The Handbook of Applied Linguistics: (Blackwell Handbooks in Linguistics)

"The Handbook of Applied Linguistics" is a collection of over 30 original articles that provide a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of the field of applied linguistics. The handbook is divided in parts that demonstrate the two main approaches to the field: applications of linguistics to real world language data with the purpose of further understanding language and evaluating linguistic theory; and the problem-based approach that investigates real world language with the purpose of understanding language use and ameliorating social problems. The handbook presents applied linguistics as an independent and coherent discipline that seeks to unify practical experience and theoretical understanding of language development and language in use, and is a valuable resource for students and researchers in applied linguistics, language teaching, and second language acquisition.

Table of Contents:
List of FiguresList of TablesNotes on ContributorsAcknowledgementsGeneral Introduction: Applied Linguistics: Subject to Discipline? Alan Davies (University of Edinburgh) and Catherine Elder (Monash University).Part I: Linguistics-Applied (L-A):Introduction to Part 1: Alan Davies (University of Edinburgh).Section 11. Language Descriptions: Antony .J.Liddicoat (Griffith University) and T.J.Curnow (La Trobe University).2. Lexicography: Alan Kirkness (University of Auckland).Section 23. Second Language Acquisition and Ultimate Attainment: David Birdsong (University of Texas, Austin).4. Language Corpora: Mike Stubbs (University of Trier).5. Discourse Analysis: Hugh Trappes-Lomax (University of Edinburgh).6. British Sign Language: Rachel Sutton-Spence (University of Bristol) and Bencie Wol (City University London).7. Assessing Language Attitudes: Speaker Evaluation Studies: Howard Giles (University of California, Santa Barbara) and Antony L. Billings (Clemson University).8. Language Attrition: Monika S. Schmid (Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam) and Kees de Bot (University of Groningen).9. Language, Thought, and Culture: Claire Kramsch (University of California, Berkeley).10. Conversation Analysis: Rod Gardner (University of New South Wales).Section 411. Language and the Law: John Gibbons (Hong Kong Baptist University).12. Language and Gender: Susan Ehrlich (York University).13. Stylistics: John McRae (University of Nottingham) and Urzula Clark (University of Wolverhampton).Section 514. Language and Politics: John E. Joseph (University of Edinburgh).15. World Englishes: Kingsley Bolton (University of Hong Kong).Section 616. The Philosophy of Applied Linguistics: Kanavillil Rajagopalan (State University at Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil).Part II: Applied-Linguistics (A-L):Introduction to Part II: Catherine Elder (Monash University).17. The Native Speaker in Applied Linguistics: Alan Davies (University of Edinburgh).18. Language Minorities: John Edwards (St. Francis Xavier University).19. Research Methods for Applied Linguistics: Scope, Characteristics, and Standards: James Dean Brown (University of Hawai'i, Manoa).Section 820. Second Language Learning: William Littlewood (Hong Kong Baptist University).21. Individual Differences in Second Language Learning: Rod Ellis (University of Auckland).22. Social Influences on Language Learning: Gary Barkhuizen (University of Auckland).23. Literacy Studies: Eddie Williams (University of Wales, Bangor).Section 924. Fashions in Language Teaching Methodology: Bob Adamson (Queensland University of Technology).25. Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL): Paul Gruba (University of Melbourne).26. Language Teacher Education: Richard Johnstone (University of Stirling).27. The Practice of LSP: Helen Basturkmen (University of Auckland) and Catherine Elder (University of Auckland).28. Bilingual Education: Heather Lotherington (York University, Toronto).Section 1029. Language Maintenance: Anne Pauwels (University of Western Australia).30. Language Planning as Applied Linguistics: Joseph Lo Bianco (Language Australia: NLLIA).31. Language Testing: Tim McNamara (University of Melbourne).Section 1132. Critical Applied Linguistics: Alastair Pennycook (University of Technology, Sydney).Index.

About the Author :
Alan Davies is Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh. His publications include Principles of Language Testing (1990), An Introduction to Applied Linguistics (1999), and The Native Speaker: Myth and Reality (2003). Catherine Elder is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. She is the author, with Alan Davies et al., of the Dictionary of Language Testing (1999) and co-editor of Experimenting with Uncertainty (2001).

Review :
"Handsomely produced, and very attractive visually. The editors, Alan Davies and Catherine Elder, are leading experts in applied linguistics and they have assembled a strong group of contributors to the enterprise... The Handbook of Applied Linguistics should be in every academic library, and I would recommend that applied linguists look at it, note specific chapters of interest, and read over those chapters carefully... Because of the depth allowed for each chapter, there is much thought-provoking material and many ideas that may challenge as well as support established positions." Language Teaching Research "In the vast quarry of theories and interdisciplinary investigations of applied linguistics this rigorous and scholarly book is an authoritative guide to the focal issues. It provides both original and important contributions to the literature as well as signposts to the future." John C. Maher, International Christian University, Tokyo "In its forty years of activity, applied linguistics has been concerned to define itself, its extent, and its relations with related fields. This handbook, edited by Davies and Catherine Elder, brings the issues up-to-date, providing not just a clear account of current work in the branches of the field by thirty of the best-known practitioners, but a cogent perspective justifying treating applied linguistics as an independent and united discipline." Bernard Spolsky, Bar-Ilan University "This is a linguistically sophisticated, pedagogically sound, research oriented, interdisciplinary approach at defining applied linguistics as a discipline in its own right that should be in every applied linguist's library. A vade mecum." James E. Alatis, Georgetown University "Davies and Elder are to be congratulated for the Handbook in Applied Linguistics. The handbook reflects the historical evolution of thinking in applied linguistics, its emerging dimensions, and successfully captures the nature of an internal critique of applied linguistics within applied linguistics. Because applied linguistics is firmly embedded within western applied linguistics, the handbook book forces us to reflect on the nature non-western applied linguistics might take." Sinfree Makoni, Pennsylvania State University