An Introduction to Applied Linguistics. From Practice to Theory by Alan Davies (review)

Abstract

MLR, 96. , 200 MLR, 96. , 200 although the English original does appear in the bibliography as well. There is a sprinklingof typographicalerrorsand a few of the index dates are incomplete or in error (Edmund Wilson's birth date is a decade out, while Anna Seghers died back in 1983). However, any such minor quibblesor reservationsmust not detractfromwhat is now thistoweringtwo-volumed contributionto Pasternakstudies. UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL NEIL CORNWELL An Introductionto Applied Linguistics. From Practice to Theory. By ALAN DAVIES. (Edinburgh Textbooks in Applied Linguistics) Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 1999. xiii + I78 pp. ?40. (paperbound ?I5.95). Everydisciplinecoming of age needs to reflecton its origins,its history,its conflicts, in order to gain a better understandingof its identity and its long term objectives. Alan Davies, one of the founding fathersof applied linguistics, is the ideal person for this soul-searchingexercise. He worked with Pit Corder in the Department of Applied Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh in the early I96os, authored books on language testing and the native speaker in Applied Linguistics,became editor of thejournals Applied Linguistics and Language Testing and thus helped shape the discipline in its present form. The present volume is the firstin the new series Edinburgh Textbooks inApplied Linguistics of which Davies is editor. It servesboth as an introduction to applied linguistics and the new series. The main argument of the book is 'that applied linguisticsis best understood by doing it than by studying or reading about it' (p. ix). The reader does not need to have a backgroundin formal appliedlinguisticsto understandthisbook as it is intended for those who have been teaching language or working professionally with language (p. ix). This is not a textbook in the traditional sense of the word, as the titles of the seven chapters illustrate:'History and definitions'; 'Doing applied linguistics: the importance of experience'; 'Language and language practices'; 'Appliedlinguisticsand language learning/teaching'; 'Appliedlinguisticsand language use'; 'The professionalisingof applied linguistics'; 'Applied linguistics: no "bookish" theory', followed by an excellent glossary and stimulatingexercises relating to each chapter. Rather than sum up the differentsub-fieldswithin the discipline, or present the various theories and paradigms in a chronological order, Davies explores various themes mentioning relevant research along the way. His chapter on 'Language and language practices', for example, highlightsthe permanent tension 'in all linguistic studies between a focus on stability and a focus on change' (p. 62), which he illustratesby looking at the areas of clinical linguistics, language and gender and language in situation. Davies tries to answer the question 'What is applied linguistics?'by focusing on who does it and what it is that distinguishesit fromlinguistics.He addressesthe first questionby presentingthe views of a number of eminent anglophone researchersin the field (Widdowson, Corder, Mackey, Lado, Gregg, Tarone .. .) without taking position, but admitting that the answer 'must be incomplete' (pp. 4-5) because of the ambiguity surroundingwho is authorized to do applied linguistics. To answer the second question, simplified to 'does applied linguistics need any linguistics?' (p. 5), Davies analysesthe change in attitudethatwas reflectedin the title change of the journal Language Learning. A JournalofApplied Linguistics that became A Journal of Research in Language Studies,and he compares the 'linguistics applied' tradition versusthe 'appliedlinguistic'tradition.The range of researchin applied linguistics although the English original does appear in the bibliography as well. There is a sprinklingof typographicalerrorsand a few of the index dates are incomplete or in error (Edmund Wilson's birth date is a decade out, while Anna Seghers died back in 1983). However, any such minor quibblesor reservationsmust not detractfromwhat is now thistoweringtwo-volumed contributionto Pasternakstudies. UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL NEIL CORNWELL An Introductionto Applied Linguistics. From Practice to Theory. By ALAN DAVIES. (Edinburgh Textbooks in Applied Linguistics) Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 1999. xiii + I78 pp. ?40. (paperbound ?I5.95). Everydisciplinecoming of age needs to reflecton its origins,its history,its conflicts, in order to gain a better understandingof its identity and its long term objectives. Alan Davies, one of the founding fathersof applied linguistics, is the ideal person for this soul-searchingexercise. He worked with Pit Corder in the Department of Applied Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh in the early I96os, authored books on language testing and the native speaker in Applied...