International Language Testing Association/Language Testing Research Colloquium  Minutes of the Annual Business Meeting  10 March 2000 Vancouver, Canada 8:00 - 9:00 a.m.     1.      The minutes of the previous ILTA/LTRC business meeting held in Tsukuba, Japan on 29 August 1999 were accepted.   All matters arising from the previous minutes would be dealt with on the agenda for the Vancouver 2000 meeting, which was displayed on an OHT.   The names of the  elected members of the ILTA Executive Board for 2000 were also displayed on an OHT. They are: President                                             Alan Davies Vice-President                                    Caroline Clapham Immediate Past President                 Elana Shohamy Secretary                                             Vivien Berry Treasurer                                             Antony Kunnan Members-at-Large                             Tom Lumley                  Brian Lynch                  John Read                  Carolyn Turner   2.      A proposal was received for the adoption of the Code of Ethics. (Proposed: Brian Lynch, Seconded: Caroline Clapham). This was voted on and approved.   3.      Alan Davies outlined reasons for now developing a Code of Practice. The meeting agreed that the Japanese Association should be invited to produce a Code of Practice which might be suitable for adoption more widely. Action: Alan Davies   4.      Procedures for selecting the speaker for the annual Messick Lecture were discussed. John Clark outlined a proposal from the ETS TOEFL Research Committee for a selection procedure for the speaker. This involved the setting up of a selection committee to consist of the President of ILTA, the Chair (or Co-Chairs of the next LTRC and a representatiive of the TOEFL Research Committee. This proposal was approved and it was agreed that the Chair (to Co-Chair) of the next LTRC should act as convenor of the selection committee. Action: Alan Davies and John Clark   5.      The outgoing Secretary/Treasurer (Caroline Clapham) presented the statement of accounts on an OHT. This was necessarily brief, as only six months has elapsed since the previous report at Tsukuba. Members were informed that the inaugural ILTA workshops were taking place and that the incoming ILTA Treasurer (Antony Kunnan) was in the process of changing the ILTA accounts so that in future all would be in US dollar accounts in the United States. It was confirmed that all workshop organizers were required to submit reports on the conduct of their workshops and the disbursement of their ILTA awards   6.      It was agreed that the Association's gratitude to Caroline Clapham for her work as Secretary/Treasurer over the past three years should be minuted, as should thanks for the work of all the ILTA officers and committee during 1999.   7.      Alan Davies presented the ILTA Executive Board recommendations for discussion.   Bylaws Committee: Brian Lynch had agreed to chair a committee to look into amendments to the Bylaws. The committee consists of ? Action: Brian Lynch   The winner of the ILTA Best Paper award for 1997 was James E. Purpura for his paper: An analysis of the relationships between test takers' cognitive and metacognitive strategy use and second language test performance published in Language Learning, Vol. 47, 2 (289-325). It was agreed that Best Papers for both 1998 and 1999 would be selected during 2000, to be awarded at LTRC 2001 in St. Louis. The Selection Committee consists of Micheline Chalhoub-Deville, Cathie Elder and Jim Purpura (Chair ?). It was also agreed that from 2001, the prize money associated with the award would be raised to US$500 to match the amount given in the Lado Award for Best Student Paper. Action: the Best Paper Selection Committee   As ILTA Bylaws insist that the President of ILTA should attend the Annual Meeting, the Executive Board recommends that funding of up to US$1000 should be made available for officers (President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer) on a case-by-case, essential needs basis. Much discussion took place regarding prioritizing financial assistance  for LTRC organizers over ILTA officers. Past LTRC organizers explained how they had budgeted essential travel costs when determining conference subscriptions. ILTA also provides seed funding for advance start-up costs. It was agreed that there is a need for absolute transparency on how funding is allocated and spent.  A proposal was approved (Proposed: Lyle Bachman, Seconded: Antony Kunnan) that: Requests for financial assistance of up to US$1000 for ILTA officers would be considered on a case-by-case basis. Profit from LTRC (after repayment of ILTA seed funding) would be passed on to the following LTRC organizing committee, with full accounts. Action: ILTA Executive Board & LTRC Organizers   Discussion took place regarding the position of Affiliates to ILTA. ACROLT, the Japanese Association and an Association from China still hoped to pursue the issue of Affiliation. The possibility of US regional affiliates such as SCALAR and the Mid-West organiszation was mentioned. Elana Shohamy suggested setting up a committee to formulate procedures for regional and national affiliates so they would know how they would benefit. Alan Davies thanked members for the discussion.   Members were informed of a suggestion to offer two new awards for: Distinguished Lifetime Achievement and Outstanding Young Person. After discussion it was decided that further thought was required before a formal proposal was presented. Brian Lynch agreed that a Bylaws sub-committee could look into the matter. Action: Brian Lynch   A report on the organization of LTRC 2001 was presented by the Co-Chairs, Micheline Chalhoub-Deville and Dan Douglas. LTRC 2001 will be held in St. Louis on the following dates, chosen to coincide with other conferences: February 20 - workshop (ideas on theme invited) February 21-23 - LTRC 2001 - theme 'Language Testing and Technology' February 24 - joint session with AAAL (symposium on 'construct of speaking' - suggestions for speakers invited) Call for abstracts would be issued in June 2000 Conference fee (according to budget) US$115, regular members; US$50, students. Dinner banquet: US$45 per person (approximately) Conference Hotel: St. Louis Marriott Pavilion (downtown). Room rate, currently US$109 per room (but may increase).   In response to a query from Micheline Chalhoub-Deville, it was confirmed that the current organizers of LTRC would become members of the ILTA Executive Board with immediate effect.   9.      Liz Hamp-Lyons (Chair of LTRC 2002 in Hong Kong) offered 14 - 16 December as tentative dates for LTRC 2002, to be confirmed after consultation with organizers of other local conferences and AILA in Singapore.   (Post meeting note: it was agreed that since there would, of necessity, be much discussion required concerning holding LTRC 2002 in conjunction with AILA at such an unprecedented time of year, Liz Hamp-Lyons should also be invited to become a member of the ILTA Executive Board with immediate effect)   10. There was some discussion regarding the advisability of holding LTRC 2003 only three months after LTRC 2002. The issue remains unresolved.   11. The meeting closed at 9:00 a.m.