CONFERENCE STREAM

Details of our usual language policy stream at the annual BAAL conference (this year at York St John University) are in the BAAL conference programme. Direct links to the schedule of our stream (in two halves) are here and here. We thank our presenters for their insightful contributions.

AGM minutes

Language Policy BAAL SIG AGM

Date: Friday 7^th September 2018

Location: York Saint John University

Chair: Dr. Florence Bonacina-Pugh

Apologies received from: Dave Sayers, Elisabeth Barakos, Yongcan Liu, and Taehee Choi

Attendees: Dr. Carla Paciotto and Sin-Yi, Chang

Minutes taken by: Sin-Yi, Chang

1. Conveners’ report (co-convened by Dr. Florence Bonacina-Pugh & Dr. Elisabeth Barakos)

1.1 Recent activities:

1.1.1 Successful first Language Policy Forum 2018 @Sheffield Hallam University: over 100 presenters from over 20 countries; two plenary speakers: Prof. Marilyn Martin-Jones & Prof. Tony Liddicoat

1.1.2 Planning of Second Language Policy Forum 2019 University of Edinburgh (CfP to follow in November; forums usually arranged in May or June)

1.1.3 Running track of LP papers at the BAAL 2018 Conference @York (next year @Manchester)

1.1.4 Updating of website information and membership database

1.1.5 Mailing list and a twitter account

1.2 Election of the coordinated committee:

1.2.1 Members of the coordinated committee are elected for a (renewable) period of three years at LP SIG’s AGM or during e-elections

1.2.2 Elections should be staggered so that the committee roles are by a combination of both new and old people

1.2.3 Initially, the treasurer and membership secretary will hold the post for two years whilst the rest of the committee will hold their roles for three years

1.2.4 Online elections will be open in December 2018 for the roles of treasurer and membership secretary (the candidates don’t need to be based in the UK; meetings can be arranged over skype)

1.3 The treasurer is responsible for:

1.3.1 Costing events

1.3.2 Preparing an account of income and expenses after an event

1.3.3 Submitting financial statements to the BAAL accountant in June each year

1.3.4 Preparing an annual financial statement for members (to be included with the Conveners’ annual report)

1.4 Membership secretary:

1.4.1 Responsible for liaising with members, updating the membership database

1.4.2 Organizing elections

1.4.3 Updating the constitution

1.4.4 Keeping the wider BAAL membership informed about the SIG

2. Committee members’ reports

2.1 Secretary’s report by Taehee Choi

2.1.1 Our SIG is growing

2.1.2 Currently our SIG has 340 members (including LP scholars and policy-makers), out of whom 85 has membership with BAAL

2.1.3 Members are recruited through over 20 list-servs, and for the next call for new members to be sent out for our Second Forum, we will advertise more widely to contact more who shared interests in language policy

2.2 Treasurer’s report by Yongcan Liu

2.2.1 The general financial situation of our SIG is healthy

2.2.2 The previous financial year covers the period from 1 June 2017 to 31 May 2018

2.2.3 The major income during this period was a 200 pounds start-up grant provided by BAAL

2.2.4 The major expenditure was the catering cost for the launching event on 2 September 2017 in Leeds in conjunction with the BAAL main conference

2.2.5 The closing balance for the financial year was 173.7 pounds

2.2.6 Looking ahead…Our finance is expected to be strong with significant surplus generated from the 1^st annual conference (LP Forum 2018) held @Sheffield Hallam University on 31 May – 1 June 2018

2.2.7 The final report of the conference is being processed and will be included in next year’s SIG financial report in due course

2.2.8 Based on the initial data, we expect to make a profit of at least 1500 pounds, which exceeds the target of surplus set in our original financial plan

2.2.9 The committee intends to gradually increase the financial reserve to 4500 pounds over a period of three years

2.3 Event secretary’s report by Rachel O’Neill

2.3.1 Launch at BAAL 2017 in Leeds where Prof. Bernie O’Rourke from Heriot Watt University spoke about New Learners of Catalan

2.3.2 Language Policy Forum 2018: Two-day conference in May 2018 at Sheffield Hallam University

2.3.3 These events gave us the opportunity to work together as a team and discuss fee pricing, fair access, attracting keynote speakers, delegates and publishers

2.3.4 We are now planning the Language Policy Forum 2019 @the University of Edinburgh 30-31^st May 2019

2.4 Communication secretary’s report by Dave Sayers

2.4.1 Google folder for the committee

2.4.2 Chair of the local organizing committee of the Language Policy Forum 2018

2.4.3 Website maintenance: www.langpol.ac.uk

2.4.4 Presence in social media: follow us on twitter @langpolicy

3. AOB (Q: are the members of the LP SIG international? A: Mainly from North America, South America, Southeast Asia, Europe, and Australia. Q: How can we increase the publicity of the LP SIG? A: We do also advertise on the language policy research network in AILA. And perhaps we can advertise in AAAL and the National Association of Bilingual Education)

4. News of the Language Policy Forum 2019 in Edinburgh