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                    EDINBURGH TEXTBOOKS IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS                                                                     An Introduction to Applied Linguistics
                              SERIES EDITORS: ALAN DAVIES & KEITH MITCHELL
                  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.
                             An Introduction to Applied Linguistics                                                                                         An Introduction to
                                               From Practice to Theory                                                                                      Applied Linguistics
                                                         Second Edition
                                                        ALAN DAVIES                                                                                                                Second Edition
                  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                                                                                From Practice to Theory
                  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             ALAN DAVIES
                    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                                                                                               ALAN DAVIES
                  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                                                                                            Edinb
                  www.eup.ed.ac.uk                                                                                                               EDINBURGH TEXTBOOKS IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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                                                                                                                                    gh                     SERIES EDITORS: ALAN DAVIES & KEITH MITCHELL
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           From reviews of the first edition
           ‘Alan Davies’ introductory text forcefully re-echoes the famous Edinburgh series in
           applied linguistics, which he contributed to in a major way.’
           Applied Linguistics
           ‘Every discipline coming of age needs to reflect on its origins, its history, its conflicts,
           in order to gain a better understanding of its identity and its long term objectives.
           Alan Davies, one of the founding fathers of applied linguistics, is the ideal person for
           this soul-searching exercise … Introduction to Applied Linguistics is obligatory reading
           for students and researchers in applied linguistics, for language professionals and for
           anyone interested in the link between linguistics and applied linguistics.’
           Modern Language Review
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             ‘’Tis of great use to the sailor to know the length of his line, though he cannot with it fathom
             all the depths of the ocean. ’Tis well he knows that it is long enough to reach the bottom, at
             such places as are necessary to direct his voyage, and caution him against running upon shoals
             that may ruin him. Our business here is not to know all things, but those which concern our
             conduct. If we can find out those measures whereby a rational creature, put in that state which
             man is in the world, may and ought to govern his opinions and actions depending thereon,
             we need not be troubled that some other things escape our knowledge.’
                         (John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 1695)
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              Edinburgh Textbooks in Applied Linguistics
              Series Editors: Alan Davies and Keith Mitchell
              An Introduction to Applied
              Linguistics
              From Practice to Theory
              Second Edition
              Alan Davies
              Edinburgh University Press