2021-05-31-accounts

BAAL AGM

Friday 10[th] September 2021, 1:45-2:45pm BAAL conference 2021, Northumbria University

EC reports

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Chair(Dawn Knight) 2 Secretary(Caroline Tagg) 11 Treasurer(Bettina Beinhoff) 12 Meetings Secretary(Glenn Hadikin) 14 Membership Secretary(Rachel Wicaksono) 15 Publications Secretary(Zhu Hua) 16 Postgraduate Liaison and Development Officer(Chloe Mills) 18 Media Coordinator(Owen Minns) 18 Newsletter Editor(Sal Consoli) 19 Seminars Coordinator(Vander Viana) 19 SIG Coordinator(Helen Sauntson) 21 Web Editor(Nathaniel Owen) 23 CLIE representative(Gee Macrory) 24

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Chair’s Report

This is my final meeting as Chair of BAAL, as I have sadly come to the end of my three year term in this role (I took over as Chair in September 2018). Working as Chair of BAAL has been an interesting and fulfilling, albeit sometimes challenging, experience. The past eighteen months, in particular, have been an unsettling and challenging time for the membership, with COVID-19 impacting on every part of our professional and personal lives. With the rollout of vaccinations and easing of lockdown, it is beginning to look like the worst of the COVID-19 crisis is now behind us (thank goodness). It is likely to take a very long time before we move back to any form of ‘normal’ practice, but at least there is a little more hope of such on the horizon. I would like to extend my gratitude to all members of the executive committee and membership for being so adaptable to change during this period, and for their on-going support, enthusiasm, dedication and hard work in ensuring that BAAL continues to go from strength to strength. It has been a real honour to work at the helm of such a supportive and proactive association and I am sure BAAL will continue to develop, expand and flourish further into the future. I wish the incoming Chair the very best in leading the next few years of BAAL’s journey.

UPDATES

I have spent the past 12 months period responding to general queries from the membership, EC and BAAL affiliates, establishing/maintaining contact with key partners and members, and considering strategic future directions for EC and BAAL in general. Some notable points/actions follow.

BAAL 2020

As you all know, the BAAL annual meeting was postponed until 2021 (i.e. the current event that this AGM is taking place at), with an alternative online one-day event held in 2020 instead. This comprised a single-track event, with talks from some representatives of the BAAL SIGs, an ECR workshop, the BAAL book prize, a CUP workshop, the AGM and the first official BAAL quiz. I wanted to minute my thanks to all members of the EC for supporting/helping to coordinate what was a very successful and well attended event. A brief overview of feedback from this event follows:

• 100% of respondents (59 of over 300 who signed up to attend) rated the conference as excellent (49.15%) or good (50.85%).

• The majority (over 80%) said that the conference met with their expectations, with 98.31% saying that they would attend a BAAL online or face-to-face conference again in the future.

• The majority of attendees also strongly agreed with the following statements:

• It was a worthwhile conference to attend online (69.49%, with a further 28.81% responding with ‘agree’)

• I would recommend future BAAL conferences to others (67.80%, with a further 27.12% responding with ‘agree’)

• It was well managed (71.19%, with a further 25.42% responding with ‘agree’)

• Zoom webinar worked well (59.32%, with a further 35.59% responding with ‘agree’)

• The majority of respondents also agreed/strongly agreed that the conference provided the opportunity for presentation of important papers and instigated well-informed discussions (49.15% and 40.68% respectively).

When quizzed about the highlights of the conference, respondents were particularly impressed by the quality of the presentations, the ECR workshop and the book prize, the quiz, the smooth running of the conference, the sense of community created and maintained on the day, and the fact that the cost was not ‘inhibitively expensive this year’. The AGM was also held online as part of this event and more than 60 members were in attendance – this is perhaps a record for a BAAL AGM! Let’s hope we can beat that record again at this year’s AGM.

When asked about preferences for the delivery of the conference, many commented that they would prefer a face-to-face format, although the online delivery worked well (in the current/on-going circumstances). Others suggested that a blended approach might be something for us to consider for the future. The affordability and accessibility of the online format was also commended. Some recommendations for improvements follow:

• Include more speakers, in a multi-track conference, over more than one day

• Better use of the Q&A chat

• Ensure that we stick to the schedule/timings

• Further breakout rooms/opportunity for socialising

We have attempted to take this feedback on board with the running of the current conference. We hope you are enjoying BAAL 2021 thus far!

Mosaic

December 2020 marked the end of our initial 2-year contract with Mosaic (our membership consultants). Our experience with Mosaic has been fantastic – they have proven to be highly

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competent, flexible, supportive, informative and a real pleasure to work with. We have agreed to extend the contract with Mosaic for an additional two-year period so will continue to work with them. As you will see in the Treasurer’s report, the fees for Mosaic’s services are a little higher this year (and onwards) - this is because Mosaic are offering additional support for SIG Convenors and additional help with the book prize, amongst other things. If any members have any questions about the specifics of these additional services, we will be happy to respond to these during the meeting.

BAAL guidelines for good practice in AL research

An updated version of BAAL’s Recommendations on Good Practice in Applied Linguistics was launched on the BAAL website on 3[rd] March 2021. This current, fourth edition (2021) was drafted by Sarah Atkins and me (coordinators), with contributions from Paul Baker, Kate Barber, Fiona Copland, Tim Grant, Jai Mackenzie and Alison Wray. I would like to note my appreciation of each of these individuals for the time and effort they have put into this work. Thanks, also, to members of the EC who provided comments on the revision of this guide – this feedback was appreciated. These updated guidelines were discussed as part of the BAAL EC colloquium entitled ‘Ethics and Social Justice’, held at the current BAAL annual conference. Members of the EC are urged to spread the word about the release of these guidelines – tweet, share etc. AILA and UCGAL have also been informed about the release of these updated guidelines.

REF 2021

BAAL is a nominating body for REF2021. Last year I sent out a call for nominations of REF panel members (i.e. any panel) and impact and output assessors in the summer, with an additional call for nominations for an output assessor for sub-panel 26 (Modern Languages and Linguistics) in the area of British Sign Language / Deaf Studies. In the call, I emphasised the fact that we were keen to ensure there is a good representation and understanding of Applied Linguistics on relevant panels, so encouraged members to put forward their names to be considered for nomination to these roles by BAAL, or to encourage others in our discipline to do so. We eventually put forward four nominations to REF and the following BAAL nominees were successfully appointed to a panel:

• Zhu Hua, University of Birmingham – assessor, sub-panel 23 (Education)

• Susan Hunston, University of Birmingham – member, sub-panel 27 (English Language and Literature)

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I would like to note my congratulations and thanks to Zhu Hua and Susan. I’d also like to express my thanks to everyone else who put themselves forward or otherwise helped in the process.

AHRC - consultations

I was contacted by AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) to participate in a formal interview with their Senior Investment Manager in February 2021. The interview sought to help AHRC gain a better understanding of the range of linguistics grants that they fund but also to get a steer from the academic community (including BAAL) on how the disciplines under the AHRC remit are currently faring. They also want to get a more general understanding of some of the disciplines and learned societies that are broadly relevant to AHRC. We spoke about the following (amongst other things):

1. The structure and composition of BAAL: its membership, the achievements and impacts BAAL has had and is hoping to have and the future plans of the association

2. The effects that the COVID pandemic has had on the discipline and sub-disciplines represented in/by BAAL

3. The state of the discipline(s – as represented by BAAL) in general, including what the (current) big areas of interest are, what the emerging areas of interest are, what challenges BAAL members are facing and how BAAL members typically engage with the range of funds that come out of UKRI

I consulted members of the EC, some heads of department (in applied linguistics and related subject areas), an advisory board and previous PIs from large-scale AHRC-funded projects for some input on these matters before I met with AHRC. I would like to note my thanks to all of those who contributed their ideas/thoughts on these matters (the list is too long to include individual names here!). I will endeavour to send on any updates/feedback from AHRC as relevant in due course (I have yet to receive any).

Lobbying

I have been engaged with a number of lobbying activities over the past twelve months on behalf of BAAL. Details of these follow:

• AcSS (Academy for Social Sciences) provided a written response to UKRI (United Kingdom Research and Innovation) on proposed cuts to funding that were supported by Official Development Assistance. This includes the UKRI’s Global Challenges

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Research Fund (GCRF), the Newton Fund and the university QR funding for GCRF. I signed this letter on behalf of BAAL. More details can be found here.

• UCML (University Council of Modern Languages) sent a letter to the UK Government to request that they retain membership of Erasmus; permit the devolved administrations to retain membership should they so wish; ensure that the Turing programme retains all the benefits of the current Erasmus programme and is fully and appropriately funded on a multi-annual basis to ensure stability for partnerships. I co-signed this letter on behalf of BAAL. The letter was delivered to the Prime Minister and other dignitaries (including the Minister of State at the Department of Education). Obviously, our plea didn’t work and, as you will know, the UK Government have announced they will withdraw their commitment to the scheme, as part of the BREXIT deal.

• Following consultations with the BAAL Executive Committee, I sent a letter, on behalf of BAAL, to the VC and Head of the College of Social Science regarding their proposals to cut English Language and Linguistics at the University of Leicester. In the letter we emphasised that the removal of long-established areas of curriculum for perceived short-term gains is both short-sighted and harmful. We suggested that by planning to exclude the key subject discipline of English Language, the university risks being seen to imperil academic freedom, to diminish both teaching and research at the university, and to impact negatively on both student experience and student success. I’ve received a response from the President and VC of the University who reiterated their intention to restructure the English department but provided reassurances that BAAL’s views and feedback would be considered as part of the ongoing consultation exercise. The restructuring how now taken place and unfortunately English Language and Linguistics are being phased out of the University.

UPDATES FROM BAAL AFFILIATES

AcSS (Academy for Social Sciences)

The Academy of Social Sciences represents academics, learned societies and practitioners in the Social Sciences and promotes Social Science in the UK for the public benefit. The BAAL Chair receives regular updates from AcSS and attends a meeting with representatives from their affiliated learned societies (of which BAAL is one) three times a year. Key points of discussion from the last meeting follow (27[th] April 2021):

• Running a learned society: sharing good practice and providing a useful insight into how to carry out a governance review

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• COVID-19 - ongoing concerns for learned societies: including running hybrid events in terms of audience engagement and technology, membership maintenance and support

• Learned Societies Survey: to highlight the dominant areas of work for societies affiliated with AcSS

• Policy matters: including UKRI funding cuts, discussions regarding Open Access, uncertainties regarding EU Horizon project support (from the UK Government)

The next meeting is in September 2021 and the next Chair will attend. An update on matters will be circulated to the membership, as relevant.

On 30th September 2020 AcSS launched a report entitled ‘Vital Business: The Essential Role of the Social Sciences in the UK Private Sector’. Based on detailed interviews with business leaders across eight different industries, the report showcases the many ways social sciences help businesses succeed and challenges some of the common myths that social sciences are valued mainly for their ‘soft’ skills, or are less valued than STEM. The report can be found here.

On 13th April 2021, I joined a select working group comprising members of the AcSS board and some other affiliate representatives to discuss plans for updating and expanding the AcSS website. The goal of the update/expansion is to provide affiliated learned societies with a more prominent profile on the site. This is an on-going process.

Through our affiliation with AcSS, the BAAL EC are invited to nominate individuals for the Academy of Social Sciences Fellowship Awards. There are two calls per year for nominees and we usually nominate one or two people per call (though it's more important to make strong nominations than frequent ones). I am delighted to minute that fellowships have been conferred on the following BAAL nominees over the past twelve months:

• Paul Baker , Lancaster University: Paul has made world-class contributions to a range of linguistics disciplines, including: corpus linguistics, discourse analysis, media language, language variation and change, sexuality, gender, and health communication. His work engages across the social sciences, and has been particularly influential in migration studies, religious studies and terrorism studies. Paul has an impressive funding capture and publishing record and an outstanding record of collaboration with practitioners and the public.

• Jeannette Littlemore , University of Birmingham: Jeanette has an internationally regarded reputation for research on figurative language, and its role in language teaching and learning, cross-linguistic communication, the experience of

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bereavement due to miscarriage and stillbirth, contemporary perceptions of witchcraft, and marketing and advertising. Her work engages with researchers from different areas of the social sciences, including psychology, nursing and law, and the significance and impact of her work is wide-reaching.

• Adrian Blackledge , University of Stirling: Adrian has an internationally regarded reputation for his research on multilingualism across social and educational settings, and for his expertise and innovations in linguistic ethnography as theory and method. The impact of Adrian’s work can best to be exemplified by his pervasive outreach and engagement activities. He has made extensive media appearances on his work and has been twice cited in the House of Lords, including by Lord Judd (his research on language testing) and by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants in their evidence to a House of Lords inquiry, amongst other activities.

It is really pleasing to see our discipline recognised in this way, and we note our warmest congratulations to Paul, Jeanette and Adrian. The next call for nominations will be circulated by the incoming Chair in due course.

AILA (International Association of Applied Linguistics)

The 19th AILA World Congress was postponed by a year due to the pandemic and will be held in Groningen, Netherlands from 15-21st August 2021. I will be attending the AILA EBIC (Executive Board and International Committee) meeting on 14[th] August. I will pass on any relevant information from the meeting to members of BAAL (this report was written before the meeting/conference had taken place). As with previous years, I will be providing a general association update to AILA at the meeting.

Last year (and the previous one), I send out a call for nominations for a variety of roles on the AILA committee. I received no nominations from either the BAAL EC (Executive Committee) or membership, despite several calls - so did not put forward any names from BAAL on this occasion.

I notified AILA that that we had updated the Guidelines for Good Practice in Applied Linguistics and they have confirmed that they will bring this updated version to their Endorsement Committee for discussion. If endorsed by this committee, AILA will add links to BAAL’s guidelines on their website and will recommend them for use by all affiliate associations. Again, the membership will, in due course, be updated on how these discussions progress.

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British Academy

The British Academy, together with the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Australian Academy of the Humanities, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and The Royal Society of Canada, published ‘The Importance of Languages in Global Context: An International Call to Action’ towards the end of 2020. This unprecedented joint statement highlights the key role that language skills play in international cooperation, especially during global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and calls on governments, policy makers, educators and industry to take ‘concerted, systematic and coordinated’ action to increase capacity for easily accessible education in a broad range of languages. The statement followed proposals from the British Academy and partners for a national strategy for language learning in the UK, published in July 2020. Although BAAL was not directly involved in preparing this statement, the BA acknowledges privately its appreciation for the ongoing support of our association and others. The statement can be found here.

I attended a meeting with the British Academy on Friday 26[th] March 2021. The main items discussed during this meeting were as follows:

• Updates from the Academy on its higher education and research policy activities and publications over the last year

• Sustainability of the learned societies and subject associations focusing on: the main challenges faced by BAAL over the past year (and whether they were financial, practical or about people) and how we have worked to overcome these; what BAAL is doing differently as a result of the pandemic; what the Academy can do to support our activities; what the relative benefits of the pandemic have been (if any) and whether it has changed the way we work for the future (and the better)

• EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion?): this included a short update on work the Academy has undertaken in this area (including the appointment of a Fellowship and EDI Officer, as well as the continuation of work across both the Fellows’ and Staff EDI working groups). It also enabled affiliate representatives to share updates on our own EDI work

• The termination of the ERASMUS+ and introduction of the Turing Scheme

The British Academy are beginning a new initiative in Partnership with the Wolfson Foundation. This scheme aims to develop a UK-wide Network for all Social Sciences and Humanities Early Career Researchers (ECRs) from a broad background, including those that are Academy funded and those that are not. The objectives of the ECR Network are:

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• To support the individual ECRs to realise their potential by providing opportunities that ECRs do not currently have access to.

• To contribute to equality of opportunity for ECRs through encouraging diversity and inclusivity.

• To develop networks to nurture and facilitate greater engagement between and across ECRs and wider research community, regionally and nationally.

• To draw on the Academy’s unique ability to convene and nurture intersectoral collaboration to create unique opportunities for ECRs.

I have reached out to the Academy to request that BAAL becomes involved in this exciting new initiative. I have yet to receive any further details about this – a further update on this will be provided to the membership in due course.

Dawn Knight, July 2021

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Secretary’s Report

Over the past twelve months I have dealt with various routine secretarial tasks/queries to BAAL (as per the job description):

• Welcomed new EC members and organised regular BAAL EC meetings

• Checked the minutes and action points from BAAL EC meeting

• Sent regular updates on our activities to the AcSS for their monthly eBulletins

• Reviewed three books for the annual BAAL book prize

• Coordinated the annual AGM meeting (and notified the membership of this)

• Requested that all members of the EC update their terms of reference in preparation for the upcoming elections (this is required on an annual basis)

• Advertised EC vacancies – positions to be announced at the BAAL AGM

• Supported the chair in responding to Covid-19 outbreak and social restrictions by:

• monitoring the situation and seeking opportunities to intervene

• collaborating with other associations on various initiatives

• working with SIG coordinator to set up a SIG event fund with deadlines in November and February

• Continued to follow up on the possibility of BAAL’s involvement in AILA 2027

• Helped to drive the EC’s development of equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives

• Acted as a point of contact for a range of EC-related questions and queries raised by EC members and general BAAL membership

• Supported the Chair in making various other decisions

BAAL Annual General Meeting 2021: There are 3 Ordinary Member posts coming up for election in September. The following officer posts are also available:

• Chair

• Secretary

• Media Coordinator

• Newsletter Editor

• Publications Secretary

• Postgraduate Liaison and Development Coordinator

• SIGs Coordinator

All of the posts have been publicised to the BAAL membership with expressions of interest being sought (see https://www.baal.org.uk/documents/ for role descriptions). The results will be announced at the BAAL AGM. Those officers who have only served one term are permitted to be elected to a second term, if desired (see https://www.baal.org.uk/committee/ for information on the current committee).

Thank you: I would like to say a big thank you to the outgoing officers and ordinary members for the hard work and commitment to BAAL during their time on the EC.

Caroline Tagg, August 2021

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Treasurer’s Report

BRITISH ASSOCIATION OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT

YEAR ENDED 31 MAY 2021

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BRITISH ASSOCIATION OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS

BALANCE SHEET

31 MAY 2021

Bettina Beinhoff, August 2021

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Meetings Secretary’s Report

Over the past twelve months, I have been liaising with the LOCs and potential hosts of BAAL’s annual conference. In this report, I am going to outline the organisation and the latest developments of BAAL 2021 and 2022.

1. BAAL2021

Preparations have been going well for Alex’s team for BAAL2021 Northumbria University. Out of 518 submissions 329 were accepted, 2 are Applying Linguistics awardees, 25 are posters and 6 groups submitted as colloquia.

2. BAAL2022

Preparation is going well for BAAL2022 with Sultan Turkan’s team at Queen’s university Belfast. The EC recently approved a list of plenary speakers to invite and, with minor modifications, the planned theme of ‘Social Justice and Innovation in Applied Linguistics’ looks good.

3. BAAL2023

I have been in touch regularly about York University’s initial plan to have a larger number of colloquia in 2023. After some discussion with the EC they have stressed that they are happy to be flexible about the numbers and will not rely exclusively on SIG leaders to organise these sessions.

4. BAAL2024

The University of Essex team have agreed to host BAAL2024 after the EC reviewed a very strong bid.

5. BAAL2025

A team from the University of Glasgow have agreed to host BAAL2025 after the EC recently reviewed a modified bid document.

Glenn Hadikin, August 2021

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Membership Secretary’s Report

A very warm welcome to all the new members who have joined BAAL over the course of 2020-21 and to all existing colleagues who have renewed their membership!

The membership of BAAL has grown steadily and consistently in recent years. Currently, BAAL has a total of 689 full-rate individual members and 399 reduced-rate members, a total of 1,008 individuals. There are also 11 individuals nominated under a total of 4 Associate memberships and 131 individuals nominated under a total of 41 Institutional memberships. Total membership of BAAL in July 2021 stood at 1,275, an increase of 10 per cent since July 2020. We are indebted to the team at Mosaic for their continued high-quality support of the BAAL executive committee and membership.

BAAL is keen to keep expanding its membership base and to further strengthen its voice. If you know of a colleague or student who is not yet a member of BAAL, please encourage them to visit the website and sign up at: https://www.baal.org.uk/join/. Our online application form and payment system are integrated on one webpage, making it simple for applied linguists from across the globe to join us. All memberships run for a period of 12 months, with a membership term of January to December. Members who are not resident in the UK are very welcome indeed to join BAAL.

If your institution has yet to join BAAL, why not consider an Institutional membership? The annual subscription for Institutional membership of BAAL is £120 and allows for four individuals from the institution to be nominated as full members. Individual membership subscription is priced at £50 per annum (£20 for full-time students or retired/unwaged members), so Institutional membership represents a 40% discount for each nominated institutional member.

When you join BAAL, you get full access to:

• Special interest Groups

• Seminars in association with Cambridge University Press, with discounted registration

• Special publisher discounts on a range of books and journals, sent via BAALmail.

• BAALmail, our membership mailing list

• Our bi-annual BAAL newsletter

• Membership of AILA, the International Association of Applied Linguistics, including a discount for the triennial AILA World Congress

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You will also get a discounted fee for our annual conference (usually held in September) and opportunities to apply for funding to host events.

BAAL is always looking at new ways to support its members, so please feel free to get in touch with me ([e-mail]) if I can be of assistance. Thank you for supporting BAAL and we hope you enjoy your membership.

Rachel Wicaksono, August 2021

Publications Secretary’s Report

I was elected to the role in September, 2020. The activities this year are mainly focused on 1) updating BAAL book prize nomination and review procedures (including measures in response to COVID-19); 2) moving the timetable forward to allow time for publicity for shortlisted titles; 3) formalising the celebrations event as part of the BAAL annual conference, working closely with the local organiser, Alex Leung. As I will step down from the role in September, I will hand over the remaining dissemination and publicity tasks of this cycle to the incoming Publications Secretary.

I would like to thank all the reviewers and final judges for their help with the competition.

1) Updating procedures.

The following changes with regards to the BAAL book prize are introduced:

• E-books were requested from the publishers for the shortlisting stage with the option of print copies for the final stage (the e-book arrangement needs to be reviewed for the next around)

• Expanding the pool of reviewers: in addition to EC members, reviewers were invited from SIG and BAAL members.

• The review form was revised to clarify the criteria, to add the BAAL conflict of interest requirement and to change the maximum length of review comments to 350 words.

• The payment processing task and direct general queries were handled by Mosaic.

• 2) Moving the timetable forward to allow time for publicity for shortlisted titles;

The shortlisting deadline was set for May and the shortlist is planned to be announced in August.

• 3) Formalising the celebrations event as part of the BAAL annual conference, working closely with the local organiser, Alex Leung.

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Following the successful BAAL book prize event last year, we are planning to formalise the celebrations event as part of the BAAL annual conference to showcase the shortlisted titles. The authors/editors of the short-listed titles will be invited to talk and discuss about their books and writing process briefly; the BAAL Publications Secretary will share the reviewers’ comments and discuss the strengths of the titles and stories behind writing. There may be opportunities for interactions (e.g. Q&A) with the audience if time allows. The final winner will be announced towards the end. We believe that this format works well with on-line delivery. It can be adapted to face to face delivery in the future.

BAAL Book Prize

We received 26 title nominations this year for the BAAL book prize. 5 titles are shortlisted:

• Academic Irregularities: Language and Neoliberalism in Higher Education by Liz Morrish & Helen Sauntson (Routledge)

• Corpus, Discourse and Mental Health by Daniel Hunt and Gavin Brookes (Bloomsbury)

• Innovations and Challenges in Applied Linguistics from the Global South by Alastair Pennycook and Sinfree Makoni (Routledge)

• Ontologies of English: Conceptualising the Language for Learning, Teaching, and Assessment by Christopher J. Hall & Rachel Wicaksono (eds.) (Cambridge University Press)

• The Dynamics of Dementia Communication by Alison Wray (Oxford University Press)

The Publications Secretary in consultation with the EC has been engaged in discussions with publishers about developing their partnership with BAAL. The aim is to explore a range of initiatives which would benefit BAAL membership including discounts from publishers, free content to certain material on publishers’ webpages and special offers to support SIG events.

Updating procedures

Payment from published nominated books has now been streamlined and many now pay via PayPal or bank transfer. Cheque payments is no longer the preferred option. The Treasurer issues an invoice to the publisher and this now allows us to keep track to this procedure.

Zhu Hua, August 2021

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Postgraduate Liaison and Development Officer’s Report

Postgraduate/ECR Facebook group

The membership of the PG and ECR Facebook group continues to grow. We have 1,837 members as of 10[th] August 2021. The Facebook page is somewhat active, with promotion of Twitter events, the BAAL Researcher Development Workshops, other BAAL events, and upcoming calls for papers. Any EC members can provide information they would like posted in the group by contacting the postgraduate coordinator or they may join and promote events themselves. The group can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/40190066151/

Twitter BAAL ECR Events

We have quarterly Twitter events with academics in Applied Linguistics. In November 2020, we hosted a Twitter event with Dr Robbie Love on being an early career researcher in Applied Linguistics. In March 2021 we hosted an event with Dr Elisabeth Barakos about publishing a PhD thesis as a monograph. In June 2021, we had another successful event with Tess Fitzpatrick about establishing a career in Applied Linguistics. I recommend these events continue when I leave the post in September 2021.

Chloe Mills, August 2021

Media Coordinator’s Report

TWITTER

The BAAL Twitter account has risen from to 5430 (August 2020) to a current total of 6952 followers (August 2021).

The main BAAL Twitter account continues to promote details of the annual conferences and BAAL-related events and activities. I have draw up a set of guidelines for the organisers of BAAL-related events and scholarships to publicise these events and activities. This year, I have facilitated a series of live PGR/ECR events organised by Chloe Mills on the main BAAL Twitter account.

The @__BAAL handle is regularly included in tweets by both individuals and organisations to publicise non-BAAL related events and announcements, but we do retweet anything that is unrelated to BAAL Activities.

MEDIA ENGAGEMENT

I have had no media contact whatsoever for BAAL.

Owen Minns, August 2021

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Newsletter Editor’s Report

This was my first year as co-opted BAAL newsletter editor. During this year, I have managed to increase the number of contributions from the membership with a view to showcasing the diversity of the association. I encouraged PhD candidates and ECRs to contribute as well as other established BAAL members based both in the UK and abroad. The new section ‘ Success Stories during COVID’ has fulfilled the intended goal of bringing together the community to share narratives of resilience, stamina and achievements in the face of the challenging circumstances. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the contributors for making the past two editions so rich and insightful.

BAAL News is for all members, so if you would like to see something in our newsletter, please get in touch with me ([e-mail] ).

The call for contributions for the next edition of BAAL News will go out in late October. The deadline for sending contributions is in early January 2022 and the planned publication date is in February 2022.

Sal Consoli, August 2021

Seminars Coordinator’s Report

The 2020-21 academic year has proven to be extremely productive for BAAL in relation to its seminars and workshops, and I would like to thank all colleagues who worked hard to ensure that we had a thriving year of events. These events have strengthened our sense of community during the past pandemic year and have played a key role in our continuous professional development.

Given the reduced costs with travel and accommodation, we were able to support three (rather than the usual two) BAAL / Cambridge University Press seminars as detailed below. These events were offered free of charge to BAAL members, and just a nominal fee was charged from non-BAAL members. We had a record number of registered participants for all these seminars (over 100 participants for each), which had not been the case in the past.

• “Corpora in Applied Linguistics: Broadening the Agenda” (Dr. Robbie Love / Aston University; Dr. Gavin Brookes / Lancaster University; Dr. Niall Curry / Coventry University)

• “Language, literacies and learning in the disciplines: A higher education perspective” (Dr. Doris Dippold, Dr. Marion Heron & Dr. Karen Gravett / University of Surrey)

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• “Research synthesis in applied linguistics: Facilitating research-pedagogy dialogue” (Dr. Sin-Wang Chong / Queen’s University Belfast)

A new call for BAAL / Cambridge University Press seminars was launched on 17 May 2021. All BAAL members are very much encouraged to submit proposals by the deadline (i.e. 24 September 2021) for 2021-22 seminars.

This year also marked the beginning of the BAAL Researcher Development Workshops, an initiative I had proposed the year before and that had been approved at the last BAAL AGM. These workshops are aimed at supporting doctoral students or early-career researchers who are members of BAAL. One proposal was approved in the first call: “Feedback in the peerreview process of Applied Linguistics journals series: Dialogues with journal editors, peer reviewers, and early-career researchers”, led by Dr. Sin Wang Chong (Queen’s University Belfast) and Dr. Shannon Mason (Nagasaki University). The series consisted of five online workshops which were held between February and June 2021 and which were well attended by BAAL members. The seminars have been primarily attended by doctoral students and early-career researchers, but they have also drawn the interest of other BAAL colleagues.

A new call for BAAL Researcher Development Workshops was launched in 2021, and three applications have been successful:

1. “All eyes on-line: Curating an academic digital presence” organized by Ms. Hannah M. King (London Metropolitan University & Birkbeck, University of London) and Dr. Gonzalo Perez Andrade (London Metropolitan University);

2. “Our first years in academia: Managing research alongside teaching and admin” organized by Dr. Jill Boggs (Swansea University);

3. “Professional development in Applied Linguistics for graduate students and early-career researchers” organized by Dr. Sin Wang Chong (Queen’s University Belfast).

We can all look forward to another productive year on the seminar/workshop front for BAAL members in the upcoming 2021-22 academic year.

Vander Viana, August 2021

20

SIG Coordinator’s Report

Much of the SIG activity for the 2020-21 academic year has continued to be affected to varying degrees by the ongoing pandemic situation. Despite this, all of the SIGs continue to be active and healthy and make an important contribution to BAAL’s activities and identity:

• Corpus Linguistics

• Health and Science Communication

• Intercultural Communication

• Language and New Media

• Language, Gender and Sexuality

• Language in Africa

• Language, Learning and Teaching

• Language Policy

• Linguistic Ethnography Forum

• LKALE (Linguistics and Knowledge about Language in Education)

• PAWBL (Professional, Academic and Work-Based Literacies)

• Testing, Evaluation and Assessment

• Vocabulary

• English as an Additional Language (EAL) (Established in 2019)

• Multilingualism (Established in 2019)

Annual reports and annual financial audits have been received from each of the SIGs (available on Dropbox).

SIG events

In the 2020-2021 academic year, the following online SIG events took place:

1. Language in Africa

African languages and social change: Politics, activism, and justice June 2021

2. Professional, academic and work-based literacies (PAWBL)

• Creative and collaborative literacies (Annual Symposium) 4 December 2020

3. Testing, Evaluation and Assessment

Language Assessment Literacy in a Digital Age

25 September 2020

4. Language and New Media

Focus on the Researcher: Dealing with Distressing Data

14 May 2021

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5. Language Policy

Language Policy and Human Movements: Global, Regional, Local 27 - 28 May 2021

6. Health and Science Communication

Showcase seminar series March-July 2021

7. Language, Gender and Sexuality

Virtual talk series (online – ongoing)

8. LKALE

Knowledge about language and linguistics in different educational contexts 7-8 May 2021

9. Multilingualism

Success stories of refugees in Europe 16 June 2021

10. Vocabulary Studies

Vocabulary annual conference 27 May 2021

Please see the BAAL newsletter and SIG websites for reports on these events.

BAAL Annual Meeting 2021

The BAAL annual meeting for 2021 (organized and hosted by Northumbria University) is scheduled to take place online as a result of the ongoing pandemic.

It is currently expected that face-to-face SIG tracks will resume as usual at the 2022 annual meeting at Queen’s University, Belfast.

Proposals for new SIGs

Full proposals are currently being prepared for three potential new SIGs – Research Synthesis ; Language and Citizenship ; and Language, Race and Ethnicity . The proposals are due to be submitted ahead of the January 2022 EC meeting.

SIG convenors have been encouraged to continue to liaise closely with the SIGs co-ordinator over any other issues with arise as a result of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Helen Sauntson, August 2021

22

Web Editor’s Report

Over the past 12 months, the website has only undergone routine updates to inform the community of various events and news in the field of Applied Linguistics. This has included updating the website with the relevant newsletters, information about the 2021 conference, book prizes and information about how the pandemic affects planned events.

The changes which have occurred to the website over the last 12 months have been to the following pages:

Home (https://www.baal.org.uk/)

BAAL recommendations for good practice in applied linguistics research document has been updated.

2021 conference (https://www.baal.org.uk/what-we-do/annual-conference/)

Covid-19

The BAAL website continues to be a source of information for BAAL members to consult during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic for BAAL-related events.

I worked with the Secretary and Media Co-ordinator to ensure that messages relating to Cov-19’s impact on the conference were delivered in a timely and clear manner, and that website messaging was consistent with social media messaging.

Covid-19 caused the cancellation of the proposed 2020 face-to-face conference at the University of Northumbria. As a result of the cancellation of the 2020 conference, further information relating to the forthcoming 2021 conference will also be placed on this page. This page also links to Northumbria’s website which also provides updates on the conference.

News (https://www.baal.org.uk/news/)

The covid-19 communications have been updated to the following: BAAL has been closely monitoring the Coronavirus outbreak to ensure we react in line with official UK government advice. The government is advising on-going social distancing measures. BAAL has therefore committed to move online any planned face-to-face events to ensure that all BAAL-related activities and commitments can continue.

Newsletter 119 has also been uploaded here (https://www.baal.org.uk/news/newsletter/).

Nathaniel Owen, August 2021

23

CLiE Representative

The Committee on Linguistics in Education (CLIE)( www.CLIE.org.uk )is a joint committee of BAAL and LAGB that brings together approximately eighteen associations and organisations with interests in language and languages in the UK education system, from primary school through to teacher education. The main purpose of CLIE is to share information and contribute expertise in linguistics and applied linguistics to benefit the curriculum in institutional settings, the professional education of teachers, and policy-making.

Members and roles

BAAL has four members on CLIE: Gee Macrory (Manchester Metropolitan University) (from February 2016); Cathie Wallace (UCL IoE), Maria Arche (University of Greenwich) and Ursula Lanvers (University of York). Either the Secretary or the Chair of CLIE sit on the BAAL Executive Committee. The roles of Secretary and Chair of CLIE usually alternate between one member of BAAL and one member of LAGB. Dr Gee Macrory (Manchester Metropolitan University, BAAL) is the current chair of CLIE and sits on the BAAL Executive. Dr Eva Eppler (University of Roehampton, LAGB) is the current secretary of CLIE.

Meetings

The committee normally meets three times a year in London. However, all meetings in the academic year 2020-2021 have taken place over Zoom.

Undertakings

CLIE and groups of its members are operating various subprojects. Recent activities and discussions include:

1. UKLO (UK Linguistics Olympiad)

As reported previously, the UK first competed in the International Olympiad (IOL) in 2009. This year, as last year, significant disruption was caused by Covid-19. At the time of our June meeting, the report from UKLO noted that UKLO had finished Round 1 and were now waiting for the International Olympiad (IOL) in July. Round 1 was held in schools, went as well as could be expected; numbers were only about half of last year's competition (2277 compared with 3781), maybe because schools had only recently returned after the Covid closure. UKLO/Graeme Trousdale provided weekly online tutorial sessions for all those selected for Round 2, and ran Round 2 in schools for everyone who won a Gold certificate in the Advanced competition - 53 competitors in all. From this cohort UKLO selected eight winners for the UK squad, including two girls (one from Year 9) and two boys from state schools. A training camp at the University of Greenwich before the IOL had to be abandoned due to COVID; UKLO is offering a continuation of Graeme's weekly tutorials for the eight squad-members. The IOL was based in Latvia this year, but being run entirely online, with each team in a single location in the home country.

24

2. LASER (Linguistics Across Schools for Education and Research)

Due to the continuing pandemic, LASER has had fewer meetings than usual, although at the November 2020 CLiE meeting, Graeme Trousdale reported on his communication with Uni4me https://uni4me.co.uk/ who are keen for LASER to produce set of materials to be made available to school children on language analysis.

3. Ongoing projects

KAL GAP

Since the last AGM, we have been working on a small-scale research project on what we have named the KAL GAP, that is, the gap between what teachers need to know about language and what they actually do know. We considered the fact that CLIE potentially has an impact on English as first language, EAL, MFL and cross-curricular approaches, both in terms of curriculum and of teacher education. As a reminder, we are addressing the following questions:

• 1) What linguistic knowledge do teachers need as implied or explicitly stated by curricular documents, guidelines etc?

• 2) What linguistic knowledge do teachers actually have ?

We are currently focussing on primary English. Our initial bibliography has been updated and sent out to the committee along with the OASIS template and a request for volunteers. It had been agreed that we would prepare a position paper based on available literature, with the DfE as intended audience, and that a later stage could involve some focus group work with teacher educators, once this was more feasible. Last year, Dick Hudson and Cathie Wallace produced a very thorough and detailed document setting out what KAL is needed at primary level and what research tells us about the KAL that primary teachers have, and Willem Hollman has now prepared a brief paper based on this. Willem had prepared a brief paper and Catherine Walter is working with him to make his paper less technical and to ensure it is publication ready and we expect to forward the paper to BAAL and LAGB for approval later in August. The University of Lancaster press office has agreed to support seeking media coverage. This will hopefully include The Conversation, whom we have now approached. Marcello Giovanelli has also provided a list of grammar material suitable for teachers.

4. GCSE MFL proposals

In the spring of 2021, a very real concern of the committee was the proposed MFL GCSE reforms. A sub-group worked on and produced a response from CLiE which was forwarded to BAAL and LAGB to gain their support for our stance. Our response, which was in line with that of many other organisations, was duly submitted to the DfE by the deadline of 19 May. Our response was also circulated to a number of organisations, including the APPG on

25

modern languages, A.L.L. and on relevant forums such as ITET. A follow up enquiry to the DfE in June produced only a reply that responses were being considered and were currently being analysed and summarised. Full copies of our and other organisations’ responses have apparently been forwarded to the Review Panel Chair. They informed us that once their analysis of responses is complete, this and details of main issues, recommendations etc. will go to the Schools Minister who will make decisions on next steps. Following this, the Government’s response to the consultation (which includes a report on consultation responses) will be published. They say that they are currently discussing with the Review Panel Chair the possibility of holding a one-off meeting with subject associations before the end of this process, and they will send us a invite should this happen. To date, nothing has been received. In the meantime, Ofsted published in June the fourth in a series of reviews into different subjects across the curriculum and this one was on languages education. Much of the meeting focussed on this and it was generally felt that the perspective endorsed reflected much of the content of the proposed reforms. This suggested to us that the proposals were quite possibly a foregone conclusion.

5. Website

Catherine Walter last year located the original poster which has a flowchart presentation of CLIE, including the relationship with BAAL and LAGB and examples of projects that CLIE has been involved in. Currently, Catherine is making poster more accessible, by translate information on the poster into a word document that is screen-reader compatible.

Graeme Trousdale and Dick Hudson are investigating the best way to integrate the KAL-gap bibliography and Marcello’s list of books into resources on the new web-page.

Catherine Walter has also now organised the scanning in of a paper-based archive of documents, which have now been uploaded to the website (https://clie.org.uk/history /).

6. Representation/communications

CLIE continues to feature on websites of other associations, including NATE, LA and ALL. We - have guest blog, written by Dick Hudson, on the ALL website at https://www.all languages.org.uk/secondary/CLiE-and-uklo/. We are currently in the process of securing a representative from a sign language organisation to join the committee.

7. Meetings

Finally, we had some discussion about the format of meetings post-pandemic. The current agreement is that two meetings a year will be online, but that the June one will be face-toface when this is permitted. Meetings are now October, February and June, in order to shorten the time gap between May and November that resulted from the previous arrangement (i.e. November, February and May).

Gee Macrory, Chair of CLiE, August 2021

26

Draft accounts

17:03 on 20 August 2021

Page 1

BRITISH ASSOCIATION

FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS ACCOUNTS AND EXAMINER’S REPORT YEAR ENDED 31 MAY 2021

Draft accounts

17:03 on 20 August 2021

Page 2

BRITISH ASSOCIATION OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT

YEAR ENDED 31 MAY 2021

YEAR ENDED 31 MAY 2021
	2021		2020
	£	£	£
INCOME
Membership Subscription		43,010	44,181
Bank interest		6	18
Book Prize Entries		908	480
Surplus - Conference		-	21,774
Miscellaneous Income		3,000	-
Donations		3	-
Net Income - Special Interest Groups		544	1,785
		─────────	─────────
		47,471	68,238
EXPENDITURE
Grants/ Payments to SIGs	805		200
Book / Poster/visual rep./ prizes	200		900
Linguistics Olympiad	1,000		2,000
BAAL Scholarship	-		2,436
Applying Linguistic Fund	2,250		5,223
Mosaic Events - Fees & Expenses	13,065		13,260
Exec.Committee Meetings & Accom. expenses	-		2,689
AILA/UCML/CLIE & OTHERS - Subscriptions	4,798		3,987
CUP/BAAL/ESOL/Routledge -Seminars	1,410		169
Insurance	587		756
Bank Direct Debit,collect & Sevice Charges	1,378		1,178
Postage,Publication & Printing Costs	67		21
Website Costs	264		264
Miscellaneous costs	-		250
Accountant's Fees	875		875
	─────────		─────────
		26,699	34,208
		─────────	─────────
SURPLUS OF INCOME OVER EXPENDITURE		20,772	34,030
		═════════	═════════

Draft Accounts 17:03 on 20 August 2021 Page 3

BRITISH ASSOCIATION OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS

BALANCE SHEET
31 MAY 2021
		2021		2020
	Note	£	£	£
CURRENT ASSETS
Other debtors & Funds with SIGs		27,244		49,147
Bank deposits		53,506		39,901
Cash at bank		116,934		87,864
		──────────		──────────
		197,684		176,912
		──────────		──────────
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Accrued expenses		875		875
		────		────
NET CURRENT ASSETS			196,809	176,037
			──────────	──────────
NET ASSETS			196,809	176,037
			══════════	══════════
FINANCED BY:
CAPITAL ACCOUNT
Balance brought forward			176,037	142,007
Net surplus for the year			20,772	34,030
			──────────	──────────
Balance carried forward			196,809	176,037
			══════════	══════════

Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees (Executive Committee) of British Association for Applied Linguistics

I report on the attached accounts of the association for the year ended 31 May 2021

Respective Responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The Association’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The trustees consider that an audit is not required (under section 43(2) of the Charities Act 1993) for this year and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility:

1. To examine the accounts (sec.43(3) of the 1993 Act)

2. To follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission (sec.43(7)(b) of the 1993 Act)

3. To state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of Independent examiner’s report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners. An examination includes a review of accounting records kept by the association and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.

Independent examiner’s statement

In connection with my examination no matter has come to my attention:-

• 1 which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements to keep accounting records and to prepare accounts which accord with accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements have not been met: or

• 2 to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

KURBAN ABJI CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT 46 WESTBOURNE ROAD LUTON LU4 8JD