## **BAAL AGM**
## **Friday 2nd September 2022, 5-6pm**
**BAAL conference 2022, Queen’s University Belfast**
## **EC reports**
Chair’s Report......................................................................................................................... 2 Treasurer’s Report ................................................................................................................ 10 Meetings Secretary’s Report ................................................................................................ 11 Media Coordinator’s Report ................................................................................................ 11 Membership Secretary’s Report .......................................................................................... 13 Newsletter Editor’s Report ................................................................................................... 14 ’ Postgraduate Liaison and Development Officer s Report.................................................... 15 Publications Secretary’s Report ........................................................................................... 15 Seminars Coordinator’s Report ............................................................................................ 17 SIG Coordinator’s Report ..................................................................................................... 18 Web Editor’s Report ............................................................................................................. 21 CLiE Representative’s Report ............................................................................................... 24
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## **Chair’s Report**
In my first year as Chair of BAAL, my work is focused on understanding and mapping BAAL priorities into action plans, developing and supporting AILA-related initiatives, overseeing, supporting various strands of BAAL activities and EC members, and representing BAAL in affiliate meetings and supporting. I would like to note my thanks to all of you for your input and support.
## **Understanding and Identifying BAAL strategic priorities**
Several priorities have emerged from the AGM feedback, conversations with BAAL members and EC meetings. These are:
- Multilingual representation
- Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
- Support and recover from the pandemic
- Engage with and influence UK government and HE policies
- Develop an international outlook
We are planning a BAAL 55th Anniversary Big Survey (see below) to seek members’ views on key issues and priorities concerning the association. We value your views and advice.
## **Implementation of BAAL strategic priorities**
We have implemented a number of action points closely associated with our strategic priorities. These include:
- Establishing the practice of sharing resources and recordings via YouTube and Member’s websites.
- BAAL’s very own YouTube channel is now available at
- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqQk2hsoopTscPD7Q3zZKcQ
- The EDI statement is now available on the BAAL website and an EDI advisory group is being formed.
- Incorporated the ‘EDI statement’ into BAAL activities, for example, the funding calls for BAAL/CUP Seminar and Researcher Development Workshops.
- The Applying Linguistics Fund 2022-2023, in line with BAAL’s commitment to EDI, prioritises the following themes: minority languages, sign languages, multilingualism, discrimination, language rights, and linguistic citizenship.
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- The BAAL Newsletters devotes a section celebrating the history, diversity and international representation of BAAL in Issue No. 120. It trials a new section _Multilingualism In Focus_ , to create space for multilingual writing in Issue No 121.
- Closely engaged with AILA and AILA-Europe network (see the report below).
- While we are moving to in-person events where appropriate, we will continue to explore the use of online and hybrid formats to connect with our (international) members and to make our events inclusive.
## **BAAL 55[th] Anniversary Big Survey**
We are planning to conduct a BAAL 55[th] Anniversary Big Survey. The questionnaire aims to seek members’ views on key issues and priorities concerning the association, the community and the discipline, and to generate a bigger picture of the status quo of our times. We are currently carrying out a pilot study with the aim of launching the questionnaire in the Autumn Term.
## **REF 2021 Results**
Applied linguistics research has been acknowledged in Modern Languages and Linguistics and English Language and Literature units of assessment and received positive feedback in the Education unit of assessment, particularly in relation to multilingualism. A reflection piece written by Susan Hunston is published in the latest issue of the BAAL Newsletter (No 121). The BAAL EC is planning to organise an impact seminar showing the range of impact activities led by applied linguists.
As a nominating body for REF2021, BAAL has worked closely with REF panels to ensure a good representation and understanding of Applied linguistics on relevant panels and we will continue to do so in the future.
## **QAA Benchmarking statement panel members nomination**
We have worked with QAA to ensure the representation of Applied Linguistics on the Linguistics and Language, Culture and Society subject benchmarking statement panels. Many thanks to the panel members for their expertise and willingness to serve on the - - panels. The panel member list can be found at https://www.qaa.ac.uk/quality code/subject benchmark-statements/sbs-reviews-2022.
These statements will be the first to incorporate consideration of how practice within disciplines addresses the wider social goals of equality, diversity and inclusivity; Education
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for Sustainable Development; requirements of disabled students; and enterprise and entrepreneurship.
## **Lobbying**
Unfortunately, several universities have announced their proposals to cut language/linguistics courses and staffing. In close consultation with Caroline Tagg (Secretary) and Mel Evans (Media Coordinator), I have written on behalf of BAAL to the senior management teams of the following universities: Goldsmiths in response to their plan of 52 compulsory redundancies affecting English and History departments, Roehampton with its plan to close the BA (Hons) English Language and Linguistics and MA TESOL programmes; and Huddersfield with their decision on redundancies in the School of Arts and Humanities. We will continue to look into ways of supporting applied linguistics programmes and subject areas in collaboration with other associations.
## **UK university strikes**
To show solidarity to BAAL members who took part in the industrial strikes this year, BAAL EC have taken the following actions:
1. The EC not to post any messages related to BAAL activities to the BAAL mailing list or on social media during the strike days.
2. Postponed BAAL-funded or BAAL EC led activities to a later date.
We shall revisit these practices in the event of future strikes.
## **UPDATES FROM BAAL AFFILIATES**
## **AILA (International Association of Applied Linguistics)**
Links with AILA were consolidated through the following channels and activities.
Revised BAAL’s Recommendations on Good Practice in Applied Linguistics (2021) was endorsed by AILA EBIC in August, 2021.
Links with AILA were highlighted in a special edition (Issue No.120) of the BAAL Newsletter and AILA Newsletter in celebration of lives of UK-based applied linguists who made significant contributions to BAAL and AILA (e.g., John Trim, Pit Corder).
Links with AILA Europe Network are further consolidated through hosting the AILA Europe Network Junior Researcher Meeting as part of BAAL annual conference at Belfast and the publication of special issue of the European Journal of Applied Linguistics (thanks to the
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network coordinator, Gregory Miras). I attended AILA Europe meeting in October 2022. Gregory Miras (AFLA) has been elected as AILA Europe Coordinator replacing Alesandra Gnach. The main focus of the meeting is about Junior Researcher meeting (PGR) hosted annually. They consider 3 formats for the JRM: standalone conference, pre-conference of an affiliate conference, or as part of an affiliate’s conference.
A bid for AILA Congress 2027. A Birmingham bid for AILA Congress 2027 was put forward to the AILA EBIC meeting held on 9[th] August, 2022. It was a very close call and unfortunately our bid narrowly lost to the Vancouver one. I would like to note the EC’s thanks to the local organising committee led by Professor Susan Hunston, Professor Suganthi John with Professor Tim Grant, Dr Marcello Giovanelli, Dr Andrew Kehoe and Dr Tatiana Grieshofer, and the ICC conference centre for their outstanding effort in putting the bid together.
In the AILA EBIC meeting, I have urged the future AILA congress organisers to keep the registration fee as low as possible.
If you have not subscribed to AILA newsletter, please do so at https://aila.info/contact/.
## **AcSS (Academy for Social Sciences, UK)**
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. In addition, I also sit on AcSS / ESRC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion working group and AcSS / ESRC EDI Data Subgroup.
- A new President, Will Hutton FAcSS, and the launch of the new website and visual identity – **www.acss.org.uk** .
- The latest policy report _**The Place to Be**_ , sponsored by SAGE Publishing, uses case studies to demonstrate how social scientists in higher education are already working in partnerships with national and local governments and the private sector to help improve places in the four nations of the UK.
- The Campaign for Social Science launched a **Levelling Up Hub** where leading social scientists set out evidence-based priorities for making levelling up a reality. The **COVID-19 Hub** also continues to highlight the vital role of social science in helping us understand the impact of the pandemic and provides insights into managing social and economic recovery from it.
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- AcSS and Lancaster University have published new research spotlighting how the social sciences in UK higher education have navigated the unprecedented challenges triggered by Brexit, COVID-19 and higher education policy changes since 2020. The key findings and press release and the full report are available here. Two findings are particularly of relevance to BAAL. One is that the report had identified two groups of researchers who have been mostly negatively impacted by COVID. They are early careers researchers and postgraduate students. The other is greater vulnerability of some post-92 institutions to the disruption. We have invited Professor Tony McEnery, the Co-PI, to be part of the EC invited colloquium in the BAAL Annual Conference at Belfast and will take the findings into consideration in our planning.
AcSS and ESRC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion working group. I attended a meeting on 29 November 2021 and 18 July 2022. The meeting discussed the possibility of HESA data sharing, identifying gaps and intersection points, and establishing the priorities of the project.
- Attended AcSS / ESRC EDI Working Group meeting on 18 July 2022. The UKRI EDI strategy is now scheduled to be launched in the Autumn 2022. This is slightly later than anticipated due to the high number of responses received to the public consultation which needed to be analysed. The ESRC EDI Action Plan will be published alongside the UKRI EDI Strategy.
- The ESRC EDI Caucus was launched in June 2022 with £4.5million of funding. The call closes in September (https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/equality-diversity-andinclusion-caucus/). The aim is that the caucus will benefit the whole sector by synthesising existing evidence, addressing evidence gaps and enabling pilots and experimental actions to be taken forward.
Fellowship nomination. 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 is more important to make strong nominations than frequent ones). I am delighted to minute that fellowships have been conferred on Professor Fiona Copland and Professor Rodney Jones over the past twelve months. Many congratulations to Fiona and Rodney!
## **British Academy**
I attended British Academy Learned Societies and Subject Associations Network meeting on 28 April, 2022. Several initiatives under ‘languages’ for attention:
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- The Academy has continued to work with ASCL (the Association of School and College Leaders), Universities UK, the British Council and AHRC to take forward the proposals for a national strategy for languages published in July 2020.
- The creation of the LanguagesUK portal as a collaborative web-based resource for sharing existing messages, information, and resources, and stimulating links between different parts of the language education and skills community. This site aims to launch in late Spring 2022.
- The Academy, together with the University Council of Modern Languages, has launched Strategic Committee for Languages in Higher Education. The Committee will discuss trends in the provision of languages in the UK and concerns surrounding the acceptance of qualifications in ‘home languages’ or ‘community languages’ in the UK.
- The Academy’s response to the consultation on reforms to GCSE qualifications in modern languages called for a renewed focus on cultural learning to widen the appeal of the discipline. The Academy also supported a statement by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Languages calling for the Department for Education's review to be paused to allow additional evidence and expertise to be considered.
- Ahead of the Spending Review in October 2021, the Academy, together with the APPG for Modern Languages and the Association for School and College Learning (ASCL) submitted a Budget for Languages containing five proposals for action to promote language learning across the UK.
BA is keen to work with learned societies through the BA ECR Network. The BA ECR network currently roughly at the halfway mark of the pilot, focused primarily on arts and humanities/social sciences with some leeway and focusing on postdoctoral researchers who are given the scope to self-define as ECRs (generally within 10-years of doing their PhD). Primary aims of the Network which were mentioned included giving ECRs, who are generally on the edge of the world of academia, the opportunity to learn and develop skills; provide more opportunities for overlooked universities and marginalised disciplines; and focus on EDI concerns to create opportunities for researchers from marginalised groups in academia as well as those working outside of universities. Benefits for members include meeting each other, engaging with funders such as ourselves and other organisations and using BA convening power to engage with policymakers. Program is currently a pilot and the team is still looking at how best to engage the ECRs and structure the Hubs and wider program.
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## **AMLUK (Association for Modern Languages UK)**
I spoke in the AMLUK symposium ‘Modern Languages and Inclusivity: Sharing Ideas and Practices’ on 13 May. I talked about BAAL’s experience of developing EDI statement. Full programme and a recording of the symposium are available at https://modernlanguages.sas.ac.uk/events/event/25364.
IMLR, the lead of AMLUK has signalled that they would like to work with the presenters and organisations represented to address inclusivity issues through a series of seminars in 2022/23.
## **UKLO (UK Linguistics Olympiad)**
Gee Macrory and I convened a meeting with Richard Hudson, the UKLO committee chair. We discussed the issue of state school participation and the representation of girls in the competition. Richard has helpfully produced a briefing report which has been circulated to the EC for feedback. We have approved a funding of £1000 to support their activities. This is the half of the annual funding of £2000 pre-pandemic.
## **UCGAL**
The work has been focused on putting together activities around the theme of ‘World of Linguistics’ for the BA Summer Showcase Schools’ Day on Friday 17 June, 2022, led by UCGAL. It is good to see a spread of strands represented in the Showcase.
## **Zhu Hua, August 2022**
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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 each 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 – elections to be held at the BAAL AGM
- Proposed changes to the BAAL constitution for approval at the AGM
- 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 and carry out actions
- Sent monthly BAAL updates to the AcSS eBulletins.
**BAAL Annual General Meeting 2022:** There are 2 Ordinary Member posts coming up for election in September. The following officer posts are also available:
- Meetings Secretary
- Membership Secretary
- Seminars Coordinator
- Website Editor
- 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 election will be held 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 officers and ordinary members for the hard work and commitment to BAAL during their time on the EC, as well as to Sophie Flood and colleagues at Mosaic for their administrative support.
**Caroline Tagg, August 2022**
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## **Treasurer’s Report**
## **BRITISH ASSOCIATION OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS**
## **INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT**
## **YEAR ENDED 31 MAY 2022**
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## **BRITISH ASSOCIATION OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS**
## **BALANCE SHEET**
## **31 MAY 2022**
## **Bettina Beinhoff, August 2022**
## **Media Coordinator’s Report**
This has been my first year as Media Coordinator, and it has been a privilege to support BAAL’s outreach and engagement via social media.
The BAAL Twitter account has risen from to 6952 (August 2021) to a current total of 8093 followers (August 2021).
The main BAAL Twitter account continues to promote details of the annual conferences and BAAL-related events and activities. We have included spotlight threads on BAAL EC members (Sultan Turkan and Vander Viana, so far), provided links to the Pit Corder blue
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plaque launch livestream, and have also tweeted in support of colleagues at language and linguistics departments affected by redundancies and closures.
The @__BAAL handle is regularly included in tweets by both individuals and organisations to publicise non-BAAL related events and announcements, and we retweet appropriate content/subject-matter. Looking to the next 12 months, we hope to engage more with Applied Linguistics researchers and students outside of Anglophone Twitter, and use the interactive functionality of the platform to gain input and opinions from the applied linguistics community, supplementing established channels such as BAALmail.
There has been no interaction with news media companies or institutions so far in 2022.
## **Mel Evans, August 2022**
## **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 outline the organisation and the latest developments of BAAL 2022 and 2023.
## **1. BAAL2022**
Preparation is going well for BAAL2022 at Queen’s university Belfast. A small group from the EC recently went over the draft plan and the budget and everything we discussed was on track. There are 353 registered delegates and the team expect to make a reasonable surplus.
## **2. BAAL2023**
The York LOC and Mosaic had regular contact with the chair, treasurer, secretary, and me to iron out issues with a contract in preparation for BAAL2023. We have now got to a position where the chair can sign it and the local team can begin booking rooms and facilities.
## **3. BAAL2024**
The University of Essex team have agreed to host BAAL2024. I will get in touch soon to start our two-year countdown and review the milestones we need to focus on.
## **4. BAAL2025**
As previously reported, a team from the University of Glasgow have agreed to host BAAL2025.
**Glenn Hadikin, August 2022**
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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 2021-22 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 694 full-rate individual members and 420 reduced-rate members, a total of 1,114 individuals. There are also 11 individuals nominated under a total of 4 Associate memberships and 193 individuals nominated under a total of 46 Institutional memberships. Total membership of BAAL in July 2022 stood at 1,368, an increase of 7 per cent since July 2021. 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 into 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 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
- BAALmail, our membership mailing list
- Special publisher discounts on a range of books and journals, sent via BAALmail
- 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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- Opportunities to apply for funding for projects and to host events, e.g. BAAL Applying Linguistics, BAAL/CUP Seminar and Researcher Development Workshop
- A discounted fee for our annual conference (usually held in September)
BAAL is always looking at new ways to support its members, so please feel free to get in touch with me (r.wicaksono@yorksj.ac.uk) if I can be of assistance. Thank you for supporting BAAL and we hope you enjoy your membership.
## **Rachel Wicaksono, August 2022**
## **Newsletter Editor’s Report**
This was my first year of term as BAAL Newsletter Editor after completing a year in my coopted capacity. During this year, I continued to build upon my previous experience and have managed to increase the number of contributions from the membership, thereby showcasing more vividly the diversity of talents, expertise, and ambition among the members 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 section, _Success Stories during COVID_ , has fulfilled the intended goal of bringing together the community to share narratives of resilience, stamina, and success in the face of challenging circumstances.
The Newsletter therefore continues to grow in breadth and scope by inviting a wide range of contributions about new and ongoing projects, as well as events and insightful commentaries or debates which are relevant to the community. Importantly, the new section, _Multilingualism In Focus_ , invites colleagues to write in English and/or in languages other than English. I look forward to more creative contributions for this section to reveal the multilingual diversity and richness of our community and celebrate our linguistic identities!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the contributors for making the past editions so rich and fascinating!
BAAL News is for all members, so if you would like to see something in our newsletter, please get in touch with me (sal.consoli@polyu.edu.hk).
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 2023 and the planned publication date is in February 2022.
**Sal Consoli, August 2022**
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## **Postgraduate Liaison and Development Officer’s Report**
## **Postgraduate/ECR Facebook group**
The membership of the PG and ECR Facebook group is currently at 1,877 members as of 9[th] August 2022, which is an increase of 40 followers in one year. Out of the 40 new members, approximately one quarter have actively used the page since joining. The Facebook page is used to promote the BAAL Researcher Development Workshops, other BAAL events, and upcoming calls for papers. While each new member is welcomed, the page is not very active and there is little feedback from members.
Any EC members can have information posted in the group by contacting the postgraduate officer or they may join and promote events themselves. The group can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/40190066151/.
## **Twitter BAAL ECR Events**
Previously, quarterly Twitter events were hosted with academics on a range of different topics. These events did not run this year but have been planned to resume from September 2022.
## **Angie Baily, August 2022**
## **Publications Secretary’s Report**
It is my pleasure to write my first AGM report as the Publications Secretary of BAAL following the online election held before the BAAL 2021 conference. Since I assumed the role, I have discussed the handover with my predecessor, Zhu Hua. I would like to note my thanks to her for her guidance and kind advice. I also want to thank Sophie Flood and her colleagues from MOSAIC for their administrative support.
My main tasks in this year’s work cycle involved coordinating the book prize review, liaising with and maintaining a good working relationship with affiliated publishers, and setting up a working group to explore the possibility of diversifying the book prize.
## **1. BAAL Book Prize 2021**
We received 22 nominations from 9 different publishers for this year’s book prize. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the publishers’ continuous support for our book prize (and other BAAL activities and initiatives). Thanks also go to EC members and external colleagues who contributed to the reviewing process.
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The six titles that have been shortlisted are listed below in alphabetical order:
_Community, Solidarity and Multilingualism in a Transnational Social Movement_ by Maria Rosa Garrido Sardà, Routledge
_Language as Symbolic Power_ by Claire Kramsch, Cambridge University Press
_Language in a Globalised World: Social Justice Perspectives on Mobility and Contact_ by Khawla Badwan, Palgrave Macmillan
_Linguistic Penalties and the Job Interview_ by Celia Roberts, Equinox
_The Routledge Handbook of Language, Gender, and Sexuality_ by Jo Angouri and Judith Baxter, Routledge
_Transcultural Voices: Narrating Hip Hop Culture in Complex Delhi_ by Jaspal Naveel Singh, Multilingual Matters
The runner-up and winner will be announced at the book prize event at the annual conference to be held in Queen’s University of Belfast on the 1[st] of Sep 2022.
We also want to encourage BAAL members to volunteer their service to support future book prize reviewing. Details will be shared via BAALmail in due course.
## **2. Diversifying the book prize**
As part of BAAL’s continued effort to reflect on multilingualism representation, decolonisation and decentring of the field, we are in the process of exploring ways to diversify the book prize. As a first step I have written to one of the past Publications Secretaries, Bernadette O'Rourke, a few journal editors/review editors, and our affiliated publishers to seek their input. While those who got back are supportive of such an initiative, there are various operational challenges that have been raised as well. We hope to open the discussion to the wider BAAL membership once we have established a more concrete foundation. We would very much welcome input from BAAL members and we are keen to find out your experience with local/regional publishers who work with different languages.
I would like to conclude my first AGM report by thanking my EC colleagues for their support on various BAAL activities, including those under my remit as the Publications Secretary.
## **Alex Ho-Cheong Leung, August 2022**
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## **Seminars Coordinator’s Report**
BAAL has continued to work hard to support its members in the 2021-22 academic year, and we have had another extremely productive year with several seminars and workshops. I would like to thank all colleagues who have been involved in these events:
- Cambridge University Press, who have agreed to continue to support our joint seminar series;
- fellow BAAL EC members, who have reviewed submissions and represented BAAL at the events;
- seminar and workshop organizers, who have carefully worked in the design and implementation of the events;
- attendees, who have participated so enthusiastically in this year’s events.
In 2021-22, we supported two BAAL / Cambridge University Press seminars as indicated below. These two proposals were extremely strong, and the feedback received from colleagues who attended the seminar was overwhelmingly positive.
- “Going meta: Bringing together an understanding of metadiscourse with students’ metalinguistic understanding” (04 May 2022, 24 May 2022 and 07 June 2022), organized by Prof. Debra Myhill (University of Exeter), Dr Abdelhamid Ahmed (Qatar University) and Dr Esmaeel Abdollazadeh (University of Exeter).
- “Researching vulnerable multilinguals: Developing an inclusive research practice” (10 June 2022), organized by Dr Alexandra Georgiou (University of West London) and Dr Sara Ganassin (Newcastle University).
With the easing of COVID restrictions, these seminars were offered in different formats. The first one was a hybrid seminar with two online sessions and one on-site session at the University of Exeter. The second seminar took place on-site at the University of West London.
During the 2021-22 academic year, we additionally supported three events under the BAAL Researcher Development Workshops. These workshops, which have become part of BAAL’s portfolio of activities, are specifically aimed at doctoral students’ and early-career researchers’ development. However, all BAAL members are welcome to attend the workshops. No registration fee is charged for these workshops, thus being yet another benefit of being a BAAL member.
- “All eyes on-line: Curating an academic digital presence” (06 October 2021 to 03 November 2021), organized by Ms. Hannah M. King (London Metropolitan University & Birkbeck, University of London) and Dr. Gonzalo Perez Andrade (London Metropolitan University).
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- “Our first years in academia: Managing research alongside teaching and admin” (1-3 December 2021), organized by Dr. Jill Boggs (Swansea University).
- “Professional development in Applied Linguistics for graduate students and early-career researchers” (12 November 2021 to 29 April 2022), organized by Dr. Sin Wang Chong (Queen’s University Belfast).
BAAL has taken an institutional subscription of Zoom in 2021-22 to facilitate the organization of online events. This has proven helpful to workshop and seminar organizers, especially given the challenges we have faced with the pandemic. We will review the use of this institutional account in due course.
New calls for both seminar and workshop proposals were launched on 06 May 2022, and I would encourage all BAAL members to consider making an application. The deadline for submissions is 23 September 2022, so there is still time to prepare an application. I am very happy to clarify any questions that colleagues may have on the calls and/or their proposals ahead of the submission deadline. To do so, please contact me by e-mail as indicated on the BAAL website.
## **Vander Viana, August 2022**
## **SIG Coordinator’s Report**
Special Interest Groups continue to make an important contribution to BAAL’s activities and identity. Current active BAAL SIGs are:
- 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
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- Multilingualism
- Research Synthesis in Applied Linguistics (established in 2022)
Annual reports and annual financial audits have been received from each of the SIGs.
As Covid restrictions have been lifted throughout the year, some SIGs have resumed their face-to-face activities whilst others have continued with online or hybrid formats.
## **SIG events**
In the 2021-2022 academic year, the following SIG events took place:
## _**Language, Gender and Sexuality**_
Online seminar series 2021-22
## _**Corpus Linguistics**_
_Past, Present, Potential_ 13 May 2022 University of Leeds/Online
## _**Language in Africa**_
_Bringing the outside in: Multilingual realities and education_ 15-16 July 2022 University of Essex
## _**LKALE**_
_Empowering students via knowledge of language variation and change_ 29-30 April 2022
Online
## _**PAWBL**_
_4th PAWBL Symposium: Literacy Practices in Workplace Contexts_
24 June 2022
Online
## _**Testing, Evaluation and Assessment**_
_Horizon scanning: What next for language testing?_ 24 June 2022
British Council, London
## _**Vocabulary**_
_BAAL Vocabulary SIG Annual Conference 2022_
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18-19 July 2022 University of Exeter
Approved events for 2022-23:
## _**Language and New Media**_
_The Anti-Social Network_
16 September 2022 Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics
## _**Research Synthesis in Applied Linguistics**_
Inaugural event 21 October 2022 Online
Please see the BAAL newsletter and SIG websites for reports on these events.
## **BAAL Annual Meeting 2022**
The BAAL annual meeting for 2022 (organized and hosted by Queen’s University, Belfast) is scheduled to take place in person on 1-3 September 2022. Face-to-face SIG talks and a SIG convenors’ meeting will resume at the annual meeting.
## **New SIGs and SIG closure**
A new SIG – Research Synthesis in Applied Linguistics – has been set up this year. The SIG committee has been elected and an online inaugural event is scheduled for 21 October 2022. BAAL will review the SIG’s development and activities in one year.
Two further SIG proposals are currently under development – _Language and Citizenship_ and _Language, Race and Ethnicity_ .
Due to difficulty in running the SIG in the past two years, after a period of consultation with its members, the EAL (English as an Additional Language) SIG was closed in February 2022. The SIG treasurer is working with BAAL treasurer to return the remaining fund.
In the previous report, it was noted that the _Language Learning and Teaching_ SIG had been inactive. No SIG events have been run for the past two years and the SIG website appears to have expired. However, there looks to be an active _Language Learning and Teaching_ SIG track under development for the annual meeting. Therefore, the status of the SIG will be reviewed after the annual meeting has taken place.
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## **Equality, Diversity and Inclusion**
SIGs have been encouraged to consider the ways in which they currently, or could in the future, embed EDI issues into their activities. Some suggested activities were circulated and SIGs have been invited to share further good practice via their annual reports.
## **Helen Sauntson, August 2021**
## **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 2022 conference, book prizes and information about how the pandemic affects planned events.
Analytics for the website are outlined below. The website has received approximately **40,000 visits** this past year. The most popular months to visit the website are January, July and September. This coincides with funding announcements, announcements about the annual conference, and during the conference itself. However, for all months we receive more than 2000 visits.
|**Month**|**Visitors**|
|---|---|
|June 2021|2,761|
|July 2021|3,470|
|August 2021|2,739|
|September 2021|3,946|
|October 2021|2,731|
|November 2021|2,865|
|December 2021|2,712|
|January 2022|3,480|
|February 2022|2,991|
|March 2022|3,737|
|April 2022|2,345|
|May 2022|3,284|
|June 2022|2,939|
|July 2022|2,039|
|August 2022 (up to 12th August)|877|
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Most visits to the website are via desktop computers rather than mobile devices. This likely reflects that fact that the website has primarily been designed with desktop traffic in mind, and the website design is not particularly mobile-friendly. Additionally, the overwhelming number of visits to the website are unique rather than return visits. This suggests that most visitors to the website are searching for specific information. This statistic does not account for people visiting on different devices, computers or whether visitors clear their browser cache between visits, however, so may not be reliable.
## **Device Breakdown**
- **New vs. Returning Visitors**
- Desktop 74% New 91%
- Tablet 1% Returning 9%
- Mobile 25%
That people visit to search for specific information is backed up by their engagement once they land on the homepage. Over the past 30 days, there have been 1,399 visits and 2,135 page views. This means that the majority of visitors view two pages, including the homepage. Additionally, each visit typically lasts just over 30 seconds, meaning that visitors tend to leave quickly once they have identified the information they need. The most popular page is the homepage, which indicates that most visitors either type the address into their browser or visit from a search engine. The second most popular page is for the annual conference. Visitors also look for information about other upcoming events, SIGs and how to join BAAL. The top searches that lead visitors to the website are as follows:
## **Top Searches**
baal baal membership baal membership fee
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baal jobs baal membership renewal
|**Sessions (last 30 days)**|**Pageviews (last 30 days)**|**Avg. Session Duration (last**
**30 days)**|
|---|---|---|
|1,399|2,135|33 seconds|
## **Top Posts/Pages (last 30 days)**
|**Top Posts/Pages (last 30 days)**||
|---|---|
|1.British Association for Applied Linguistics-BAAL|650|
|2.Conferences-BAAL|329|
|3.Sociolinguistic Events Calendar-BAAL|137|
|4.SIGs-BAAL|97|
|5.Committee-BAAL|90|
|6.Seminars-BAAL|87|
|7.Join BAAL-BAAL|84|
|8.Newsletter-BAAL|63|
|9.Book Prize-BAAL|43|
|10.BAAL membership benefits-BAAL|39|
Other than search engines, most visitors come to the website from Twitter, which suggests that many BAAL website users are also very active on social media, but access this also via their computer, rather than using mobile devices.
## **Top 10 Referrals (last 30 days)**
|**Top 10 Referrals (last 30 days)**||
|---|---|
|1.
t.co|98|
|2. english-linguistics1.uni-bayreuth.de|10|
|3.
en.wikipedia.org|8|
|4.
m.facebook.com|7|
|5.
biuned2022.weebly.com|6|
|6.
corpora.lancs.ac.uk|6|
|7.
cvent.com|6|
|8.
en.m.wikipedia.org|5|
|9. qmul.pfalzgraf.net|5|
|10. baalvocabsig.wordpress.com|4|
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The majority of visitors to the site are based in the United Kingdom. Interestingly, the second-most common country to access BAAL from is China (N.B. data for Hong Kong is recorded separately by the software used for compiling these statistics). Third most popular is the United States.
## **Top 10 Countries (last 30 days)**
|1. United Kingdom|468|
|---|---|
|2. China|207|
|3. United States|196|
|4. Japan|74|
|5. Hong Kong|46|
|6. Germany|37|
|7. Spain|23|
|8. Philippines|21|
|9. Turkey|20|
|10. Canada|18|
## **Nathaniel Owen, August 2022**
## **CLiE Representative’s Report**
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 but outgoing chair of CLIE and sits on the BAAL Executive. Dr
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Eva Eppler (University of Roehampton, LAGB) is the current secretary of CLIE and assumes the Chair from October 2022. Maria Arche will take up the role of Secretary from October 2022.
## **Meetings**
The committee normally meets three times a year in London. However, the first two meetings in the academic year 2021-2022 have taken place over Zoom, while the third and final meeting was held in London on 10 June at the new British Council premises in Stratford.
The third and final meeting of CLiE in the academic year 2021-22 was held in London at the new British Council premises in Stratford on 10 June 2022. This was the first face-to-face meeting since before the pandemic, and we are very grateful to Vicky Gough for enabling this. As previously reported, John Claughton accepted an invitation to address the meeting to talk about the WoLLoW project (https://theworldoflanguages.co.uk/). John Claughton is a retired head teacher of a school in Birmingham who has set up a collection of resources for teachers with the aim of bringing together teachers of different languages. This proved to be a stimulating and interesting discussion, and the Powerpoint is available on the CLiE website. It was agreed that we would keep in touch with John and the work of WoLLoW.
## **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. In the last two years, significant disruption was caused by Covid-19. At the time of our June 2022 meeting, the report from UKLO noted that Round 1 attracted a record number of competitors: 4,979 at all levels. The percentage of entries from state schools also increased from the Covid years: 30%, up from 15%. Round 2 went smoothly and allowed the selection of 13 competitors for the training camp, which was generously (and very well) hosted by the University of Warwick and allowed the selection of 8 competitors for the IOL (the international competition in the Isle of Man). This was held in July and the UK squad did really well: one Gold, four Silvers, one Honourable Mention, one Best Solution and one of our two teams won the Bronze medal for the team competition. For further details see https://www.uklo.org/uklo-2022-iol-results/.
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The website has been rebuilt and should be ready for relaunching soon. It is intended to also have a new portal ready for the new academic year. However, the cost of this combined with the unusually high registration cost of the IOL has put finances under pressure so that reserves are at their lowest level since the early years.
## **2. LASER (Linguistics Across Schools for Education and Research)**
LASER has continued its work with supporting universities interested in developing outreach programmes with schools on topics in linguistics. The LAGB Education Session in 2022 will focus on LASER, with contributions from across UK HEIs. Members of LASER were also involved in the UCGAL-led event at the British Academy, which showcased to school children and their teachers the diversity of linguistics in the UK.
## **3. Ongoing projects and recent activities**
## **KAL GAP/KAL Upskilling**
Since the last AGM, we have continued 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 have made some progress this academic year. At a meeting in March, we agreed the following points:
- That we would focus on primary English for now
- Our aim is to enable more support for new and practising teachers
- We discussed how best to have an impact – whether top-down or bottom up. General agreement on latter.
- Our focus has changed from the idea of a ‘gap’ as this has a deficit feel to it. The nature of the proposed paper has therefore changed – we should reframe this as the importance of language in the curriculum, starting with the idea that teachers bring skills to the classroom, including, for example, skills of literary analysis. Thus we are
26
seeking upskilling support rather than filling a ‘gap’. Essentially this means building
upon language awareness in order to develop the skills of language analysis.
- We also need to look at the implications of the ITE market review for subject content in teacher education
- Audience for the piece:
- 1) NATE primary journal
- 2) NATE secondary journal
- 3) Languages Today – ALL
- 4) Research Ed (www.ResearchEd.org.uk)
- 5) Longer term – press/ITE/linguistics departments
This has informed our thinking about the forthcoming discussion forum which we are presenting at BAAL 2022 on 1 September.
## **CLiE forum at BAAL 2022**
The possibility of a CLiE slot at the annual BAAL conference was agreed with Glenn Hadikin and Zhu Hua and a proposal was accepted by the CLiE committee at the February meeting. We propose to follow the pattern of the Education Committee session at the annual LAGB conference. Thus, the following proposal was accepted by the team at QUB and the event will take place on 1 September at BAAL 2022:
## _**Committee for Linguistics in Education (CLIE) round table (forum)**_
_Chaired by Gee Macrory, Terry Lamb, Ursula Lanvers, Cathie Wallace_
_Come and meet representatives of Committee for Linguistics in Education (CLIE) (clie.org.uk), a joint committee of BAAL and LAGB, find out who we are and what we do – and join in the discussion. This is your opportunity to have your say, ask questions and engage in the debates about important issues to do with language in the curriculum. The event will be in three parts, followed by open discussion:_
_Gee Macrory and Cathie Wallace: Introduction_
_This will outline the range of issues CLIE addresses including, Knowledge about Language in the curriculum, phonics, literacy, A level English language, multilingualism and MFL + list of full range of organisations represented on CLIE. We problematise and critique issues and policies in the UK but drawing upon research and our experience of other contexts._
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_Ursula Lanvers: Language Awareness in MFL_
_We will discuss opportunities of applying knowledge about language to the learning and teaching of MFL, in the context of the UK and beyond. I refer to recent research examples applying multilingual pedagogical approaches, as powerful pathways into breaking hegemonic stances towards English, validate other languages, and address social injustice in languages._
_Terry Lamb: Plurilingualism and democracy in Europe_
_Here we will share developments on a European level, in particular the Council of Europe, with reference to the recent Council of Europe Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to member States on the importance of plurilingual and intercultural education for democratic culture. The Recommendation addresses many issues of interest to CLIE, such as the promotion of a holistic approach to language learning, including the development of language awareness, the teaching of languages in interaction with each other._
This event is intended very much to be a discussion forum and each of the three presentations will last only 10 minutes, to be followed by 20 minutes discussion of the topic. The event is scheduled for two hours, thus this leaves 30 minutes available for further discussion. The aim of the event is to publicise the work of CLiE and to stimulate debate and discussion. Materials will be uploaded to the CLiE website after the conference.
## **BA summer showcase, 17 June 2022**
This year, the possibility of participating in a joint activity at the British Academy Summer Showcase arose. UCGAL coordinated a joint proposal to showcase Linguistics as a discipline, in which we participated. This was led by Lesley Jefferies, Chair of UCGAL (University Council of General and Applied Linguistics). We all felt it important to showcase Linguistics as a discipline, since it is not a school subject and can therefore seem to be something of a mystery to schoolteachers and students at times. The subsequent event was led by UGCAL and entitled _Our Languages: Our World_ and was held successfully on 17 June 2022 at the British Academy. Both Gee Macrory and Eva Eppler were present to help staff the stall.
## **NATE GCSE English language position paper**
Earlier in the academic year, the Common English Forum (CEF) was involved in discussions regarding GCSE English Language, and CLIE had been asked to provide a document in response to work by NATE on the subject. Following discussion with the DfE, the proposals
28
from NATE and CLIE (among other groups) were amended within the existing framework, rather than a statement of wholesale reform, which was reset as a longer-term goal. CEF set up a small working group to achieve this aim, at which Graeme Trousdale represented CLIE.
## **Reading and phonics**
One issue raised earlier in the year was the recently published research report by Wyse and Bradbury (“Reading wars and reading conciliation”’) a report aiming to rebalance approaches to reading, which received good media coverage. It was agreed that Gee and Cathie Wallace would in the first instance liaise on short response to “Reading wars and reading conciliation” as a precursor to potential position paper. Phonics is to be on the agenda for our next meeting, as we recognize this as an ongoing issue in schools. This will also be part of our presentation at QUB.
## **4. Change of Chair and Secretary**
Finally, we wish to report that I am retiring as Chair of CLiE after four years. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to serve as Chair and to represent CLiE on the BAAL Executive. I would like to extend my thanks to all those colleagues who have worked with me, and a particular thank you to Eva Eppler who has been exemplary in fulfilling her role as Secretary. I also wish Eva well in her new role as incoming Chair. We are delighted that Maria Arche has agreed to take up the role of Secretary.
**Gee Macrory, Chair of CLiE**
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## **BRITISH ASSOCIATION OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS ACCOUNTS FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 31 MAY 2022**
**Page 2**
## **BRITISH ASSOCIATION OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS**
## **INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT**
## **YEAR ENDED 31 MAY 2022**
|**YEAR ENDED 31 MAY 2022**||||
|---|---|---|---|
||**2022**||2021|
||**£**|**£**|£|
|**INCOME**||||
|Membership Subscription||**53,330**|43,010|
|Bank interest||**4**|6|
|Book Prize Entries||**640**|908|
|Miscellaneous Income||**100**|3,000|
|Donations||**7**|3|
|Net Income - Special Interest Groups||**-**|544|
|Annual Conference Sponsership||**1,500**|-|
|Seminars||**1,913**|-|
|||`─────────`|`─────────`|
|||**57,494**|47,471|
|**EXPENDITURE**||||
|Grants to SIGs|**200**||805|
|Book / Poster/visual rep./ prizes|**321**||200|
|Linguistics Olympiad|**1,000**||1,000|
|Applying Linguistic Fund|**3,853**||2,250|
|Net Expenditure - Special Interest group|**330**||-|
|Mosaic Events - Fees & Expenses|**14,591**||13,065|
|Exec.Committee Meetings & Accom. expenses|**318**||-|
|AILA/UCML/CLIE & OTHERS - Subscriptions|**814**||4,798|
|CUP/BAAL/ESOL/Routledge -Seminars|**-**||1,410|
|Insurance|**689**||587|
|Bank Direct Debit,collect & Sevice Charges|**1,026**||1,378|
|Conference expenses|**375**||-|
|Postage,Publication & Printing Costs|**9**||67|
|Website Costs|**-**||264|
|Accountant's Fees|**875**||875|
|Sundry expenses (Allowable)|**734**||-|
||`─────────`||`─────────`|
|||**25,135**|26,699|
|||`─────────`|`─────────`|
|**SURPLUS OF INCOME OVER EXPENDITURE**||**32,359**|20,772|
|||`═════════`|`═════════`|
**Page 3**
## **BRITISH ASSOCIATION OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS**
|**BALANCE SHEET**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|**31 MAY 2022**|||||
|||**2022**||2021|
||**Note**|**£**|**£**|£|
|**CURRENT ASSETS**|||||
|Other debtors - funds with SIGs||**26,914**||27,244|
|Bank deposits||**80,683**||53,506|
|Cash at bank||**122,446**||116,934|
|||`──────────`||`──────────`|
|||**230,043**||197,684|
|||`──────────`||`──────────`|
|**CURRENT LIABILITIES**|||||
|Accrued expenses||**875**||875|
|||`────`||`────`|
|**NET CURRENT ASSETS**|||**229,168**|196,809|
||||`──────────`|`──────────`|
|**NET ASSETS**|||**229,168**|196,809|
||||`══════════`|`══════════`|
|**FINANCED BY:**|||||
|**CAPITAL ACCOUNT**|||||
|Balance brought forward|||**196,809**|176,037|
|Net surplus for the year|||**32,359**|20,772|
||||`──────────`|`──────────`|
|Balance carried forward|||**229,168**|196,809|
||||`══════════`|`══════════`|
## **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 2022
## **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**