Hong Kong Association for Applied Linguistics (HAAL)

The Executive Committee Report for 2006-07

This Report covers the period from 1^st Oct. 2006 to 30^th Sept. 2007.

President George Braine (CUHK)

Hon. Sec. Jon Hui (City U)

Treasurer Joanne Chuk (HKIED)

Members May Fan (HKPU)

Wang Lixun (HKIED) Webmaster

Ngar Fun Liu

Icy Lee (CUHK) TESOL Liaison

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

1. Seminars

Eight seminars were conducted, including two jointly sponsored with the Hong Kong Institute of Education.

Date	Speaker	Title
6 Oct. 2006	Prof. David Crystal	“The Future of World Englishes”
6 Nov. 2006	Prof. Andy Kirkpatrick (HKIED)	“Setting Attainable and Appropriate Language Targets in Multilingual Settings”
4 December, 2006	Dr. Lindsay Miller (City U)	“Listening to Lecturing in a Second Language: A New Model”
5Feb. 2007	Professor Tony Hung (HKBU)	“A Comparative Study of the Phonological Features of Asian Englishes”
5March 2007	Dr. Lynne Flowerdew (HKUST)	“The Pedagogic Value Of Corpora: A Critical Evaluation”
16 April 2007	Dr. Andy Curtis (CUHK)	“Use of Film in Hong Kong English Language Classrooms”
28 May 2007	Dr. Diane Belcher (Georgia State University, USA) (Jointly sponsored with HKIED)	“Is there Room for Diversity in Anglophone Academic Research Writing Today?”
31 May 2007	Dr. Paul Matsuda (University of New Hampshire, USA) (Jointly sponsored with HKIED)	“Writing for Scholarly Publication: Up Close and Personal”

We were able to attract a large audience to the seminars by providing wide publicity and opening them to non-members. More than 150 attended the seminar by Prof. Crystal.

2. The Annual Cruise

The cruise was moved to Victoria Harbor and this proved to be a sound decision. Thirty-four members and their guests joined the cruise. Particularly heartening was the enthusiastic participation of 15 student members.

3. Executive Committee Meetings

Two committee meetings were conducted during the year. The second focused on the Research Forum.

4. Postgraduate Student Travel Award

The award, launched in 2005 to promote the academic activities of student members, attracted three applications and $1,000 each was awarded to Emily Nga Kwan Lui (CUHK), Edward Zhi Sheng Wen (CUHK), and Andy Xuesong Gao (HKU).

5. Affiliation with TESOL

HAAL became the 99^th affiliate of TESOL Inc. in September 2006, and joined a network of 42,000 applied linguists worldwide. George Braine represented HAAL at the Affiliate Council Meeting held during the Annual TESOL Convention in Seattle, USA, in March 2007.

TESOL awarded seven complimentary memberships to HAAL, and they were given to the following HAAL members on a first-come, first-served basis: Joanna Radwanska-Williams, Joseph Wariner, Xiaohua Liang, Ken Lau, Christine Richman Leonard, May Fan, and Cynthia Lee.

6. The 2^nd HAAL Research Forum

The Committee decided last year to revive the Research Forum, which was conducted in 2000. Accordingly, the 2^nd Research Forum was held on June 11, 2007. Prof. John Flowerdew was the keynote speaker. Thirty seven presenters representing Hong Kong, Macau, the Mainland, Singapore and Taiwan participated. A panel discussion titled “China as an ELT Powerhouse” was presented by three specialists. Six textbook publishers exhibited their books and other publications. The number of registrants was 90. (In the first Research Forum, there were 12 presenters and 45 participants.) We hope that the Research Forum would be a regular HAAL event .

7. Financial Situation

HAAL finances remain healthy with a balance of $42,715. The Treasurer’s Report is given below.

8. Membership

HAAL membership stands at 126, an increase of 72% in 2006-07. While more than half the members (56%) are university teachers, the highest growth was seen among PG student members, from 16% to 36%. The rest of the HAAL members are NETs, language institute staff, secondary school principals, teachers, and EMB consultants.
 
During this Committee’s tenure (2005-07), the membership doubled.
 
 
A Final Note

As my two year term as President comes to a close, I wish to add a postscript. In terms of HAAL membership, the numbers are at a record high. Financially, HAAL remains quite healthy. While the seminars continued to be the main focus, we discontinued the practice of inviting mainly “travelling speakers” from abroad; instead, we featured accomplished local scholars (who we usually hear only at foreign conferences) in the seminars. We opened-up the seminars to all applied linguists in Hong Kong, and many who attended became HAAL members. We also took a number of steps to encourage student members to participate actively in HAAL. First, we instituted the Postgraduate Student Travel Award, which has been well received. Second, by offering subsidies, we attracted 15 student members to the annual cruise, giving novice applied linguists an opportunity to mingle informally with more senior scholars. Third, we extended the student subsidy to the Research Forum, too. We discontinued the expensive affiliation with AILA and instead became an affiliate of TESOL, a move that is more cost effective, is representative of the broad interests of most HAAL members, and has brought them more tangible benefits in the form of seven complimentary memberships in TESOL. We also moved the HAAL website to an independent location and added dynamic and attractive links. Above all, the revival of the Research Forum has been our Committee’s main achievement. By providing extensive publicity and an appealing format, we attracted a large number of local and foreign presenters and attendees, and successfully conducted the 2^nd Research Forum in June.

I thank the Committee Members¾Jon Hui, Joanne Chuk, May Fan, Icy Lee, Lixun Wang, and Ngar Fun Liu¾for their teamwork and dedication, especially during the Research Forum. I greatly enjoyed working with them. A special “Thank you” goes to unassuming May Fan for all her good work behind the scenes¾arranging the seminar and Research Forum venues and refreshments. HAAL owes much to her, and also to the English Department of the HK Polytechnic University. I am also grateful to Danny Leung for his outstanding contribution to the Research Forum, and to Emily Lui, who handled the outreach e-mail network for HAAL, distributing announcements, setting up new connections, and reaching out to English teachers and applied linguists in Hong Kong on our behalf over the past two years.

Finally, I wish the new Executive Committee all the best.

HAAL Treasurer’s Report 2006-07

HAAL Income 06/07		HK$	HAAL Expenditure 06/07			HK$
Balance brought forward from 05/06			PG Student Travel Grant			3000
1. savings a/c		40,538.7	Refreshments + meals for speakers			2891.8
2. current a/c		154.24	Honorarium for Prof. Crystal			1400
3. petty cash		3078.5	Stamps			14
			Cruise expenses			8500
Membership fees		9850	Application fee for TESOL affilitaion			195
Cruise income		5550	Stipend for PolyU helper John			500
Research Forum income		8250	Web hosting fee			826
Interest on saving a/c		1417.19	Affiliation fees to TESOL			1568
			Research Forum Expenses			8246.5
	Total:	68,838.63			Total:	27,141.3
			HAAL Capital as at 23/6/07
			1. Savings a/c			40,455.89
			2. Current a/c			631.34
			3. Petty cash			628.5
					Total:	41,715.73
			Income - Expenditure:			41,697.33
				Extra:		18.4