Conceptualizations of competence that permeate applied linguistics systematically fail to account for the role of racialization in language learning and assessments thereof. To interrogate the racialization of linguistic competence, we first examine its discursive emergence in conjunction with the ideological construction of linguistic homogeneity…

In empirical applied linguistics research it is essential that the key variables are operationalized in a valid and reliable way, and that the scores are treated appropriately, allowing for a proper testing of the hypotheses under investigation. The current article addresses several theoretical and practical issues regarding the use of measurement…

This chapter begins with the statement that all talk happens somewhere, somehow, at some time and is produced by somebody for some purpose, and the approach that practice theorists have taken is that talk and its context are inseparable. The challenges that face an analyst of practice are then to describe the context, describe the talk, and…

Reviews the notions of system and variability as applied to interlanguages, especially with respect to variability in the syntax of second language learners. Summarizes the findings of Huebner with respect to referentiality and then examines some new data collected 20 months after the end of the initial study. (SED)

Argues that the most productive future directions for theory building and research in applied linguistics derive from the extent to which the field's investigators can enrich their conceptual framework and methods with insights from "constructivist" scholarly approaches. Focus is on three arenas in which such approaches and additional scholarship…

Responds to a previous article on constructive and constructivist challenges for applied linguistics. (Author/JL)

Reviews the history of applied linguistics together with the history of the journal "Language Learning," indicating the journal's particular place in that larger history and honoring its 50th anniversary. (Author/JL)

Responds to a previous article on research in second-language learning, challenging the need for discussion on the promises and problems, and asserting the need to report definitive results. (Author/JL)

Discusses the fundamental problems within speech act theory, focusing on the extent that these problems undermine attempts to apply speech act theory in the field of language pedagogy. (96 references) (Author/OD)

Work supported by a grant from the U.S. Office of Education to the University of Hawaii. (RS)

In response to a previous article (Bialystok) on perspectives on the development of applied linguistics, this article begins by adding its own perspectives to what has already been offered. The article concludes by discussing the research agenda for the future. (Author/JL)

Two studies compared the effects of imagery-based instruction and rote learning on the long-term recall of English translations of Chinese ideographs. In no instance was there any indication that imagery-based mnemonics conferred an advantage beyond the immediate test of recall. (27 references) (Author/LB)