Through conceptual and empirical means, this timely volume looks at how critical realism, a specific approach to the philosophy of science, helps uncover and refine assumptions about what constitutes valid knowledge in applied linguistics, how scholars can create it, and how applied linguistics can improve as an interdisciplinary strand of the social sciences. With contributions from leading and up-and-coming scholars in the field, the book covers a range of topics, from language, language learning and teaching, language curriculum and programmes, evaluation and assessment, academic writing, discourse, beliefs, values, truth, resilience, ethnicity, social class, as well as ideologies and systems of social inequality including anthropocentrism, racism, linguicism, sexism, patriarchy, and neoliberalism. Exploring the philosophical basis of applied linguistics research, it is essential reading for academic scholars and graduate students in applied linguistics, as well as social scientists interested in language-related issues and social issues in which language plays a central role.
Introduction Jérémie Bouchard and Karin Zotzmann; 1. Critical realism: a personal journey and application David Block; 2. Critical realism and research on students' self-efficacy beliefs Karin Zotzmann and Richard Sheldrake; 3. Structure, culture, agency, and English language learning amongst undergraduate students in Cancun Magdalena Avila Pardo and Jérémie Bouchard; 4. Realist evaluation of ESP curriculum implementation Alaa Turkustani and Karin Zotzmann; 5. What makes academic writing human(e): a critical realist response Julia Molinari; 6. Empiricism in interpretivist sociolinguistics Jérémie Bouchard; 7. Counter-voices of resilience, through a critical realist lens Wendy Sims-Schouten; 8. Critical realist reflections on race pedagogy in a university English for liberal arts course in Japan: a domain theory perspective Gregory Paul Glasgow; 9. A non-anthropocentric realism? Alison Sealey and Robert Carter; Conclusion Jérémie Bouchard and Karin Zotzmann; Index.
Jérémie Bouchard is Professor in the Faculty of Humanities, Hokkai-Gakuen University, Sapporo, Japan. He is a sociolinguist who, for the past twelve years, has been both teaching and conducting research guided by critical realism. Karin Zotzmann is Associate Professor in Applied Linguistics at the University of Southampton. All her research is informed by critical realism.
