an-introduction-to-applied-linguistics An Introduction to Applied Linguistics Second Edition EDINBURGH TEXTBOOKS IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS SERIES EDITORS: ALAN DAVIES & KEITH MITCHELL This Second Edition of the foundational textbook An Introduction to Applied Linguistics provides a state-of-the-art account of contemporary applied linguistics. The kinds of language problems of interest to applied linguists are discussed and a distinction drawn between the different research approach taken by theoretical linguists and by applied linguists to what seem to be the same problems. Professor Davies describes a variety of projects which illustrate the interests of the field and highlight the marriage it offers between practical experience and theoretical understanding. The increasing emphasis of applied linguistics on ethicality is linked to the growth of professionalism and to the concern for accountability, manifested in the widening emphasis on critical stances. This, Davies argues, is at its most acute in the tension between giving advice as the outcome of research and taking political action in order to change a situation which, it is claimed, needs ameliorisation. This dilemma is not confined to applied linguistics and may now be endemic in the applied disciplines. Key features • surveys current issues in applied linguistics, including the concept of the Native Speaker and the development of World Englishes • examines the influence of linguistics, cognitive science and philosophy on applied linguistics and makes a contrast with educational linguistics • proposes that a key issue for the profession will increasingly be the tension between advice and action • suggests that applied linguistics is a theorising rather than a theoretical discipline. Alan Davies is a long-term member of staff of the Department of Applied Linguistics in the University of Edinburgh. His publications include Principles of Language Testing, The Native Speaker: Myth and Reality, Dictionary of Language Testing, The Handbook of Applied Linguistics and A Glossary of Applied Linguistics. Cover design: River Design, Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press 22 George Square, Edinburgh ISBN 978 0 7486 3355 5 A L A N D A V I E S Edinburgh A L A N D A V I E S An Introduction to Applied Linguistics An Introduction to Applied Linguistics From Practice to Theory Second Edition A L A N D A V I E S This new textbook series provides advanced introductions to the main areas of study in contemporary Applied Linguistics, with a principal focus on the theory and practice of language teaching and language learning and on the processes and problems of language in use. EDINBURGH TEXTBOOKS IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS SERIES EDITORS: ALAN DAVIES & KEITH MITCHELL From Practice to Theory A L A N D A V I E S