The ILTA/LTRC Annual Business Meeting Temecula, California Sunday, March 28, 2004 11:15-1:00   Antony Kunnan (AK), ILTA President, Presiding     AK opened the meeting by thanking all of the ILTA members who had worked for ILTA during the year. A special thank you was extended to those who had served on working committees.   The minutes from the previous ILTA Business Meeting, held at  LTRC Reading, UK in 2003, were reviewed. John de Jong questioned the budget surplus that was reported, indicating that he felt it was inappropriate to compliment the LTRC Reading Conference organizers for producing a profit from the Conference. He asked why LTRC was being used to finance ILTA and did this mean that LTRC participants were being overcharged? AK responded by requesting that John raise the issue again in relation to the Treasurer’s report (see below). John Read moved that the minutes be accepted. This was seconded by Gene Halleck. The minutes were approved unanimously.   AK announced the ILTA officers for 2004: Antony Kunnan, President; Dan Douglas (DD), Vice President; Liz Hamp-Lyons (LHL), Immediate Past President; Vivien Berry (VB), Secretary; Janna Fox (JF), Treasurer; Jayanti Banerjee (JB), Craig Deville (CD), Pauline Rea-Dickins (PRD), Sara Cushing Weigle (SCW), Members-at-Large.   AK discussed the main points of LHL’s report as the Immediate Past President, and indicated that copies of the report were available to the membership. He paid particular attention to the Past President’s concern that the guidelines for awards and proposals for workshops be revitalized. Further, AK noted that an initiative from ETS to identify and provide books in language testing for libraries that were not well-supplied has been acted on. The books had been provided to libraries in Peru and Uzbekistan. It was proposed by John de Jong that the list of books and a description of the ETS sponsored project be included in a forthcoming issue of Language Testing Update.  This was seconded by Dorry Kenyon and approved unanimously.   (Post-meeting note from VB): The ETS initiative, the TOEFL Library and Resource Center Award, mandates that up to three awards may be given annually to institutions outside the United States and Canada. A description of the project, the recipients of the first award, the list of books and a copy of the ILTA sticker are all in LTU Issue 34 – Winter 2003:98-105)     There was general expression of regret that both LHL and VB were unable to attend the ILTA Executive Board Meeting and LTRC. It was agreed that JF would take minutes in Vivien’s absence.     JF presented a summary of the Treasurer’s report. Although she noted that there were a number of outstanding payments (including payments for the pre-conference workshop and the printing of the program for LTRC Reading), the ILTA budget has a healthy balance of  $21, 075.69 USD. There were also outstanding revenues from Reading (namely ETS support that had not yet been received).  JF indicated that she would continue to follow-up on the Reading account. She also noted that $1,000 USD had been withdrawn, but was not in fact needed, to support LHL’s travel to LTRC Temecula. [Note by DD, 28 September 2005: This money was redeposited in the ILTA account when, as is noted in Minute 5 above, LHL was unable to make the trip even with support from ILTA].   John de Jong questioned this support. Was it a precedent? AK indicated that there was a provision in the By-Laws to allow ad hoc support for travel of ILTA officers if they needed it in order to attend the conference. John de Jong then questioned why ILTA had such a high balance? Why was it necessary, he asked, to pay such high conference fees? Was LTRC being used to develop the ILTA treasury? If this were the case, this should not continue. JF responded that the money was used to support awards and workshops and allowed ILTA to act. Further, there was a concern within the membership that if there were two conferences in succession that did not generate a profit, ILTA might be in a position that would not allow for essential support for LTRC.   Constant Leung also made the point that BAAL (the British Association for Applied Linguistics) worked on the premise that there should be enough in the surplus to fund 2 ‘bad’ conferences. Micheline Chalhoub-Deville indicated that not all conferences make ends meet, citing as an example the St. Louis conference which ran at a loss.   There was also a comment from John de Jong that ILTA was even failing to support LTU, which was one of the few, direct benefits of membership. DD responded that the Executive Board would be submitting a proposal to the membership for alternatives to LTU during this business meeting. AK recommended that this discussion of LTU resume after the next items on the Agenda had been covered.   Lyle Bachman suggested that ILTA approach both Arnold and Erlbaum to see if they would be willing to give preferential subscription rates for their respective journals in exchange for a payment from ILTA.    JF provided a report on LTRC 2005. Co-hosted by Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, the reception and banquet will be held at the Chateau Laurier Hotel; papers will be presented at the University of Ottawa (within easy walking distance of the hotel). The dates have been set for Tuesday, July 19, 2005 to Friday, July 22, 2005. The conference title is: Taking stock – Challenges, issues, impacts:  The Interplay of Research and Language Testing Practice. There will be two pre-conference workshops. One offered by Bruno Zumbo on quantitative approaches to language testing research and test development; the other offered by Anne Lazaraton and Lynda Taylor on qualitative approaches.   Under Action Items on the agenda, AK indicated that it was the recommendation of the Executive Board that Achievement Award winners be given lifetime membership in ILTA. It was suggested that this should be checked with VB to be certain that is was in accord with the By-Laws, and that it also be checked with UCLES (as the award sponsor). Nathan Carr moved that Lifetime Membership in ILTA be awarded to Lifetime Achievement Award winners. The motion was seconded by Barbara Dobson. AK called for a vote and the motion was passed unanimously.   (Post meeting note from VB): The proposal to award Lifetime Membership in ILTA to Lifetime Achievement Award winners will require an amendment to the By-Laws (Article 1, Section 3) and a vote from the entire ILTA membership, not just LTRC attendees.     AK reported on the work of CD regarding an ILTA Student Travel Award/Fund to Attend LTRC. There was a brief  discussion of  possible selection criteria, and the award procedures of other conferences (AAAL, TESOL) and other organizations (ETS – TOEFL). AK noted that CD had agreed to finalize procedures for such an award and to report back to the ILTA executive by June 1, 2004. The discussion of the membership centred around the criteria regarding selection and suggested that students whose abstracts had been accepted by LTRC be given priority, and that a fixed amount be identified to support  accommodation and/or travel costs.    DD initiated the discussion of the replacement of Language Testing Update (LTU). He began by recommending that an official thank you be sent to Dianne Wall, Jayanti Banerjee, Caroline Clapham, Pauline Rea-Dickins and Charles Alderson for their excellent work over the years on Language Testing Update (LTU). He then reviewed the issues that had previously been discussed by the Executive Board and the membership, namely, issues of frequency, cost, delays, efficiency, advantages of on-line journals, potentials for parallel print versions, possible new models (BAAL newsletter), etc. Based on the discussion, DD presented a proposal for consideration of the membership which would address the issues and create a responsive newsletter to replace LTU (see attached proposal). John de Jong indicated that if the Executive thought that this new proposal would save cost, it was clear that it would not. DD replied that it would in fact be less expensive and would be more responsive, e.g., multiple issues, dual formats, etc. DD indicated that there will be a need to amend the By-Laws in order to allow for a Publication Manager to be a member of the Executive Board. James Purpura moved that the proposal be considered and that a Publication Division be created as proposed. The motion was seconded by Gene Halleck and approved unanimously.   It was noted that the proposal to establish a Publication Division and have a Publication Manager as a member of the EB needs to be voted by the entire ILTA membership, not just LTRC attendees, as it will entail a revision to the By-Laws.    New Initiatives   11.1         AK reported on the proposal that a student representative be included on the ILTA Executive Board. It was agreed that student membership was desirable. There would, however, need to be specific guidelines for a student representative. The By-Laws would need to be consulted/revised.   11.2    AK noted that Elana Shohamy had proposed that a Testing Institute be held by ILTA. JF reported that she was in the initial stages of setting up a graduate seminar to be held in conjunction with LTRC 2005.   11.3    JF reported that she had received a proposal to develop a web site for secure voting. It was agreed that the proposal be submitted to the membership. The cost of developing the website would be $300-$400 and would be accessible during ILTA elections/voting.  Each member would be given a password and the site would be available for a limited period of time by password access only. Each password would be used once during the voting period, and then access would be denied. This would be a one-time cost of development. Future LTRCs   12.1    LTRC 2006 Chris Davidson presented a bid to host LTRC 2006 in Melbourne in June 2006. It was unanimously and enthusiastically approved as the LTRC 2006 site.   12.2    LTRC 2007 Regarding LTRC 2007, AK noted that there is a need to follow the By-Laws with regard to the linkage between LTRC and other conferences. The Ottawa LTRC 2005 is linked to AILA. Given that LTRC will be held in Melbourne in 2006 during the last two weeks of June, DD indicated that the timing of the 2007 LTRC would need to be examined carefully. AK noted that the current By-Laws require that LTRC be in North America in 2007 (linked to AAAL or TESOL). This would prevent Jim Purpura and Carolyn Turner from proposing to hold LTRC in Barcelona in 2007. They might be persuaded however to propose Barcelona for 2008. Jim agreed to investigate specific locations and arrangements in Barcelona. Discussion ended pending review of additional information regarding other conferences and By-Law requirements.    Any other business   AK noted that Hossein Farhady and number of other LTRC presenters and/or ILTA members were not granted visas to attend LTRC. He suggested that ILTA should respond as an organization by writing a letter of protest to the State Department. He reported that the Executive Board unanimously supported an official letter of protest. The membership voted unanimously to support a letter of protest.   The meeting was adjourned at 1:00   Proposal to establish an ILTA Newsletter   The Executive Board recommends that ILTA establish a Publishing Division, responsible for oversight of website, newsletter, other publications.   §         Establish a Publication Manager as a member of the Executive Board.   Establish a Newsletter Editor.  Perhaps identify someone at a university with a journalism school to organize production.   Each would receive an honorarium (e.g., $500 and $1000 respectively)   ILTA Newsletter   Four times a year, members would receive an email with a table of contents and a URL   It would be housed on ILTA website   Members could opt to receive a paper copy of the newsletter   Note: If someone wished to propose a replacement for LTU, ILTA is open to discussing it. The ABM approved only the principle set out in the first two lines, leaving the details up to the EB to negotiate.