History
At the 2006 'Building Partnerships' Symposium at Macquarie University in Sydney it was agreed that it would be desirable and mutually advantageous to seek to establish a grouping of researchers and practitioners in LSP and Professional Communication in the broad Asia-Pacific region. An interim preparatory working group was therefore set up to seek ways to formalize such a grouping into a more formal Association. This proposed Asia-Pacific LSP and Professional Communication Association would be an association of researchers and practitioners primarily from the Asia-Pacific region specializing in languages for specific purposes and professional communication. Its main objective will be to promote research and practice of language teaching and training for professional communication. It will also aim to help interested individuals and institutions develop individually or in partnership a range of curriculum models, provide access to resources, and encourage partnered research. The working group welcomes all teachers and researchers of all the relevant modern languages in the tertiary and further education sectors to join in and contribute their ideas and experiences in the establishment of such an Association. Asia-Pacific LSP and Professional Communication Association was thus formally launched on 9 December 2008 during the LSP and Professional Communication Conference (8-10 December 2008) on 'Partnerships in Action: Research, Practice and Training' held in Hong Kong.