Applied Linguistics is still a growing field. Key texts and handbooks have appeared in recent years and international applied linguistics conferences and professional associations occur regularly. While Applied Linguistics continues to attract new entrants and to generate new strands of research, there is a need for a clear and concise map of the field. This is the purpose of the Glossary.
The author, Alan Davies, is a well-established, well-published authority on applied linguistics. Not a typically dry dictionary, Dr. Davies infuses the alphabetical entries with a touch of humor and thought-provoking context creating an up-to-date, useful, and coherent view of applied linguistics.
The Glossary compiles the most ubiquitously used terms in applied linguistics and teacher-training literature. It takes a wide-ranging view of the field, drawing not only on linguistics but including psychology, sociology, education, measurement theory, speech therapy, translation, and language planning. Other features include:
*numerous cross-references to key terms;
*an introduction, which discusses the difficulty of defining applied linguistics; and
*a brief reading list of key text.
The primary market is master's student in Applied Linguistics, Second Language Acquisition, and TESL/TEFL. Undergraduate students, particularly in language fields and in education will also find it helpful, as well as language teachers who have not themselves followed Applied Linguistics courses and who are interested in finding out about the field.
Biography
Alan Davies is a long-term member of staff of the Department of Applied Linguistics in the University of Edinburgh. Now Emeritus Professor and Honorary Fellow, he is a former editor of the two journals Applied Linguistics and Language Testing and was for five years Director of the Language Testing Research Centre, University of Melbourne.
