The Engagement of BAAL – and Applied Linguistics – with Policy and Practice

Researching multilingualism and superdiversity: Grassroots actions and responsibilities

Multilingua ◽

10.1515/multi-2014-0024 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 33 (5-6) ◽

Author(s):

Li Wei

Keyword(s):

Social Change ◽

Applied Linguistics ◽

Thematic Issue ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

Community Based ◽

Community Based Research

AbstractThe articles in this thematic issue document studies of grassroots actions in promoting multilingualism across different sectors of society as well as in different social and professional domains. In doing so, the contributors raise issues of the relevance of the notion of community in the age of superdiversity and the researcher’s responsibility in researching multilingualism and superdiversity. Questions are asked as to whether empowerment and social change should be the ultimate goal of community-based research, and how applied linguistics research could impact on policy and practice. This introduction discusses the two related issues – the relevance of the notion of community in superdiversity, and the researcher’s responsibility.

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Some directions for the possible survival of TBLT as a real world project

Language Teaching ◽

10.1017/s0261444820000014 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 53 (3) ◽

pp. 275-288

Author(s):

Martin Bygate

Keyword(s):

Second Language Acquisition ◽

Social Services ◽

Real World ◽

Applied Linguistics ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Business Law ◽

World Language ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

Language Classrooms ◽

Definition Of

Since Brumfit's landmark definition of applied linguistics as the theoretical and empirical study of real world problems in which language plays a central role (Brumfit, 2000), there have been periodic calls for applied linguistics to engage with problems experienced by people in real world contexts (such as teaching, health, business, law, social services, business or family), rather than problems of research methodology originating in the research community, and to work to address them, both in policy and practice (Bygate, 2004; Tarone, 2013, 2015; Shuy, 2015; Widdowson, 2017). This principle may well apply to all areas of applied linguistics, but in this piece I would like to explore it in relation to task-based language teaching (TBLT). This is because while TBLT is characteristically defined in terms of the needs and interests of language teachers and learners, it is also informed by research, which is heavily shaped by the priorities of the academy, an influence which can lead it away from some of its real world objectives. Yet if proponents fail to adequately address the priorities and needs of classroom stakeholders, proposals will be doomed to failure, a point acknowledged by many (see inter alia Gatbonton and Segalowitz (1988, 2005), Edwards and Willis (2005), Thornbury and Slade (2006), van den Branden (2006), Eckerth (2008), Andon and Eckerth (2009), Ellis (2009), Gatbonton (2015), Long (2015) and Samuda, Bygate, and van den Branden (2018)). That is, research needs to engage not just with models of second language acquisition (SLA), but with the practices, demands, pressures, and perspectives of stakeholders in real world language classrooms.

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Language in education in sub-Saharan Africa: Language in Africa Special Interest Group (BAAL)

Language Teaching ◽

10.1017/s0261444815000178 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 48 (3) ◽

pp. 426-430 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ross Graham ◽

Caroline McGlynn ◽

Annette Islei

Keyword(s):

Annual Meeting ◽

Interest Group ◽

Special Interest ◽

Applied Linguistics ◽

Special Interest Group ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Present Review ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

Linguistic Research ◽

Sub Saharan

The Language in Africa Special Interest Group (LiASIG) of the British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL) is a forum for applied linguistic research in Africa, and invites studies with both a micro and a macro focus. Researchers are concerned with how political, social and educational contexts affect the valuation and use of languages in Africa where multilingualism is the norm. Papers are presented at the SIG annual meeting and in the LiA track at BAAL conferences. The present review covers papers presented between 2012 and 2014 that focus on the interplay of policy and practice, particularly in education.

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