Hong Kong Association for Applied Linguistics (HAAL)
The Executive Committee Report for 2013-14
This report covers the period from 1 October 2013 to 30 September 2014.
President:Andy Gao (HKU)
Hon. Secretary:Mable Chan (HKPU)
Treasurer/past-president:Fiona Hyland (HKU)
Members:Corinne Maxwell-Reid (CUHK)
Angel Ma (webmaster, HKIED)
Jim Chan (HKPU)
Emily Lui (HKCC Outreach)
Des Moriarty (YMCAHK Christian College)
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
1. Seminars
Six seminars (events) were held in 2013-14 with the speakers presenting on wide-ranging topics as shown in the table below.
Date / Speaker / Title10 Oct 2013 / Angel Lin / “To have your cake and eat it too” : Bridging L1 & L2 academic literacies and diversifying models of MOI policy and practice
28th Nov. 2013 / Carmen Lee / Self-presentation and language choice in online social media: global and local perspectives
22nd January 2014 / Stephen Evans / The functions and status of English in Hong Kong: Diachronic and synchronic perspectives
14th March 2014 / Christian Chun / Discourses on democracy and religion in an EAP classroom
2nd April 2014 / Angel Ma / Using e-dictionaries/apps in L2 learning with mobile devices in Hong Kong higher education
7th May 2014 / Lo Yuen Yi / Investigating the effects of Medium of Instruction from both macro- and micro- perspectives
2. ExecutiveCommittee Meetings
The election of the existing ExCo members was held at the last AGM on 10 October 2013. Jim Chan and Gavin Bei joined the committee and other members remained in their current roles. Two committee meetings were held through the year (22nd January and 2nd July). It was suggested in the committee meeting on 2nd July, 2014 that Dr. Carmen Lee (CUHK) and Dr. Gavin Bei (Heng Seng Management College) be put forward as new president and treasurer for confirmation at AGM (Oct. 9th, 2014). It was also proposed that and ChristophHafner (City U) join the committee, Jim Chan be put forward to be the outreach officer, and Emily Lui the assistant secretary. Fiona Hyland will leave the committee.
3. The Annual Social Event
This year’s event was a trip to Shek O on 1 Dec 2013. This was a highly relaxing day with many chances for sightseeing, chatting and short walks. It finished with a seafood lunch (with vegetarian options). Around 20 members and their guests joined the social event
4. Postgraduate Student Travel Award
The award (worth $3,000HKD), launched in 2005 to promote the academic activities of student members, was shared by three postgraduate students Mr. Kazuyuki Nomura and Mr. Rui Yuan(CUHK). Mr. Nomura received the Richard Pemberton Memorial Award for Postgraduate Student Travel Award. Each of them received an award of $1,500.
5. Fawzia Braine Memorial Award for the Best Journal Article Published by a Novice Scholar
The award (worth 2,500) was launched for the first time in 2013 to encourage novice scholars to publish in international refereed journals in applied linguistics. The award was established by generous donations from Dr. George Braine and his friends to commemorate the contributions that Dr Fawzia Braine made to the Association. The award was given to Miss Alice Yau for her co-authored paper ‘‘I don’t want to see my children suffer after birth’: The ‘risk of knowing’ talk and decision-making in prenatal screening for Down’s syndrome in Hong Kong’inHealth, Risk and Society.
6. 2014 HAAL Conference
We held a highly successful conference on June 7th, 2014. The conference had two keynote presentations, 54 individual papers and 3 workshops. Professor Wang Chuming from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies and Professor Icy Lee (CUHK) gave keynote presentations. Three HAAL awardees and Dr. Swi-Ee Cheah, our METLA delegate were invited as featured speakers. The conference helped the association make 4512.10 HKD profit.
7. Financial Situation
Although we have had more outgoings this year, HAAL finances remain healthy with a balance of $65,786.56.The Treasurer’s Report is given below.
8. Membership
We had a total of 112 members. 9 of these are school-based professionals and 44 are postgraduate students. The rest (i.e. 59) are tertiary teachers.
9. Note of thanks
Great thanks must go to all the members of the Executive Committee – Gavin Bui, Jim Chan, Mable Chan, Fiona Hyland, Emily Lui, Angel Ma, Corinne Maxwell-Reid and Des Moriarty for their hard work on behalf of HAAL and for all the time and ideas they have generously contributed to HAAL over the year.
We continue to be deeply indebted to the Department of English of Hong Kong Polytechnic University for being our generous host and for their continuous support throughout the past year.
HAAL Treasurer’s Report2013-14
HAAL Income 13/14 / HK$ / HAAL Expenditure 13/14 / HK$Balance brought forward from 12/13 / 1. PG Student Travel Grant / 3,000.00
1. savings a/c / 36,349.97 / 2. Fawzia Braine Award / 2,500.00
2. current a/c / 6,790.59 / 3. Refreshments + meals for speakers / 1,976.30
3. petty cash / 15,818.90 / 4. Stipend for PolyU helper John / 500.00
Sub-Total: / 58,959.46 / 5. Web hosting fee / 858.00
Income 13/14 / 6. Conference expenditure / 11,380.60
4. Membership fees* / 12,900.00 / 7.MELTA delegate / 1,600.00
5. Interest on saving a/c / 103.85 / . / . 8. Others (postage etc). / 165.00
6. HAAL conference income / 17,492.70
Sub-Total: / 30,496.55 / Total: / 21,979.90
Total: / 89,456.01
HAAL Capital as at01/10/14
1. Savings a/c / 36,350.32
2. Current a/c / 25,758.39
3. Petty cash / 5,367.40
Total: / 67,476.11
Income - Expenditure: / 8,516.65
* Since many members pay through ATM transfer, it is sometimes difficult to determine whether the received payments were for membership or other social functions of the Association. Any membership fee payments made before the cut-off date are included but some of the membership fee payments may be for the Year of 2014/2015.