32 The Linguist Vol/58 No/4 2019
ciol.org.uk/tl
INSTITUTE MATTERS
In early 2014, Dr K C Li, President of CIOL's
Hong Kong Society (HKS), hit upon the idea
of organising an International Conference on
Linguistics and Language Studies (ICLLS).
After winning unanimous support from HKS
Executive Committee members, he
approached tertiary education institutions in
Hong Kong with HKS Chairman Dr Francis
Lee, inviting them to be co-organisers.
The first to join us were Caritas Institute of
Higher Education's School of Humanities and
Language, and the Department of English
Language and Literature at Hong Kong Shue
Yan University (HKSYU). Held in April 2015 at
HKSYU, the inaugural ICLLS was a great
success. Collaborating institutions take it in
turn to host the conference, and over the
years others have joined as co-organisers,
including the School of Education and
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MEMBERSHIP NETWORKS
my questions promptly," she said. According
to Dr Patrick Lee, Assistant Professor in
Linguistics at Caritas Institute, who joined
the Organising Committee in 2016: "The
competition from other organisations is
becoming keener and keener. To ensure
success, we have to make sure that the
keynote speakers are of high academic
standing. Of course, the reputation of the
Chartered Institute would definitely enhance
the popularity of the conference among
academics. Moreover, the co-organisers can
play an important role in promoting the
conference in Hong Kong and overseas."
The sixth ICLLS will be co-organised with
Tunghai University's College of Arts in
Taichung, Taiwan, and held at the university
on 19-20 June 2020. For more details about
CIOL's HK Society, see www.ciol.org.uk/hk.
Languages at Hong Kong's Open University,
and Hong Kong College of Technology's
Division of Languages and General Studies.
Attended by more than 50 participants
from all over the world, the fifth ICLLS was
held at Caritas Institute in Tseung Kwan O on
25-26 June 2019. Keynote speaker Professor
Jonathan J Webster, from City University of
Hong Kong, asked 'Why Systemic (not
Systematic) Functional Linguistics?'; while the
keynote speech from Professor Antony J
Kunnan, of the University of Macau, challenged
current approaches to language assessment,
putting forward an ethical approach.
Professor Sanae Saito from Tokai University
in Tokyo has come to the conference every
year since 2016. "The academic standard is
high, the people are friendly, and the logistics
are good. The secretariat always responds to
As the Hong Kong Society's ambitious International Conference celebrates its fifth successful year,
Vice Chairman Daniel Chan looks at how it developed and the collaborations that make it possible
HK's conference ambition
