UK Linguistic Ethnography Forum
Annual General Meeting
Monday 19th April 2004
5.30 – 7.00pm

Agenda
1	Apologies
2	Chair’s business
3	Minutes of meeting 4 September 2003
4	Officers’ reports: 
a.	Convenor
b.	Treasurer
c.	Communications Secretary
d.	Meetings Coordinator
5.	Seminars and Colloquia
a.	Gregynog under-recruitment & implications for Spring 2005
b.	Colloquium at BAAL AM 2004
c.	Spring 2005
6.	Other activity 2004-05
7.	Constitution
8.	Elections
9.	AOB

Linguistic Ethnography Forum

CONVENOR’S REPORT
September 2002- March 2004

to LEF AGM April 2004

1.	Background
The UK Linguistic Ethnography Forum (LEF) was set up in March 2001, and we aim
•	to bring together researchers conducting linguistic ethnography here and abroad 
•	to explore a range of past and current work, to identify key issues, and to engage in methodologically and theoretically well-tuned debate

We were accepted as the first Special Interest Group (SIG) within the British Association for Applied Linguistics at the BAAL AGM in September 2001.  At the time, there were no formal guidelines on setting up SIGs in BAAL, and so one of our first tasks was to work with BAAL on formalising a SIGs policy.  We contributed to the generic guidelines that BAAL published in March 2002, and we are now in the process of bringing LEF into line with these emerging recommendations.  

At our LEF Business Meeting at the BAAL Conference in September 2002, an Acting Coordinating Committee was elected, with a view to 
1) 	continuing LEF’s programme of academic meetings, and 
2) 	developing its organisational structure.
The people elected were: Ben Rampton (Acting Convenor), Janet Maybin (Acting Treasurer), Angela Creese (Acting Meetings Coordinator), Karin Tusting (Acting Communications Secretary), David Barton (Acting Ordinary Member).  Since then, David has stepped down, due to major commitments elsewhere, and Richard Barwell has agreed to take over as Acting Treasurer from Janet, who will continue to contribute to the committee’s work as Acting Ordinary Member.  

What follows is a very brief outline of our activity since September 2002 - much greater detail can be found at our website - www.ling-ethnog.org.uk

2.1	Academic
In the period September 2002 to March 2004, we have held three meetings (the 4th, 5th  & 6th we’ve held since we were first set up):

a)	LEF Colloquium at the 2002 BAAL Annual Meeting in Cardiff.  This half-day event was divided into three sections: (i) recent and ongoing PhD research, with presentations by Andrey Rosowsky, Nigel Musk and Elena Ionnidou, and a discussion led by Julian Edge; (ii) a session on reflexivity and fieldwork, focusing on a presentation by Vally Lytra; (iii) a theoretical dialogue about the relevance to ethnography of Bernstein’s ‘language of description’, led by Gemma Moss.

b)  A two-day seminar at Edge Hill College, on 'Translation, Interpretation and Representation: Issues for Linguistic Ethnography' (7-8 April 2003).  Closely related to the theme, we addressed institutional interpreting processes (Moira Inghilleri) and the translation of Andean testimonios (Rosaleen Howard and Lindsay Crickmay), and we discussed pre-circulating readings (Pratt, Mehrez, Cronin).  In addition, we had a classroom data session led by Richard Barwell, raising issues of interpretation, and Adam Lefstein led a session which asked how interpretive researchers could be affected by current policy interest in ‘systematic reviews’ of research.  Jo Arthur was the local organiser, and she and the presenters went far beyond the normal call of academic duty, working very hard to structure the event so that there was a lot of dialogue and a good deal (but not too much!) coherence.  Peter Flynn and Piotr Kuhiwczak both reported on the event in BAAL News (as well as at our website - see http://www.ling-ethnog.org.uk/edgehill2003.htm).  

c)	A half-day colloquium at the 2003 BAAL Annual Meeting (4-6 Sept) in Leeds on ‘Linguistic Ethnography at the Interface with Education’.  Papers were presented by Ben Rampton, Janet Maybin, Richard Barwell and Kate Pahl, and Rachel Hodge and Karin Tusting organised a workshop on issues in research training in linguistic ethnography.  A number of these contributions can now be found on our website - www.ling-ethnog.org.uk

We are also organising:

d)	A two-day seminar on 19-20 April 2004 on ‘The Relationship between Linguistic and Post-structuralist Feminist Ethnography.’  The invited speakers are Val Hey (Brunel University), Shereen Benjamin (Birmingham University) and Don Kulick (New York University).  Our original plan was to hold this at Gregynog in Wales, but under-recruitment meant that we have had to shift the venue to London.  This shift has proved cheaper, and has increased the participants to more than 20 

e) A whole-day colloquium at the 2004 BAAL Annual Meeting in London (11-13 September).  We have submitted a proposal covering two linked themes: ‘Time, the global and the local: Theoretical and methodological explorations’ (with papers by researchers mainly based in the UK), and ‘Ethnographies of communication in multilingual spaces’ (papers by researchers in Europe & the US).  We will hear in due course whether this proposal has been accepted.

Since its inception, 
f) LEF has also been developing good international links.  There have been participants based outside the UK at all of our seminars - see the international visitors’ reflections at http://www.ling-ethnog.org.uk/leicesteroverseasreflections.rtf - and in November 2002, Brian Street, Angela Creese and Ben Rampton attended a seminar on the linguistic anthropology of education held at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.  The organisers were Stanton Wortham and Betsy Rymes, and the meeting was also attended by Jim Collins (who was at LEF’s first ever meeting in 2001), Misty Jaffe (who came to our 2002 meeting in Gregynog), George Kamberelis, Kevin O’Connor, Steve Thorne and Nancy Hornberger.  There is substantial interest in UK LEF’s activity in North America, and Ben presented a report on both our activity so far and on some of the issues arising.

2.2	Organisational
During the year, the Acting Coordinating Committee has made quite a lot of progress setting up a formal and operational infra-structure for LEF.  This has involved work on:

a)  	a constitution for LEF.  We are currently on a 9th draft, and have discussed an early version at a general meeting during the Edgehill seminar in April 2003.

b) 	officers’ job descriptions for the Coordinating Committee.  We held a(n open) half-day meeting in June 2003 in which we drafted lists of the responsibilities and tasks of each of the Officers on the committee.  These have been circulated for comment on the LEF email list, and are posted on www.ling-ethnog.org.uk

c) 	Official elections to the Coordinating Committee and a vote on the Constitution will be held in March or April 2004.  Our initial plan was to get everything approved in September 2003 at an LEF general meeting at the BAAL AM, but experience suggests that during large conferences, business meeting attendance tends to be rather low, due to competing attractions.  So instead, we have decided to shift LEF’s main business meetings to the well-attended LEF Spring seminars, and our first official AGM will take place in the Spring of 2004. 

Beyond working on a formal structure for LEF, we have also been busy establishing (and using) facilities for communication with our members and with the academic community more generally:  

d)	our email list has been operating since 2001, and it involves more than 130 researchers.  During the period Sept 2002 to July 2003, the list has been used for discussion of specific issues (e.g. the merits and demerits of different kinds of recording equipment), for circulating conference notices, and for working out themes and issues for future LEF meetings.  

e)	We have also established an LEF website (www.ling-ethnog.org.uk).  This contains extensive information about LEF’s past and future activities, papers & reports from LEF meetings, and contact lists and data on LEF participants.  Our website is also linked to BAAL’s (www.baal.org.uk).

Financially, we have been carrying a small surplus over from our three Spring Seminar, and our current balance stands at £xxx.  But the high level of activity (and interest) associated with LEF may need a firmer financial underpinning, and Richard Barwell, who has taken over as Acting Treasurer, is drawing up a discussion paper on this.

3.	Final remarks
This has certainly been a busy period, not only with our continuing to organise academic meetings but also with laying down the formal foundations for our future.  As BAAL’s first SIG, there is quite a lot of new territory that needs to be charted, but we have received a lot of help and encouragement from the BAAL Executive Committee, and we hope that some of the procedures that we are establishing in LEF may be of some use to other SIGs.  But maybe most important of all, at least within the Coordinating Committee, it has felt as though LEF is doing quite well addressing its main aims (see 1 above).

Ben Rampton
on behalf of the UK LEF Acting Coordinating Committee
(Richard Barwell, Angela Creese, Janet Maybin, Ben Rampton, Karin Tusting)
29 March 2004

UKLEF Report of Acting Treasurer to AGM
April 2004

1. ACTING TREASURER

1.1	The position of acting treasurer passed from Janet Maybin to Richard Barwell in October 2003. Thanks are due to Janet for her management of LEF finances in the preceding years.

2. BAAL SIG

2.1	As a BAAL SIG, UKLEF is now audited annually through BAAL. 
2.2	As a BAAL SIG, UKLEF is obliged to offer an advantageous rate to BAAL members in any events, such as the seminar. Non-BAAL-members are therefore required to pay £15 more to attend the seminar. It has been clarified (by Constant Leung, BAAL treasurer) during the year that UKLEF may keep any monies collected in this way.
2.3	Assuming the approval of the UKLEF constitution, in the event of UKLEF winding up, any funds in hand will fall to BAAL.
2.4	I am still trying to establish whether BAAL will sustain any deficit in the event of UKLEF being wound up.

3. FINANCIAL SITUATION

3.1	At the end of its last accounting year (31st May 2003), UKLEF had reserves of £563.72.
3.2 The Edge Hill seminar (April 2003) contributed £80.57 to reserves.
3.3 The seminar of April 2004 is expected to have a neutral effect on reserves.

Richard Barwell
Acting Treasurer
April 2004

UKLEF Financial Strategy – 4th Draft April 2004

1 UKLEF financial activities

1.1	Annual seminar

The principal financial activity of UKLEF is the organisation of an annual seminar. At present, most expenditure items relate to this annual event. The approximate average expenditure for the seminars to date (2000-2003) is £2,100.

The seminar is largely financed from fees levied for participation. Additional income has come from ad hoc grants. Fees have been below £85 with student participant paying half the full rate and non-BAAL-members paying a £15 supplement as required by BAAL.

1.2	Membership

UKLEF does not charge a membership fee.

1.3	Co-ordinating committee activities

Until now, members of the organising committee have not claimed expenses for their activities, though it may be desirable for some provision to be available to encourage participation as appropriate.

1.4	Reserves

At the end of the last accounting period (31 May 2003) UKLEF had £563.72 held in reserve.

2. Future strategy

2.1 Revenue

The main source of revenue will continue to be the fees charged or participation in the annual seminar. The level of fees should ensure that, after taking into account any ad hoc grants, the cost of the seminar is covered. 

2.2 Reserves

It is desirable that UKLEF modestly augments its reserves in order to cover unexpected costs, to offer limited expenses to co-ordinating committee members (see 2.4) and to enable some flexibility in the organisation of seminars. Augmentation of reserves will be achieved through the inclusion of a levy of not more than £10 in the participant fee of each seminar. 

2.4 Co-ordinating committee

A token contribution may be made to 6 Co-ordinating Committee members’ travel to one meeting per year of up to £20 per member, i.e. £120 per year.

3. Financial management and accountability

3.1 Seminar attendance fee waivers

All seminar participants are assumed to pay the attendance fee with the exception of:
(1)	the local organiser
(2)	up to 2 invited participants, of which only 1 may be from outside Europe, unless additional grants are secured. Invitations are issued by the Convenor on behalf of the Co-ordinating Committee and include an explicit offer of travel expenses and fee waiver.

4.2 Authorisation of expenditure

All payments above £500 should be countersigned by two members of the Co-ordinating Committee. Payments below £500 may be authorised by the one member of the Co-ordinating Committee (normally the Treasurer). They may authorise:
(1)	legitimate conference expenditure
(2)	Co-ordinating Committee expenses, as set out in 2.4
Any further items must first be approved by the Co-ordinating Committee.

4.3 Accountability

The Treasurer is to be elected, as set out in the constitution. A financial report should be presented annually by the Treasurer at the AGM. This report should also be submitted to BAAL. Accounts should be audited annually, through BAAL. 

The accounting year will be brought into line with that of BAAL.

This 3-year financial strategy should only be altered with the agreement of the AGM.

UKLEF Report of Acting Communications Secretary to AGM
April 2004

Email list

There are currently 145 users subscribed to the ling-ethnog email list, which is hosted by jiscmail.  There is a steady trickle of new subscribers (1-2 a month), each of whom is asked to send the communications secretary a paragraph describing their research interests in linguistic ethnography.  The list is principally used for administrative purposes and to organise and advertise UKLEF events at the moment, with some job adverts and conference announcements being circulated.  It has the potential to be used for broader discussion of issues but is currently not being used in this way.

Website

The website (www.ling-ethnog.org.uk, currently hosted at Lancaster University) serves as the group’s principal form of publicity beyond the email list and also serves as its archives.  It is regularly updated and backed up.  All existing group documents, such as minutes of business meetings, officers’ reports, and accounts are posted on the website, with announcements being circulated to the email list when these are changed.

Karin Tusting, 6 April 2004.

UKLEF Report of Acting Meetings Secretary to AGM
April 2004

1.	Annual seminar:

1.1	The theme for the annual seminar for 2004 is: The interface between linguistic and postsructuralist feminist ethnographies.  This theme was agreed upon by participants at the Edgehill (2003) seminar (Translation, interpretation and representation: issues for linguistic ethnography).  
1.2	The 2004 seminar was to be held at Gregynog Hall and hosted by Sarah Lawson, University of Wales.  However due to low participants numbers, UKLEF was not able to cover costs for the Gregynog venue and the seminar was moved to Kings College London.  We are extremely grateful for all the work that Sarah Lawson undertook in setting up the 4th annual seminar.   
1.3	The theme and venue for the 5th seminar will be decided upon by members at the forthcoming AGM and through email discussion shortly following the AGM.

2.	UKLEF SIG Colloquium (BAAL)

2.1	The 2004 September linguistic ethnography colloquium (coordinators - Rampton, Barwell, Blommaert, Collins and Slembrouck)  has two parts: 

Part one: Time, the global & the local: theoretical and methodological explorations (papers by: Catherine Kell, Ben Rampton, Peter Sercombe, Kate Pahl and Julia Struck-Soboleva)
Part two: Ethnographies of communication in multilingual spaces (papers by Jan Blommaert, Jim Collins and Stef Slembrouck; Mariette De Hann and E.Elbers; Cecile Vigouroux; Karel Arnaut; Marco Jacquemet)

3.	Website and email list

3.1	Information regarding the UKLEF’s annual seminars and colloquiums is posted to members on the email list: ling-ethnog@jiscmail.ac.uk and on the website at http://www.ling-ethnog.org.uk/

Angela Creese
Acting Meetings Secretary
April 2004

I am standing for election as the UK Linguistic Ethnography communications secretary from April 2004-April 2006.  I am one of the founder members of the group and have been on the steering committee since its inception, working as acting communications secretary for the past 2 years.  My principal responsibilities so far have included setting up an email list for the group using jiscmail, setting up a website to publicise group activities, and maintaining and developing these resources, as well as engaging with the rest of the steering group in planning UKLEF events and activities.  As communications secretary I have also been responsible for submitting annual returns on SIG membership to BAAL.  
If elected, I would seek to further develop the electronic communicative resources of the group.  I would like to develop and update the participants’ page on the website to reflect the profile of the group as a whole, so that people can use it as a resource to enable networking with others who share their interests outside the face-to-face meetings of the group.  I would also like to draw on our existing resources to include a section of the website developing methodological issues which group participants could contribute to on an ongoing basis.
I have served as Special Interest Group co-ordinator on the BAAL Executive Committee for a year so can also bring to the post an understanding of the position of the group within BAAL as a whole.
Karin Tusting, April 2004