CONSTITUTION OF THE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS
APPROVED MAY 2007

(PDF)

ARTICLE 1: NAME AND AFFILIATIONS

1.1 The Association shall be known in English as the Canadian Association of Applied Linguistics and in French as L’Association canadienne de linguistique appliquée. Its official acronym shall be ACLA.
1.2 Internationally, ACLA is affiliated with the International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA).
1.3 On the national level, ACLA is affiliated with the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences (CFHSS).

ARTICLE 2: OBJECTIVES

2.1 The general objective of the Association is the promotion in Canada of research and teaching in all fields of applied linguistics.
2.2 The specific objectives of the Association are to oversee the organization of the annual ACLA conference and the publication of the Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics.

ARTICLE 3: OFFICIAL LANGUAGES

3.1 The official languages of the Association are English and French.

ARTICLE 4: MEMBERSHIP

4.1 Members of the Association are of three categories: regular members, student members, and honorary members:

  • Regular membership shall be open to any person upon payment of annual dues.
  • Students are entitled to student membership on presentation of a copy of their student identity card.
  • Honorary membership shall be open to persons having rendered outstanding services to the Association. Honorary membership status is awarded, subject to approval at the Annual General Meeting, on a motion from the Executive Council.

4.2 Only members in good standing may present papers at the annual conference of the Association.
4.3 Annual dues cover membership from January 1 to December 31.
4.4 All members shall receive copies of the Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics.

ARTICLE 5: EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

5.1 The Executive Council conducts the affairs of the Association, exercises the executive power of the Association, and reports on its activities and initiatives at the Annual General Meeting.
5.2 The Executive Council of the Association consists of the following elected members:

  • President(s)
  • Vice-President
  • Past President
  • Secretary-Treasurer
  • Communications Officer
  • Member-at-large
  • Editor of the Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics

5.3 Members of the Executive Council are elected at the Annual General Meeting (see Article 11.1).

ARTICLE 6: TERM OF OFFICE

6.1 The term of office for members of the Executive Council is normally two years. Normally, no member may serve more than three consecutive terms for the same office. If after an active search by the Selection Committee there is no candidate for an office, the term can be extended a fourth time.
6.2 Normally, after one term in office, the Vice President will become President.
6.3 The Past President serves throughout at least the first year of the first term of the new President(s).
6.4 The maximum length of time on the Executive Council for a member is normally nine years.
6.5 The term of office of elected and appointed positions shall begin and end the day of the Annual General Meeting.

ARTICLE 7: RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

7.1 The responsibilities of the Executive Council shall be the following:

  • to oversee expenditures necessary to operate the Association;
  • to approve the financing of the journal of the Association;
  • to establish Standing and Ad hoc committees and report on their proceedings at the Annual General Meeting;
  • upon recommendation of the Editor, to appoint the co-Editor of the journal;
  • to adopt measures and take action which it deems necessary or appropriate for the operation and continued growth of the Association;
  • to meet as least once a year, normally at the annual conference.

ARTICLE 8: TERMS OF REFERENCE

8.1 The President(s) is (are) Director(s) General of the Association and, as such:

  • represent(s) the Association as Chief Executive Officer;
  • liaise(s) with AILA, CFHSS and other relevant organizations and institutions to promote the Association;
  • provide(s) leadership to the Association and communicate(s) regularly with its members;
  • chair(s) the Conference Program Committee that organizes that annual conference of the Association;
  • convene(s) and chair(s) the meetings of the Annual General Meeting and of the Executive Council;
  • is (are), ex officio, member(s) of the Editorial Board of the Journal;
  • report(s) to members of the Association at the Annual General Meeting;
  • may establish and name committees to assist in these tasks.

8.2 The Vice-President discharges the duties of the President when the latter is either absent or unable to perform her/his duties and also performs the following tasks:

  • is member of the Conference Program Committee and plays an active role in the planning of the annual conference;
  • prepares preliminary agendas for the Annual General Meeting and Executive Council meeting of the Association;
  • draws up, distributes, and maintains a record of the minutes of Executive Council meetings as well as those of the Annual General Meeting;

8.3 The Past President primarily acts as advisor to the Executive Council and may fulfill any duties as requested by the Executive Council.
8.4 The Secretary-Treasurer is responsible for the financial administration of the Association and, as such:

  • is responsible for the official documents and all the records of the Association;
  • oversees all banking operations of the Association;
  • oversees the collection of membership dues to finance the Association, keeps an up-to-date list of members with current email addresses, and sends renewal notices to members at the beginning of each calendar year;
  • collects accounts payable to the Association and to the journal of the Association in the form of membership dues, institutional subscriptions, advertising space or sales of back issues of the journal, etc.;
  • makes routine expenditures for the current business of the Association and also more important expenditures which have been duly approved by the Executive Council;
  • submits an audited financial report at each Annual General Meeting and accounts for the financial situation of the Association to the Executive Council, either periodically or at the latter’s request;
  • takes measures to ensure that the Association annually submits appropriate forms to the Canada Revenue Agency.

8.5 The Communications Officer is responsible for maintaining the web site of the Association and, as such:

  • keeps the pages of the website up to date;
  • oversees the development of new web site pages or new web site functions.

8.6 The Member-at-large normally represents a region of Canada that is not represented by other executive members of the Association. Furthermore, he/she

  • is member of the Conference Program Committee;
  • coordinates translation services deemed necessary by the Association to balance its use of both official languages;
  • promotes the activities of ACLA and recruits members from his/her region;
  • may chair Standing or Ad hoc committees the Executive Council deems necessary to set up.

8.7 The Editor is responsible for the Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, official journal of the Association and, as such:

  • oversees the content of the journal;
  • oversees the appropriate financing of the journal of the Association and submits a financial report to the Secretary-Treasurer prior to the annual conference;
  • in consultation with the Executive Council, appoints the members of the Reading Committee, the Editorial Board, and the Book Review editor;
  • recommends to the Executive Council the appointment of a co-Editor representing the official language other than that of the Editor and with whom she/he shares editorial responsibilities;
  • selects and hires any secretarial, editorial or other service deemed necessary for the operation of the journal, including its distribution.

ARTICLE 9: STANDING COMMITTEES

9.1 There shall be two Standing Committees: the Conference Program Committee and the Nominating Committee.

  • The Conference Program Committee shall consist of the elected members of the Executive Council, including the President(s) as chair(s), Past President, Vice-President, Secretary-Treasurer, Communications Officer, and Member-at-large.
  • The Nominating Committee shall consist of one member of the Executive Council who is not standing for an elected position on the Council, who chairs the Committee, plus two persons appointed by the Executive Council and approved at the Annual General Meeting. No member of the Committee may seek an elected appointment to the Executive Council during his/her term of office.

ARTICLE 10: CONFERENCE PROGRAM COMMITTEE

10.1 The duties of the Conference Program Committee shall be:

  • to prepare and widely circulate the call for papers for the annual conference of the Association;
  • to organize the evaluation of proposals for papers and symposia;
  • to select and invite plenary speakers, where appropriate;
  • to appoint the local arrangements coordinator for the Association’s annual conference and the liaison delegates to other organizations;
  • to organize the program of the annual Conference;
  • to liaise with the local arrangements coordinator of the CFHSS;
  • to supervise the production of the preliminary and final programs of the annual conference.

ARTICLE 11: NOMINATING COMMITTEE

11.1 At least two months prior to the Annual General Meeting, the Nominating Committee will present a slate of candidates to all members of the Association in good standing along with a request for additional nominations to be submitted at least one month before the Annual General Meeting. Nominations received by the Nominating Committee must include the signatures of the nominee, and those of five members in good standing. Elections, where necessary, are to be conducted by the chair of the Nominating Committee at the Annual General Meeting by a simple majority vote.
11.2 The term of office for members of the Nominating Committee shall be three years, renewable once.

ARTICLE 12: AD HOC COMMITTEES

12.1 The Executive Council may, on its own initiative or at the request of members at the Annual General Meeting, set up any ad hoc committee deemed necessary within the framework of the Association.
12.2 The duties and the term of office for each committee are to be determined at the time such a committee is set up.
12.3 Ad hoc committees shall report directly to the Executive Council.

ARTICLE 13: MEETINGS

13.1 There shall be an annual conference of the Association and an Annual General Meeting scheduled during the annual conference. There shall also be at least one meeting per year of the Executive Council scheduled during or prior to the annual conference.

ARTICLE 14: QUORUM

14.1 For the Annual General Meeting the quorum shall be fifteen members in good standing.
14.2 Four members shall constitute quorum for meetings of the Executive Council.

ARTICLE 15: BY-LAWS

15.1 In order to organize its activities in such a way as to expedite its current business and further its objectives, the Association may adopt by-laws, either at the Annual General Meeting or through the Executive Council, providing such by-laws are not inconsistent with its constitution.
15.2 Changes in these by-laws may be proposed by the Executive Council or by any ten members of the Association in writing, and shall be dealt with as a motion and submitted to the membership for decision. To be accepted, a motion must receive a majority of the votes expressed.

ARTICLE 16: AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION

16.1 Amendments to this Constitution may be proposed by the Executive Council or by ten members of the Association in good standing, at any time. In either case, reasons for the modifications to the Constitution must be submitted in writing to the President(s) who will submit them to the whole membership, along with the proposed amendments, for a mail ballot.

BY-LAWS

BY-LAW 1: VOTING PROCEDURE

1.1 Any question on which a vote is taken at the Annual General Meeting shall be settled upon by a simple majority vote of members present.
1.2 Between meetings, when deemed necessary the President(s) may call a ballot of members of ACLA or the Executive Council electronically.

BY-LAW 2: VACANCIES

2.1 Any appointment, except that of President, which becomes vacant before the term of office is expired, may be filled by a unanimous choice of the other members of the Executive Council.
2.2 When the appointment of the President or the appointments of more than two other officers of the Executive Council become vacant, either simultaneously or at different times between two regular elections, a Special General Meeting shall be convened to have them filled.

BY-LAW 3: REMOVAL FROM OFFICE

3.1 Persons named to an office or a committee by the Executive Council may be removed by that Council at any time.
3.2 Persons holding an elective office may be removed from office at any time, following the same procedure that is used for amendments to the constitution.

BY-LAW 4: MOTIONS

4.1 Motions may be initiated by the Executive Council, or in writing by any ten (10) members of the Association in good standing, and are submitted by email to the entire membership for decision. Motions are carried if a majority of the members responding are in favour.
4.2 Motions may also be introduced and voted on at the Annual General Meeting and require for their passage a majority vote of the members attending the meeting.

BY-LAW 5: FISCAL YEAR

5.1 The fiscal year of the Association extends from January 1 to December 31 of the same calendar year.
5.2 An audit of the financial operations of the Association is to be carried out yearly and submitted in condensed form at the Annual General Meeting.
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