P. Bruthiaux, D. Atkinson, W. G. Eggington, W. Grabe, and V. Ramanathan (eds): Directions in Applied Linguistics: Essays in Honor of Robert B. Kaplan. Multingual Matters, 2005.

Abstract

Applied Linguistics does not lend itself to an easy definition, perhaps because, as Vivian Cook remarks: ‘Applied Linguistics means many things to many people’ (Cook 2006). This absence of certainty is much bemoaned by those who practise applied linguistics but the lack of consensus can be found in other academic enterprises, especially those in the humanities and social sciences, where fragmentation is rife, sometimes acting as an escape from disagreement and entrenched epistemological disputes as to the nature of the enterprise. Applied Linguistics has a further definitional problem because, if the nature of the enterprise is disputed, what agreement can there be as to what it is that is being applied: a mediation between theory and practice (Kaplan and Widdowson 1992: 76); a synthesis of research from a variety of disciplines, including linguistics (Hudson 1999); ‘it presupposes linguistics … one cannot apply what one does not know’ (Corder 1973: 7); it is ‘understood as an open field, in which those inhabiting or passing through simply show a common commitment to the potential value of dialogue with people who are different’ (Rampton 1997: 14). And taking up what some will regard as an extreme position: ‘critical applied linguistics … opens up a whole new array of questions and concerns, issues such as identity, sexuality, access, ethics, disparity, difference, desire, or the reproduction of Otherness that have hitherto not been considered as concerns related to applied linguistics.’ (Pennycook 2004: 803–4).