Focuses on languages for specific purposes, providing a brief historical perspective, examining it as a profession, discipline, or neither; its role in science and law; language for business purposes; and the position of English worldwide. (Author/VWL)

Linguists and language specialists, as well as the lay public, have generally viewed language from a perspective that is fundamentally positivist in orientation. We tend to assume that language as an abstract entity exists as just such a knowable entity. More problematically, we assume that particular languages also exist as knowable entities…

The domains of application in applied linguistics have changed considerably since the early 1960s. In most of these domains, the fundamental property of language as "a resource for making meaning" has increasingly been foregrounded. This approach recognises, amongst other dimensions of language, its multi-stratal character, i.e. that a given…

The paper deals with the experience of a group of Chinese teachers of English studying on ELT/Applied Linguistics-related MA courses at a London university. Drawing mainly on data from questionnaires, it shows how the early part of their stay was marked by surprise, disappointment and disorientation at the diversity and perceived poor quality of…

This paper argues that the most significant trend in applied linguistics is the emergence of the field as a generic discipline, involving several subareas, all characterised by the aim of developing theoretical and empirical studies of language as a key element in real world problems. Various subsidiary trends are apparent including numerous…

The pedagogical usefulness of contrastive analysis (CA) is examined and suggestions are offered on ways to use it in foreign language instruction, with particular reference to instruction in English as a Second Language in India. Some of the literature that maintains that CA is almost useless to language teachers is reviewed and answered. The…

Surveys 154 French, German, and Spanish language program directors in American univerities, offering a doctorate in foreign language fields, to find the extent to which applied and educational linguistics figure in their educational background and research interests. (Author/LMO)

Describes major events and achievements during TESOL's first 20 years. Outlines three challenges which TESOL and its membership face: administrative, financial, and geopolitical. (Author/LMO)

Discusses the differing points of view of foreign language teaching research and second language acquisition research. The article shows that second language acquisition research works with linguistic data as a product of output, while foreign language teaching research, in addition, tries to interpret classroom data by taking into account the…

Reports the results of an investigation on institutes for elementary school teachers inservice training, based on questionnaires directed to the trainees and the educators, and on an analysis of students' work. Focuses on various aspects of French language teaching and especially on grammar and vocabulary exercises. (MES)

Examines how evaluation works through a text to convey the overall purpose of the writer of the text by using a developing corpus of academic research articles from a variety of disciplines. Findings indicate that the type of evaluation varies according to the type of entity and that two categories of research entity exist: those related to…

Describes an initiative that enabled applied linguistics' students to collaborate on academic writing assignments outside the classroom using a network of wireless laptops to facilitate flexible meeting times and locations. (Author/VWL)

An exploration of the increasingly important role of linguistics in literacy research and instruction reviews literature on reading comprehension, written language, orthography, metalinguistics, classroom language use, reading disabilities, native tongues, nonstandard dialects, bilingual education, adult literacy, and second-language reading. (86…

Current research supports the notion that language users make both unconscious and conscious choices when accommodating their language for public use, incorporating regional and social distinctions as well as notions of correctness and acceptability. Such decisions occur at the level of communicative competence and become part of the communicative…

Analyzes ethnographic data regarding one prolonged speech event, the negotiation of a driver's license at the Ministry of Transportation in Puno, Peru, from the perspective of Hymes' redefinition of linguistic competence. Implications for the acquisition of second language communicative competence are also discussed. (Author/CB)