The international scientific conference Bi-SLI 2026 (Bilingualism and Specific Language Impairment / Developmental Language Disorder) will take place on April 23 and 24, 2026, at the Borongaj University Campus in Zagreb (Zagreb hall). The conference is dedicated to research on bilingualism and developmental language disorder. More information about the conference is available on the official BiSLI Zagreb 2026 website. The Bi-SLI conference is part of a long-standing international initiative that brings together researchers and practitioners interested in language development in multilingual contexts, with the aim of improving diagnosis and intervention in work with children with developmental language disorder.
More than 60 participants from across Europe and around the world are expected to attend, including researchers and experts in the fields of language development, psycholinguistics, speech and language therapy, psychology, linguistics, and related disciplines. The conference program will include keynote lectures, oral presentations, posters, and thematic discussions focused on the development and application of diagnostic and research tools in multilingual contexts. The central focus of the conference will be on understanding the language development of bilingual and multilingual children with developmental language disorder (DLD), as well as on developing reliable methods for distinguishing language difficulties from language differences in multilingual environments.
The conference will feature distinguished invited speakers:
- Cécile De Cat (University of Leeds)
- Nataša Pantić (University of Edinburgh)
- Ana Werkmann Horvat (University of Osijek)
- Sharon Armon-Lotem (Bar-Ilan University)
Their presentations will address topics such as the assessment of language difficulties in multilingual settings, educational policies for diverse learners, semantic and pragmatic processing in bilingualism, and the development and application of LITMUS tools.
By organizing this conference, the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Zagreb further confirms its active role in the international scientific community and its contribution to the advancement of research and practice in the fields of speech and language therapy and language sciences.