Researching language teachers requires intensive involvement of both the researcher and the researched. Yet, the available methodological literature in the field often paints a blurred picture of the nature of such involvement and provides little advice on dealing with challenges inherent in this type of research. Our doctoral research projects…

Metalanguage is a term that is increasingly to be found in the applied linguistic/language awareness literature. However, not all writers use it in the same way; some seem to be equating it with metalinguistic terminology. Tracing the term from its philosophical roots, this paper accepts a broader definition of metalanguage as "language about…

In the present study I describe the 150-year history of school-based English language assessment in Japan. The history is divided into four major periods according to the purposes of English language education set by the government in the different periods: (1) 1860 to 1945, when English was first introduced and taught in schools mainly for elite…

"The Routledge Applied Linguistics Reader" is an essential collection of readings for students of Applied Linguistics. Divided into five sections: Language Teaching and Learning, Second Language Acquisition, Applied Linguistics, Identity and Power and Language Use in Professional Contexts, the "Reader" takes a broad…

The discipline of Speech-Language Pathology is a specialized field that most often adopts some of the principles from various other disciplines including Linguistics. Since long, the strength of Linguistics and its application to clinical population was evident through the work of Aphasiologists. Yet, to date, the two disciplines have remained…

Using the case of Serbo-Croatian linguistic terminology as an example, discusses some of the problems of standardizing vocabulary across two more more languages. (EKN)

Research on minority languages is ordinarily not well known by speakers of "big" languages but it has focused on several areas of Applied Linguistics and it is relevant to many areas. This current volume of "AILA Review" features five articles. Each of the articles emphasizes some aspects of research, depending on the recent…

The English language makes a grammatical distinction between count nouns and mass nouns. For example, count nouns but not mass nouns can be pluralized and can appear with the indefinite article. Some scholars dismiss the distinction as an arbitrary convention of language whereas others suggest that it is conceptually based. The present studies…

When asylum seekers flee persecution or war in their home countries, they often arrive in a new country seeking asylum, without documentation that can prove their nationality. They are thus open to the accusation that they are not actually fleeing persecution and/or war, but they are from another country and they are merely seeking "a better…

The preceding set of papers has explored various aspects of the role of language in mathematics education. The papers reflect the work of individual contributors. An important part of our collaboration, however, has been the conversation between us. This paper reflects on aspects of that conversation, as we draw together some of the themes that…

In recent decades, there has been a surge of interest in the origin of language across a wide range of disciplines. Emergentism provides a new perspective to integrate investigations from different areas of study. This paper discusses how the study of language acquisition can contribute to the inquiry, in particular when computer modeling is…

Language is crucial in our lives and to all disciplines. It affects our well-being individually and collectively and touches important sociopolitical issues. Linguists/applied linguists have exciting opportunities for interdisciplinary research and to work in contexts personally meaningful to them. While language is the concern of all people,…

Arabic Literacy acquisition was studied among Israeli Palestinian low socioeconomic status kindergartners within the framework of an intervention study, implemented by teachers. On pretest, letter naming, alphabetic awareness, and phonological awareness were very low. Whereas the comparison group hardly progressed throughout the year, the…

Lexicography is shown to offer some useful new tools to researchers in mathematics education. The paper examines the relationship between the sublanguage of mathematics and the acquisition of mathematical knowledge, and also the use of definitions in research and curriculum design. An Explanatory Combinatorial Dictionary is advocated for improving…

This paper describes some simple simulation models of vocabulary attrition. The attrition process is modelled using a random autonomous Boolean network model, and some parallels with real attrition data are drawn. The paper argues that applying a complex systems approach to attrition can provide some important insights, which suggest that real…