, 2023; Norton & Toohey, 2011; UNESCO, 2025). Therefore, exploring multilingualism and diversity in formal early language learning contexts can provide a greater insight into how children (aged 2-12) learn and engage with languages in diverse and dynamic classrooms and identify instructional practices which render language education much more equitable and inclusive from an early age.
We hope the conference will be a fruitful experience for scholars from various disciplines (e.g., linguistics, applied linguistics, education, language didactics, pedagogy, psychology, sociolinguistics, children’s literature, etc.) and learning contexts worldwide conducting research into early language learning in formal contexts, be it foreign, second, minority, additional or heritage languages.