Carol A. Chapelle - The Concise Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics

Conversation analysis is an empirical, qualitative approach to the study of language use. Conversation analysts investigate how language users organize naturally occurring social interactions in order to accomplish social actions through talk and bodily conduct. Entries including conversation analysis and classroom interaction , conversation analysis and second language acquisition , and conversation analysis of computer‐mediated interactions show how researchers provide accurate descriptions of how language is used to accomplish social action in specific contexts. Another qualitative approach is critical discourse analysis, an analytic perspective requiring selection of texts for analysis with the aim of demonstrating how the linguistic choices made by authors and speakers create, continue, or attempt to rectify social inequality. The lens for analysis of such texts therefore includes preconceptions about who holds power over whom, in addition to how power might be redistributed, as illustrated in critical analysis of political discourse . Still other qualitative approaches to discourse are illustrated in analysis of gender in interaction and multimodal interaction analysis .

A cluster of entries expands the theoretical and analytical area of interest to culture in its analysis of language use in context. In these entries, readers will see other disciplinary perspectives highlighted or interwoven into the study of language including anthropological linguistics to shed light on concepts such as ethnicity, nation, citizenship education, and intercultural competence as they pertain to language‐related issues. Problems in applied linguistics have an ideological dimension which must at least be acknowledged and at best reckoned with because language use is not neutral. Language ideology affects how researchers choose problems to work on and the perspectives they use in their analysis. As Cook put it, “Applied linguistics is not simply a matter of matching up findings about language with pre‐existing problems but of using findings to explore how the perception of problems might be changed” (Cook, 2003, p. 10). The process of formulating and changing perceptions of problems highlights ideology, as illustrated in the entry language ideology in the discourse of popular culture .

Other entries showcase some of the concepts and practices that have been recruited from social science research methodsand repurposed in applied linguistics. Most advanced degree programs preparing students to study language problems in the real world expect students to be familiar with qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research. These methods and their foundations as they are used in applied linguistics are illustrated by entries such as quantitative methods , epistemology and ontology , interviews in qualitative research , mixed methods , and case study . Many of the issues in applied linguistics have been explored through lines of research using more than one method.

The Concise Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics was designed to offer readers a sampling of the range of topics that have been investigated within applied linguistics and the approaches used to do so. As such, it serves as a tangible definition of applied linguistics. The detailed presentation of each of the topics in The Concise Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics reveals the potential scope of applied linguistics today, which is more comprehensively captured in The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics .

Yet, even in The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics , defining the boundaries of the field is a growing challenge with the expansion of language contact, language technologies, and approaches to research. More and more people, either by choice or by necessity, migrate to live in a location where they use an additional language. Such movement creates important issues such as how such transitions can be made in a manner that affords new residents and their children a genuine opportunity to succeed. Even people who remain physically within their first language context are seeing their physical linguistic landscape change as a result of the movement of others. Moreover, the Internet continues to create opportunities for connections across time and space, changing the way people communicate. The language–technology interface is an area of constant evolution as new forms of communication are taken up by individuals who invent new uses for them. Readers will find The Concise Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics a good starting point for learning about the way that applied linguists approach the study of language‐related problems.

1 Cook, G. (2003). Applied linguistics. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

2 Corder, S. P. (1973). Introducing applied linguistics. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Education.

3 Davies, A. (2007). An introduction to applied linguistics: From practice to theory (2nd ed.). Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press.

4 Davies, A., & Elder, C. (Ed.). (2004). The handbook of applied linguistics. Oxford, England: Blackwell.

5 Hall, C. J., Smith, P. H., & Wicaksono, R. (2011). Mapping applied linguistics: A guide for students and practitioners. New York, NY: Routledge.

6 Kaplan, R. B. (Ed.). (2010). The Oxford handbook of applied linguistics. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

7 Simpson, J. (Ed.). (2011). The Routledge handbook of applied linguistics. New York, NY: Routledge.

1 de Bot, K. (2015). A history of applied linguistics: From 1980 to the present. London, England: Routledge.

2 Gass, S. M., & Makoni, S. (Eds.). (2004). World applied linguistics (Special issue). AILA Review, 17.

3 Schmitt, N. (Ed.). (2019). An introduction to applied linguistics (2nd ed.). London, England: Routledge.

1 1The area editors of The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics designed the content configuration of each of its 27 topic areas. The area editors with their respective areas are the following: Karin Aijmer (Grammar), Claudia V. Angelelli (Translation and Interpreting), Brian Baer (Translation and Interpreting), Jasone Cenoz (Bilingual and Multilingual Education & Bilingualism and Multilingualism), Thomas Cobb (Technology and Language), Ulla Connor (Language for Specific Purposes), Patricia Friedrich (Language Ideology), Marta González‐Lloret (Pragmatics), Durk Gorter (Bilingual and Multilingual Education & Bilingualism and Multilingualism), Nadja Grbic (Translation and Interpreting), Marianne Gullberg (Cognitive Second Language Acquisition), Dorothea Halbe (Corpus Linguistics), Linda Harklau (Qualitative Methods), Joan Jamieson (Quantitative and Mixed Methods), Rodney H. Jones (Analysis of Discourse and Interaction), Krzysztof Kredens (Forensic Linguistics), Eva Lam (Literacy), John Levis (Phonetics and Phonology), Angel Lin (Critical Discourse Analysis), Joseph Lo Bianco (Language Policy and Planning), Aya Matsuda (Language Ideology & World Englishes), Kim McDonough (Quantitative and Mixed Methods), Kristian Mortensen (Conversation Analysis), Murray J. Munro (Phonetics and Phonology), Sigrid Norris (Discourse), Amy Snyder Ohta (Social Dynamic and Complexity Theory Approaches to Second Language Development), Lourdes Ortega (Language Learning and Teaching), Lia Plakans (Assessment and Testing), Karen Risager (Culture and Context), Meryl Siegal (Qualitative Methods), Michael Stubbs (Corpus Linguistics), Thomas A. Upton (Language for Specific Purposes), Johannes Wagner (Conversation Analysis), John Williams (Cognitive Second Language Acquisition), and Brent Wolter (Lexis).