September 2020 Newsletter
The items in this newsletter:
Update from British Association of Applied Linguists (BAAL)
Update from Forum for Germanic Language Studies (FGLS)
Update from Linguistics Association of Great Britain (LAGB)
British Association of Applied Linguists (BAAL)
News and updates
On-line conference and AGM
BAAL hosted a successful online Conference on Friday 4thSeptember 2020. The originally scheduled 2020 BAAL Annual Conference to be hosted by Northumbria University is postponed to 2021. In the AGM, members were invited to present their own ideas on how BAAL can best support every one of our members. The newly elected Executive Committee members can be found on https://www.baal.org.uk/committee/
Applying Linguistics Fund 2019-2020
Four projects are awarded in this round of funding of a total of £10,000. These are: Setting Research Priorities for English as an Additional Language by Victoria Murphy, Hamish Chalmers and Faidra Faitaki; Modelling plurilithic orientations to English with trainee teachers: A comparative international study by Christopher J Hall, Alice Gruber and Yuan Qian; ‘This is Margate’: Community engagement & collaboration on discourses of regional identity and gentrification project by Christopher Anderson, Clare Hollister and Eli Thompson.
The BAAL book prize 2020
The winner is Palgrave Handbook of Minority Languages and Communities, edited by Gabrielle Hogan-Brun and Bernadette O’Rourke.
The BAAL newsletter including the latest issue, Summer 2020 is available at https://www.baal.org.uk/news/newsletter/ The latest edition addresses some of changes brought by the Covid-19 and the lockdown in the world and show how these can be true challenges or opportunities.
Forum for Germanic Language Studies (FGLS)
News and updates
FGLS Conference
The bi-annual conference took place on 9-10 January 2020 at the University of Bristol and was organised by Anna Havinga. 34 participants attended in total. The keynote address, delivered by Sebastian Kürschner (Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt), provided a fascinating cross-linguistic account of the formation of nicknames in Germanic languages, including examples from Dutch, English, German and Swedish. Individual papers explored a wide range of topics in formal linguistics (e.g. syntax, morphology) and sociolinguistics (e.g. discourse analysis, language and group membership).Further details about the event may be found on the website and in the conference programme.
Upcoming Events
*Virtual (intermittent) workshop in discussion for early 2021 to support PGRs and ECRs
*FGLS conference January 2022 (University of Reading, organised by Melani Schroeter)
Congratulations
*Wini Davies (Aberystwyth) upon her retirement/emeritus (2019)
*Martin Durrell (Manchester) Director of the Institut für Deutsche Sprache prize (2020)
*Nicola McLelland (Nottingham) DAAD Jacob- und Wilhelm-Grimm-Preis (2020)
*Patrick Stevenson (Southampton) upon his retirement/emeritus (2019)
Recent Books
*Havinga, A. 2018. Invisibilising Austrian German:On the effect of linguistic prescriptions and educational reforms on writing practices in 18th-century Austria. Berlin: de Gruyter.
*Horner, K. and J. Dailey-O’Cain (eds). 2019. Multilingualism, (Im)mobilities and Spaces of Belonging. Bristol: Multillingual Matters.
*Kraenert, M. (2019) Discourse and Political Culture: The language of the Third Way in Germany and the UK. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
*Kraenert, M. and G. Horan (eds). 2018. Doing Politics: Discursivity, Performativity and Mediation in Political Discourse. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
*McLelland, N. and R. Smith (eds). 2018 The History of Language Learning and Teaching. I. 16th-18th Century Europe. II. 19th-20th Century Europe. III. Across Cultures Oxford: Legenda.
*Rash, F. and G. Horan (eds). 2020. The Discourse of British and German Colonialism: Convergence and Competition. Abingdon: Routledge.
*Schroeter, M. and C. Taylor (eds). 2018. Exploring Silence and Absence in Discourse: Empirical Approaches. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
*Stevenson, P., K. Horner, N. Langer and G. Reersheemius. 2018. The German-speaking World: A Practical Introduction to Sociolinguistic Issues. Abingdon: Routledge.
Change of Officers
*President: handover from Gertrud Reershemius (Aston) to Kristine Horner (Sheffield)
*Treasurer: handover from John Bellamy (MMU) to Geraldine Horan (UCL)
*Secretary: handover from Sylvia Jaworska (Reading) to Anna Havinga (Bristol)
*Postgraduate Research representative (newly established role): Cian Hurley (Sheffield)
Linguistics Association of Great Britain (and Northern Ireland)(LAGB)
News and updates
LAGB Annual Meeting
The 2020 annual meeting of the LAGB, which was due to take place at Ulster University in September 2020, has been postponed until September 2021 due to the global pandemic. Abstract submission will open in autumn of 2020. It has not yet been decided whether the 2021 meeting will take place in person or online.
New president
Professor Caroline Haycock (Edinburgh) took over from Professor David Adger (QMUL) as LAGB president in January 2020. The committee and members would like to welcome Caroline and thank David for all he did during his time as president and everything he has done since then to ease the transition.
Advocacy
LAGB has made various communications to public bodies and Government in 2020 including letters in support of the British Council, support for PG/ECR (to AHRC), response to UKRI consultation on Open Access. We are also currently responding to ESRC consultation on doctoral training.
Undergraduate Linguistics Association of Britain (ULAB)
ULAB were forced to cancel their conference this year due to the global pandemic. Since abstracts had already been submitted and evaluated, we were nonetheless able to make an award to the best abstract (rather than the best paper). The winner will be invited to present at the LAGB Annual Meeting in Ulster in 2021.
A-level English Language
The LABG is pleased to report that 7% increase in entry for English language A-level this year, although there is still a dip (4%) for the combined English Language and Literature A level. This follows our engagement with he DfE on this issue via the Common English Forum and a change to the Russell Group's advice regarding A-level subjects (see www.informedchoices.ac.uk).
Changes to the committee
Amendments to the constitution
Changes to the LAGB constitution were ratified at the LAGB AGM via a poll (94%, vote of 18/19). Updates centre on the means of communication with members – circular replaced by emails, there is now a website etc. We also added a condition that the President must be based in the UK and members must be able to attend meetings during UK office hours.
Update from British Association of Applied Linguists (BAAL)
Update from Forum for Germanic Language Studies (FGLS)
Update from Linguistics Association of Great Britain (LAGB)
British Association of Applied Linguists (BAAL)
News and updates
On-line conference and AGM
BAAL hosted a successful online Conference on Friday 4thSeptember 2020. The originally scheduled 2020 BAAL Annual Conference to be hosted by Northumbria University is postponed to 2021. In the AGM, members were invited to present their own ideas on how BAAL can best support every one of our members. The newly elected Executive Committee members can be found on https://www.baal.org.uk/committee/
Applying Linguistics Fund 2019-2020
Four projects are awarded in this round of funding of a total of £10,000. These are: Setting Research Priorities for English as an Additional Language by Victoria Murphy, Hamish Chalmers and Faidra Faitaki; Modelling plurilithic orientations to English with trainee teachers: A comparative international study by Christopher J Hall, Alice Gruber and Yuan Qian; ‘This is Margate’: Community engagement & collaboration on discourses of regional identity and gentrification project by Christopher Anderson, Clare Hollister and Eli Thompson.
The BAAL book prize 2020
The winner is Palgrave Handbook of Minority Languages and Communities, edited by Gabrielle Hogan-Brun and Bernadette O’Rourke.
The BAAL newsletter including the latest issue, Summer 2020 is available at https://www.baal.org.uk/news/newsletter/ The latest edition addresses some of changes brought by the Covid-19 and the lockdown in the world and show how these can be true challenges or opportunities.
Forum for Germanic Language Studies (FGLS)
News and updates
FGLS Conference
The bi-annual conference took place on 9-10 January 2020 at the University of Bristol and was organised by Anna Havinga. 34 participants attended in total. The keynote address, delivered by Sebastian Kürschner (Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt), provided a fascinating cross-linguistic account of the formation of nicknames in Germanic languages, including examples from Dutch, English, German and Swedish. Individual papers explored a wide range of topics in formal linguistics (e.g. syntax, morphology) and sociolinguistics (e.g. discourse analysis, language and group membership).Further details about the event may be found on the website and in the conference programme.
Upcoming Events
*Virtual (intermittent) workshop in discussion for early 2021 to support PGRs and ECRs
*FGLS conference January 2022 (University of Reading, organised by Melani Schroeter)
Congratulations
*Wini Davies (Aberystwyth) upon her retirement/emeritus (2019)
*Martin Durrell (Manchester) Director of the Institut für Deutsche Sprache prize (2020)
*Nicola McLelland (Nottingham) DAAD Jacob- und Wilhelm-Grimm-Preis (2020)
*Patrick Stevenson (Southampton) upon his retirement/emeritus (2019)
Recent Books
*Havinga, A. 2018. Invisibilising Austrian German:On the effect of linguistic prescriptions and educational reforms on writing practices in 18th-century Austria. Berlin: de Gruyter.
*Horner, K. and J. Dailey-O’Cain (eds). 2019. Multilingualism, (Im)mobilities and Spaces of Belonging. Bristol: Multillingual Matters.
*Kraenert, M. (2019) Discourse and Political Culture: The language of the Third Way in Germany and the UK. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
*Kraenert, M. and G. Horan (eds). 2018. Doing Politics: Discursivity, Performativity and Mediation in Political Discourse. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
*McLelland, N. and R. Smith (eds). 2018 The History of Language Learning and Teaching. I. 16th-18th Century Europe. II. 19th-20th Century Europe. III. Across Cultures Oxford: Legenda.
*Rash, F. and G. Horan (eds). 2020. The Discourse of British and German Colonialism: Convergence and Competition. Abingdon: Routledge.
*Schroeter, M. and C. Taylor (eds). 2018. Exploring Silence and Absence in Discourse: Empirical Approaches. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
*Stevenson, P., K. Horner, N. Langer and G. Reersheemius. 2018. The German-speaking World: A Practical Introduction to Sociolinguistic Issues. Abingdon: Routledge.
Change of Officers
*President: handover from Gertrud Reershemius (Aston) to Kristine Horner (Sheffield)
*Treasurer: handover from John Bellamy (MMU) to Geraldine Horan (UCL)
*Secretary: handover from Sylvia Jaworska (Reading) to Anna Havinga (Bristol)
*Postgraduate Research representative (newly established role): Cian Hurley (Sheffield)
Linguistics Association of Great Britain (and Northern Ireland)(LAGB)
News and updates
LAGB Annual Meeting
The 2020 annual meeting of the LAGB, which was due to take place at Ulster University in September 2020, has been postponed until September 2021 due to the global pandemic. Abstract submission will open in autumn of 2020. It has not yet been decided whether the 2021 meeting will take place in person or online.
New president
Professor Caroline Haycock (Edinburgh) took over from Professor David Adger (QMUL) as LAGB president in January 2020. The committee and members would like to welcome Caroline and thank David for all he did during his time as president and everything he has done since then to ease the transition.
Advocacy
LAGB has made various communications to public bodies and Government in 2020 including letters in support of the British Council, support for PG/ECR (to AHRC), response to UKRI consultation on Open Access. We are also currently responding to ESRC consultation on doctoral training.
Undergraduate Linguistics Association of Britain (ULAB)
ULAB were forced to cancel their conference this year due to the global pandemic. Since abstracts had already been submitted and evaluated, we were nonetheless able to make an award to the best abstract (rather than the best paper). The winner will be invited to present at the LAGB Annual Meeting in Ulster in 2021.
A-level English Language
The LABG is pleased to report that 7% increase in entry for English language A-level this year, although there is still a dip (4%) for the combined English Language and Literature A level. This follows our engagement with he DfE on this issue via the Common English Forum and a change to the Russell Group's advice regarding A-level subjects (see www.informedchoices.ac.uk).
Changes to the committee
- Rebecca Woods is stepping down as Web Administrator and External relations officer
- Laura Bailey is stepping down as Memberships Secretary
- Chris Cummins is stepping down as Treasurer
- The committee would like to thank Rebecca, Laura and Chris for their service!
- Jonathan Kasstan will be assuming role of Web Administrator and External relations officer.
- Rob Truswell will be assuming role of Treasurer.
- Theresa Biberauer will be assuming role of Memberships Secretary.
- Welcome to Jonathan, Rob and Theresa and thanks!
Amendments to the constitution
Changes to the LAGB constitution were ratified at the LAGB AGM via a poll (94%, vote of 18/19). Updates centre on the means of communication with members – circular replaced by emails, there is now a website etc. We also added a condition that the President must be based in the UK and members must be able to attend meetings during UK office hours.
