Thanks, Vichuda! A number of papers in the Multilingua special issue argue exactly the same point: that English-centric multilingualism is not the solution to language barriers in non-Anglophone countries

No worries about the deadline, Enkhzaya! The topic actually sounds fascinating – why not present and analyze exactly that information pack? I’ll be looking forward to learning what the challenges of communicating covid-related information to preliterate children are, how these challenges were addressed in this daycare and with this information pack, and what improvements, if any, might be desirable in future.

I think I missed the deadline somehow. I just want to make sure that my chosen topic will be suitable or not. My topic is still broad and bit hard to narrow it down. I hope you will help me with it. I am interested in how young kids acknowledged COVID through their daycare or parents. What resources are being used for kids especially who can not read? The reason I chose is I really could not explain why my son needs to wear a mask all of sudden, sanitise all the time or we cannot play in playgrounds during the lockdown etc. Then his daycare sent us some COVID kids information pack with videos and informative signs along with fun activities. It helped me a lot to let my son understand what is going on and why needs to do those things without scaring my kid.

Hi Yuta, a comparison between Covid-19 and SARS health communication sounds good but you’ll need to narrow it down a bit more to make this manageable. Have a look at the resources on ilearn and also the other topics here, and let’s chat about this one of the “assignment clinics”.

Sounds perfect and I’ll be looking forward to hearing what you find.

Thanks, Audrey! This sounds great. Just be careful that the topic doesn’t become too large and that there is a connection with the concerns of the Literacies unit. You can find references to further resources about the “infodemic” in this article:
Piller, Ingrid, Jie Zhang, and Jia Li. (2020). Linguistic diversity in a time of crisis: Language challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Multilingua, 39(5), 503-515, doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2020-0136

Sounds fascinating! Make sure to run a literature search to related to health communication aimed at deaf and hearing-impaired people (in Vietnam) for your background reading.
The “emergency linguistics” model in this article might also be relevant:
Li, Yuming, Gaoqi Rao, Jie Zhang, and Jia Li. (2020). Conceptualizing national emergency language competence, Multilingua, 39(5), 617-623, doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2020-0111

Very much looking forward to what you find!

Sounds good. Just make sure not to try and do too much. This is still a big topic and you might wish to focus on one type of messaging (i.e. a particular campaign) only.

Thanks, Alex! This sounds great. Make sure to consult relevant posts in our covid-19 archives, particularly one about health communication targeting Indigenous Mexicans, and also this article:
Chen, Chun-Mei. (2020). Public health messages about COVID-19 prevention in multilingual Taiwan, Multilingua, 39(5), 597-606, doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2020-0092

Thanks, Chalermkwan! I would suggest you focus on international students only and ideally narrow it down further to examine only messages by (or aimed at?) students at a particular institution or in a particular state or from a particular background.

As my topic, I would like to talk about “International student’s message about being anxious struggling living in Australia” and then using these messages to analyse the level of the text from language choices and medium choices such as formal or informal, similes, metaphors, and personal pronouns. I will try to add more and analyse more in another way if I can do it.

I have a question: Should I compare the language from native students and international students to show more the difference of language or should I focus just only on international students? Thank you very much, Ingrid.

The topic I have chosen is “Limitations of the Peruvian government advising Andean communities about Covid-19”. It is worth mentioning Andean communities have been neglected throughout history, especially in literacy and public health issues. The current pandemic has obliged the government of Peru to take a more multilingual approach within a limited amount of time. However, there are constraints and implications that the Government has failed to consider. I will discuss how the Peruvian government is communicating preventive information on Covid-19 to indigenous communities in the highlands and the implications of language variants in the territory and accessibility.