Applied Linguistics Methods: A Reader

by Caroline Coffin (Editor), Theresa Lillis (Editor), Kieran O'Halloran (Editor)

Applied Linguistics A Reader presents the student with three contemporary approaches for investigating text, practices and contexts in which language-related problems are implicated. Divided into three parts, the reader focuses in turn on the different approaches, showing how each is relevant to addressing real world problems, including those relating to contemporary educational practices. Part One introduces the reader to Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) as an approach particularly well suited to the description of language and language-related problems in social contexts. Part Two examines Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as a means of uncovering the relationships between language use, power and ideology. Part Three presents Ethnography (and linguistic ethnography) as a methodology for observing the use and significance of language in real-life events as they unfold. The editors’ general introduction introduces the student to the tools of SFL, CDA and ethnography and explains how the three approaches each offer distinct as well as, in some cases, complementary perspectives on language in use. Each part is made up of one classic theoretical reading, one cutting-edge theoretical reading, and three problem-oriented readings and includes an introduction, which provides synopses of the individual readings making the book highly usable on courses. Applied Linguistics A Reader is key reading for advanced level undergraduates and postgraduates on Applied Linguistics, English Language, and TESOL/TEFL courses.

288 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2009