HAAL Conference 2025

July 12, 2025

The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR

Discover HAAL 2025

The HAAL 2025 conference welcomes proposals in all areas of applied linguistics. While there is no specific conference theme, we are particularly interested in innovative and rigorous topics that demonstrate strong methodological and/or theoretical approaches. Additionally, we encourage postgraduate students who are nearing completion of their theses to submit proposals as well.

Submission Guidelines

Please submit abstracts of a maximum of 200 words at https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=haal2023.

Each proposal should clearly indicate the objectives, methods, and (preliminary) results where appropriate. All accepted proposals will be presented in the form of ‘individual papers’. For each paper, the presenter(s)should speak for no more than 20 minutes, followed by a 5-min Q&A session. Each presenter is limited to one individual presentation OR one joint presentation.

Deadline of abstract submission: May 9, 2025.

Publications

All presenters are welcome to submit their papers for the “Special Issue for HAAL 2025 Conference” in the Asian Journal of English Language Teaching (AJELT), published by The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. AJELT is published in the gold open access mode, which means that there is no author fee, and all published papers are free to download

Our History

Established in 1980, the Hong Kong Association for Applied Linguistics (HAAL) started with a group of applied linguists who got together frequently to discuss, over wine and cheese at home, linguistics and English language teaching, amongst other things. The idea of setting up an association to formalize this kind of meeting and to provide a forum for ideas exchange was first proposed by the late Mr. Ray Tongue, who was then working as a consultant to the Advisory Inspectorate of the Hong Kong Government Education Department. This was supported by colleagues in Hong Kong Polytechnic, Hong Kong University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Some of the founding members were Peter Barnes and John Hunt of the Hong Kong Polytechnic and John Gibbons and Graham Lowe of Hong Kong University. HAAL started with a membership of about 50, and now we have over 100.

HAAL holds regular seminars throughout the academic year. These usually take place at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Over the years, speakers at these seminars have included many local and overseas linguists and applied linguists. Established figures and newcomers alike are invited to speak as long as the topic is relevant and interesting. The Association usually strikes a balance between overseas and local speakers, and between individual papers and panel discussions. Well-known figures who have addressed HAAL include Michael Halliday, Jack Richards (a former Chairman of HAAL), David Nunan, Ron Carter, Lyle Bachman, Liz Hamp-Lyons, and Merrill Swain.

HAAL is not only a place where you can come for seminars which interest you, but also a place where you get to meet or see colleagues from other institutions, whom you might not meet otherwise, and to keep yourself up-to-date with the developments in other institutions. We also conduct a Research Forum every few years. What’s more, we organize an annual social event. Imagine yourself on-board along with other applied linguists!

The best way to find out more about HAAL is to come to the seminars and join us for dinner afterwards. You can find further details about HAAL and how to become our member on our official site at http://www.haal.hk.