President's Report 2005

In this, my final report as EUROCALL President, I would like to highlight a few developments which came to fruition during my two terms of office. I hope to be able to document that these developments have been initiated by the EUROCALL executive for the benefit of our association.

As far as the day-to-day business is concerned, this is in the able and competent hands of our head office at Limerick University. The transition from Hull to Limerick went very well, and I would like to thank Angela Chambers and Margaret Gammel for their hard work and dedication to EUROCALL. Thanks to them, the EUROCALL ship is sailing smoothly in these difficult days, where academic associations have to face more challenges than usual.

There are four matters, which I would like to focus on in this report:

Before addressing these issues, I would like to a) thank Klaus Peters for the excellent EUROCALL conference he and his team organised in Vienna in 2004, b) thank Grazyna Studzinska and her team for their willingness to organise the 2005 conference in a new member-country of the EU under still sometimes difficult circumstances, and c) thank Tony Harris and the Granada team for having offered to host EUROCALL at Granada in 2006.

Regional events

As you may remember, at the beginning of my presidency I strongly emphasized the need for regional events in addition to our annual conferences in order to ensure that members can feel the benefit of being part of the EUROCALL community closer to home. I myself – together with Stephan Pohlmann, our NatRep coordinator – started to host a one-day workshop cum conference at the Berlin EXPOLINGUA fair and conference some years ago. This event is now a regular feature at the EXPOLINGUA, and I shall host another such event in Berlin on 19 November 2005. We felt that a framework is needed to guide and support those interested in organising some kind of regional event with EUROCALL involvement. The executive, therefore, defined guidelines and regulations, and these have been put to the test successfully at a regional event organised by David Barr earlier in 2005 at the School of Languages & Literature at the University of Ulster in Coleraine County Londonderry. Feedback from participants and presenters was very positive, and I would like to thank David on behalf of EUROCALL for this successful event. The next event of this kind is already being prepared at Leon University in Spain by Robert O’Dowd, scheduled to take place in May 2006. This will obviously tie in very nicely with preparations for next year’s conference in Granada, and Tony Harris, conference chair for 2006 at Granada, is liaising with Robert on this. I can only invite anyone willing to organise a regional event to contact headquarters and find out more about the framwork.

Change of membership year

As announced and implemented in 2004, the executive decided to change the membership year in such a way that new members, joining our association at an annual conference, can feel the benefits and “perks” involved right away, e.g. the subscription to our ReCALL Journal etc. In addition, this also has administrative benefits, and despite the initial investment necessary in the transition year, reflected in last year’s and this year’s budget, the executive feels that this was a good move, as it seems to help stabilise membership.. A word of thanks to Angela ands Margaret for their efforts in implementing this at headquarters.

ReCALL Journal

The journal is developing very nicely, thanks to June Thompson’s continued contribution as our editor, not forgetting Graham Chesters as well as the Editorial Board and the Academic Advisory Panel. The journal is now a well respected refereed publication in the field, recognised beyond EUROCALL membership and in the wider academic community, and is also starting to make a small profit. The move to publish with CUP seems to pay off, and they see further potential and have suggested that ReCALL should be publishing three issues per year as of next year. This must certainly be seen as a vote of confidence by one of the most respected academic publishers, and the executive feels that this is a very wise move, as it will increase public exposure for EUROCALL and be an additional tangible benefit for membership.

The EUROCALL Newsletter (electronic)

Talking about benefits for membership: a word of thanks to Ana Gimeno Sanz, who initiated and now supervises the publication of the EUROCALL Newsletter. This has become a welcome second channel for publishing matters relevant for CALL & TELL under the EUROCALL label, and the executive will make moves to fully establish this newsletter as a more formal form of publication, including a screening procedure for contributions submitted. We feel that this will be for the benefit of membership as well as a welcome additional option publishing in a formal and recognised way through EUROCALL.

A Final Word

As this is my final report as EUROCALL President, I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to the executive (past and present) who helped me and supported my efforts in trying to serve EUROCALL as best as I can. I hope I did not disappoint those who supported my candidacy initially, and those who voted for me in the elections. I decided not to run again for a number of reasons: First of all, I am now facing the challenge of organising AILA 2008, the 15 th World Congress of Applied Linguistics (24.-29. August 2008) at Essen, and secondly, I feel that two terms of office is a suitable timeframe for the presidency. Even though I am not on the executive any longer, I shall stay an active member of EUROCALL and look forward to seeing as many of you at next year’s annual conference in Granada.

Bernd Rüschoff