The ALAA offers a range of schemes to support the development of teaching, learning and research in applied linguistics, including scholarships, prizes and conference attendance support. They are M.A.K. Halliday Scholarship, Michael Clyne Prize, Postgraduate Travel Scholarship and Penny McKay Memorial Award.
In addition, the ALAA provides The Distinguished Scholarship and Service Award (DSSA) to recognize and honour a distinguished scholar for her/his scholarship and service to the profession in general and to the ALAA in particular.
The MAK Halliday Prize for Outstanding Research in Applied Linguistics will be awarded to an Early Career Researcher (post-PhD) with the best peer reviewed journal article or book chapter published in 2018 with a focus on “making linguistics applied”. Submissions are welcomed from applicants working in any area of Applied Linguistics. In assessing submissions, emphasis will be placed on the originality and quality of the contribution to the field.
The annual Michael Clyne Prize has been established for the best postgraduate research thesis in the area of immigrant bilingualism and language contact. The Prize up to $1500 is jointly administered by ALAA and ALS (Australian Linguistic Society).
Prize to be awarded to an MA (research) or PhD thesis examined (or passed by examiners) in the previous year that focuses on some aspect of immigrant bilingualism and language contact. The thesis should have been submitted at an Australian university.
The scholarship is not offered in 2020 due to the cancelation of the 2020 ALAA conference due to COVID-19.
Five ALAA Postgraduate Travel Scholarships of up to $800 each are available each year for the ALAA members. The scholarships can be used towards conference registration, travel and/or accommodation. They will be awarded as a reimbursement for documented expenses after the conference.
The Penny McKay Memorial Award honours Penny’s contribution to research and development in second/additional language education. As a teacher, consultant, researcher, keynote speaker and professional activist, Penny McKay was a leader in language education in Australia and internationally. Working collaboratively with educators and researchers in schools, she pioneered an approach to assessing learners’ development in English as an additional language.Further information can be found on ACTA website.
The Award is jointly offered by the Applied Linguistics Association of Australia (ALAA), the Australian Council of TESOL Associations (ACTA) and the Association for Language Testing and Assessment of Australia and New Zealand (ALTAANZ).
The Distinguished Scholar and Service Award recognises a scholar for his/her longstanding scholarly achievement and service to the field of Applied Linguistics and Applied Linguistics Association of Australia.
The Award is granted for the person who gives the Christopher N Candlin Memorial Lecture. The costs are covered by the Conference Organising Committee and the award is presented at the end of the lecture.
Since the ALAA conference will not be taking place in 2020, we invite our PhD student members to share their work with the broader ALAA community through our inaugural ALAA 3 minute thesis (3MT®) competition. The 3 minute thesis competition was developed by the University of Queensland and challenges students to explain their thesis to a non-specialist audience in no more than 180 seconds, and using only ONE Powerpoint slide. For the ALAA competition this year students will initially enter a video of their presentation. Finalists will then be invited to present their talk live at a Zoom final open to members of the public that will take place on October 15 at 4pm (AEDST).