applied linguistics research paper

Research Trends in Applied Linguistics (2017–2021): A Scientometric Review of 42 Journals

• First Online: 08 February 2024

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• Yanhua Liu 3 &
• Guangwei Hu   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2297-4784 4  

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Scientometric methods have increasingly been used to provide historical as well as state-of-the-art accounts of research in various disciplines, including applied linguistics. To provide an updated overview of the research trends in applied linguistics, we analyzed 7602 articles with over 198,000 unique references published between 2017 and 2021 in 42 SSCI-indexed applied linguistics journals. We aimed to track the (un)changing research foci and methodological orientations by examining the most frequently discussed topics, the most highly cited publications, and the most highly cited authors. The most popular research topics included multilingualism, translanguaging, psychological factors, vocabulary learning, teaching methods and teacher factors, linguistic complexity, bilingual advantage, and grammatical processing. New research tools (e.g., R statistics and eye-tracking), qualitative approaches, and research syntheses were on the rise. The heightened methodological awareness indexed applied linguistics’ greater effort to update and refine its toolkits as well as its emergence as a maturing discipline with greater diversity. Our analysis also identified newly emerged most cited publications (e.g., García, Ofelia, and Li Wei. Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education . Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) and newly emerged most cited authors (e.g., Suresh Canagarajah, Paul Nation, R Core Team, Ofelia García, Douglas Bates, Luke Plonsky), pointing to new movers, shakers, and innovators in the discipline.

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Lei and Liu ( 2019 ) selected the 42 journals based on three criteria: (1) focusing on language use and learning or teaching, (2) being on the SSCI list of linguistics journals, and (3) having an impact factor of at least 0.25.

One list included the top 20 publications for each of four historical periods. The other list contained the top 20 publications published since 2005. Consequently, the top 20 lists in Lei and Liu ( 2019 ) actually covered many more than 20 publications.

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Liu, Y., Hu, G. (2024). Research Trends in Applied Linguistics (2017–2021): A Scientometric Review of 42 Journals. In: Meihami, H., Esfandiari, R. (eds) A Scientometrics Research Perspective in Applied Linguistics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-51726-6_3

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An A–Z of Applied Linguistics Research Methods

• S. Loewen , Luke Plonsky
• Published 25 December 2015
• Linguistics

52 Citations

Applied linguistics research in three decades: a methodological synthesis of graduate theses in an efl context, mixed-methods research in applied linguistics: charting the progress through the second decade of the twenty-first century, corpus linguistic methodology as an advanced conversion design for social science research, methods of data collection in english empirical linguistics research: results of a recent survey, exploring the referential range of etymologically-related lexical pairs in the language of the qur’an: a cognitive-semantic approach, writing up a corpus-linguistic paper, a tale of two tool(kit)s: from canonical antonymy to non-canonical opposition in the qur’anic discourse, contrastivity and comparability: pragmatic variation across pluricentric varieties, mixed-methods research proficiency for applied linguists: a pls-path modelling approach, the duration of word-final s in english: a comparison of regular-plural and pluralia-tantum nouns, 324 references, the future of research synthesis in applied linguistics: beyond art or science, reflections on mixing methods in applied linguistics research, research methods in applied linguistics : quantitative,qualitative, and mixed methodologies, quantitative research in linguistics: an introduction, mixed methods research: toward new research designs in applied linguistics, looking at girls in corpora of english, current trends in research methodology and statistics in applied linguistics, conversation analysis in applied linguistics, sources of variability relevant to the cognitive sociolinguist, and corpus- as well as psycholinguistic methods and notions to handle them, on discourse, communication, and (some) fundamental concepts in sla research, related papers.

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Current Trends in Research in Language Education and Applied Linguistics

It is notoriously difficult to pick up new trends in language education and applied linguistics. It is a little bit like trying to distinguish a network of footpaths in misty conditions in order to find the one that leads to the mountain top. The view is always incomplete, the ones that seem to be pointing in the right direction might veer off behind the next boulder, and the largest path with most walkers might be interrupted by a landslide, forcing people to scatter and find alternative paths. There is inevitably a belief of researchers that the path they are on is trendy and original. Only years later will this belief be dis/confirmed when a tally can be made through citation indexes of the popularity of that particular path.

Analysing authorial identity construction in the review article genre in Applied Linguistics

Authorial identity construction is one of many professional rhetorical strategies employed by authors in academic review genres. Authors usually create a persona to represent themselves, their seniority in the field, and the community to which they belong. The author’s visibility is made possible through several rhetorical devices. Perhaps the most remarkable way of such authorial identity construction in the review article genre is self-mentions. The aims of this research are (1) to find out what types of self-mention are frequently used in review articles, (2) to determine the frequency of use and distribution of self-mentions in the review articles, and (3) to investigate the rhetorical function of self-mentions in the different analytical sections of the review articles. The data, drawn from a randomly selected corpus of thirty-two review articles, were analysed using WordSmith Tools Version 6. The findings indicated that first-person plural pronouns were more frequently used than singular pronouns in the whole corpus except in the two review texts. It was also observed that the frequency of occurrence for the exclusive and inclusive pronouns was very close to each other. Most importantly, the inclusive pronouns were used not only as a politeness strategy to appreciate the readers and keep the writers’ claims balanced but also as a persuasive tool to seek the readers’ agreement in the evaluation of research developments. This study revealed that authors construct various professional personas as a rhetorical strategy to carve their authorial identity and credibility in the review article genre. The findings of this study have pedagogical implications in the field of academic writing in applied linguistics as well as other disciplines. 

CITATION PRACTICES IN RESEARCH ARTICLES IN INDONESIA-BASED JOURNALS AND INTERNATIONAL JOURNALS Udi Samanhudi, Aisling O’Boyle

This paper examines the similarities and differences in the use of rhetorical citations in research articles in two journal publication contexts in the field of Applied Linguistics, namely Indonesian Journals aimed at a local audience, and International Journals aimed at a global audience. Fifty Discussion Sections from published research articles were taken from the two publication contexts.  Results of the analysis indicate a dominant use of integral citations especially verb-controlling type in the Indonesian local corpus. It is suggested that this citation type requires less demand on synthesising various sources cited while Discussion Sections in the International corpus make greater use of non-integral citations which indicates a succinct synthesis of various sources. In terms of function, referring to literature is the most salient function in Indonesian local corpus while attribution is the most dominant function found in the International corpus. Accompanying the textual analysis of citation practices in these journals, Indonesian academics as part of the community of the discipline were interviewed. Their perspectives indicate urgency for results of genre analysis studies to be transformed into teaching materials to assist especially novice writers in the field of Applied Linguistics in understanding English research article writing conventions better.

E-assessment: Wash-Back Effects and Challenges (Examining Students’ and Teachers’ Attitudes Towards E-tests)

[1] Alderson, J. C., & Wall, D. (1993). Does washback exist? Applied Linguistics, 14, 115–129. [2] Ali, M. M., & Hamid, M. O. (2020). Teaching English to the test: Why Does negative washback exist within secondary education in Bangladesh? Language Assessment Quarterly, 17(2), 129-146. [3] Cheng, L., & Curtis, A. (2004). Washback or backwash: A review of the impact of testing on teaching and learning. In L. Cheng, Y. Watanabe, & A. Curtis (Eds.), Washback in language testing: Research contexts and methods (pp. 3–18). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. [4] Da'asin, K. A. (2016). The attitude of Ash-Shobak University College Students to E-Exam for Intermediate University Degree in Jordan. Journal of Education and Practice, 7(9), 10-17. [5] Hughes, A. (1994). Backwash and TOEFL 2000. Unpublished manuscript, commissioned by Educational Testing Service (ETS). The University of Reading. [6] Hung, S. T. A. (2012). A washback study on e-portfolio assessment in an English as a Foreign Language teacher preparation program. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 25(1), 21-36. [7] Jiamin, X., Jinyan, L., & Tianyi, M. (2021). The wash-back effect of reformed CET 6 listening comprehension test. Asian Journal of Education and Training, 7(1), 70-73. [8] Johnson, M.& Shaw, S.(2019). What is computer-based testing washback, how can it be evaluated and how can this support practitioner research?, Journal of Further and Higher Education, 43:9, 1255-1270, DOI: 10.1080/0309877X.2018.1471127 [9] Meseke, Christopher A., Rita Nafziger, and Jamie K. Meseke. (2010). "Student attitudes, satisfaction, and learning in a collaborative testing environment." Journal of Chiropractic Education 24, no. 1: 19-29. [10] Messick, S. (1996). Validity and wash-back in language testing. Language testing. 13(3), 241-256. [11] Saglam, A. L. G. (2018). Can exams change how and what teachers teach? Investigating the washback effect of a university English language proficiency test in the Turkish context. Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 4(2), 155-176. [12] Tayeb, Y. A., Abd Aziz, M. S., Ismail, K., & Khan, A. B. M. A. (2014). The wash-back effect of the general secondary English examination (GSEE) on teaching and learning. GEMA Online® Journal of Language Studies, 14(3),83-103. [13] Wall, D. (1997). Impact and wash-back in language testing. In C. Clapham & D. Corson (Eds.). Encyclopedia of Language and Education (pp. 291-302). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers

Hedging in the Results and Discussion Section of English Applied Linguistics Research Articles by Vietnamese and Foreign Writers

Hedging in academic writing in general and in research article (RA) in specific has a vital role in enabling writers to minimize their opposing claims and negotiate the meaning. Nevertheless, hedging can be different from one discipline to another and from culture to another. This study, therefore, aims at examining the deployment of hedges in the Results and Discussion (R-D) section of English Applied Linguistics (AL) RAs by Vietnamese writers and their foreign counterparts. Two corpora consisting of 30 RAs written by Vietnamese writers and the other 30 ones by foreign writers were collected. The results revealed that both Vietnamese and foreign writers deployed hedges in the R-D section of English AL RAs at a similar frequency. Moreover, they shared common senses of utilizing the hedges’ types and functions in the R-D section of English AL RAs. This study has confirmed that the norms and practices of the AL, a soft science, were common among non-native English writers regardless of their culture-bound.

In the Path of Creating a Relational “How” in Research

Some researchers consider the qualitative research approach is a finished enterprise; however, this is not the case. This chapter discusses some methodological decisions through a proposal that plurisignifies qualitative research as an otherwise intuitive approach. This derives from a doctoral study about peace construction (PC) in applied linguistics (AL) to English language teaching (ELT). Firstly, a problematization around qualitative research develops to question taken-for-granted methodological beliefs, concepts, and practices, which represent the instrumentalization of research. Secondly, a proposal to re-humanize these problematized aspects is presented through a discussion of its relationalities and a short description of a practical realization of it. Conclusions wrap up the main contributions of this chapter and comment on their possible implications.

English or Englishes?

The discipline of World Englishes has been one of the most thriving branches of English linguistics. This branch has become the focal focus of considerable debate. The chapter mainly aims to show the multilingual reality of English. It is an attempt to answer the question “Do we have English or Englishes?” The chapter tries to study the recent situation of English as a lingua franca. It first gives an overview of the spread of English and the emergence of new Englishes. Then, it presents the principals of traditional applied linguistics and second language acquisition. It also discusses the concepts of World Englishes, multilingualism, and pluralism. After that, the chapter presents the World Englishes debate to show the gap between monocentrists and pluralists. Finally, the study sheds light on the fact that Englishes reflect the multilingual reality of English.

Dealing With Language Gap in a Hungarian-English Early Childhood Classroom

The term ‘translanguaging' has been widespread in the field of Applied Linguistics in a short period of time, and just as quickly, it infiltrated in the field of Multilingual Education. Translanguaging is mostly seen as an opportunity to build on multilingual speakers' full language repertoire in the classroom in order to make sense of the world around them. At the same time, translanguaging might be seen as a threat for heritage language survival because heritage languages are forced to immerse in the mainstream language(s). The authors observed pedagogical translanguaging practices in the AraNY János Hungarian Kindergarten and School (USA) to understand how English was used in teaching the heritage language and to discover how bridging existing language gaps between speakers worked in the practices of bilingual pedagogues. The overarching aim of this study was to reveal some of the pedagogical translanguaging strategies used to deal with occurring language gaps.

2. Can Southern Epistemological and Indigenous Ontological Orientations to Applied Linguistics Challenge its Ethnocentrism?

Review of plonsky (2020): professional development in applied linguistics: a guide to success for graduate students and early career faculty, export citation format, share document.

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Key Topics in Applied Linguistics

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Books in this series provide critical accounts of the most important topics in applied linguistics, conceptualised as an interdisciplinary field of research and practice dealing with practical problems of language and communication. Some topics have been the subject of applied linguistics for many years and will be re-examined in the light of new developments in the field; others are issues of growing importance that have not so far been given a sustained treatment. The topics of the series are nuanced and specialised, providing an opportunity for further reading around a particular concept. The concept examined may be theoretical or practice-oriented. Written by leading experts, the books in the series can be used on courses and in seminars, or as succinct guides to a particular topic for individual students and researchers.

• General Editors: Zhu Hua , UCL Institute of Education, University College London , Claire Kramsch , University of California, Berkeley

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5 results in Key Topics in Applied Linguistics

Language Assemblages

• Alastair Pennycook
• Published online: 20 June 2024 Print publication: 27 June 2024
• Get access Buy a print copy Check if you have access via personal or institutional login Log in Register
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• View description What are languages? An assemblage approach to language gives us ways of thinking about language as dynamic, constructed, open-ended, and in and of the world. This book unsettles regular accounts of knowledge about language in several ways, presenting an innovative and provocative framework for a new understanding of language from within applied linguistics. The idea of assemblages allows for a flexibility about what languages are, not just in terms of having fuzzy linguistic boundaries but in terms of what constitutes language more generally. Languages are assembled from different elements, both linguistic elements as traditionally understood, as well as items less commonly included. Language from this point of view is embedded in diverse social and physical environments, distributed across the material world and part of our embodied existence. This book looks at what language is and what languages are with a view to understanding applied linguistics itself as a practical assemblage.

Locating Translingualism

• Jerry Won Lee
• Published online: 31 March 2022 Print publication: 28 April 2022
• View description Encounters involving different cultures and languages are increasingly the norm in the era of globalization. While considerable attention has been paid to how languages and cultures transform in the era of globalization, their characteristic features prior to transformation are frequently taken for granted. This pioneering book argues that globalization offers an unprecedented opportunity to revisit fundamental assumptions about what distinguishes languages and cultures from each other in the first place. It takes the case of global Korea, showing how the notion of 'culture' is both represented but also reinvented in public space, with examples from numerous sites across Korea and Koreatowns around the world. It is not merely about locating spaces where translingualism happens but also about exploring the various ways in which linguistic and cultural difference come to be located via translingualism. It will appeal to anyone interested in the globalization of language and culture.

The Invention of Multilingualism

• David Gramling
• Published online: 04 June 2021 Print publication: 17 June 2021
• View description Multilingualism is a meaningful and capacious idea about human meaning-making practice, one with a promising, tumultuous, and flawed present - and a future worth caring for in research and public life. In this book, David Gramling presents original new insights into the topical subject of multilingualism, describing its powerful social, economic and political discourses. On one hand, it is under acute pressure to bear the demands of new global supply-chains, profit margins, and supranational unions, and on the other it is under pressure to make way for what some consider to be better descriptors of linguistic practice, such as translanguaging. The book shows how multilingualism is usefully able to encompass complex, divergent, and sometimes opposing experiences and ideas, in a wide array of planetary contexts - fictitious and real, political and social, North and South, colonial and decolonial, individual and collective, oppressive and liberatory, embodied and prosthetic, present and past.

Language as Symbolic Power

• Claire Kramsch
• Published online: 15 October 2020 Print publication: 29 October 2020
• View description Language is not simply a tool for communication - symbolic power struggles underlie any speech act, discourse move, or verbal interaction, be it in face-to-face conversations, online tweets or political debates. This book provides a clear and accessible introduction to the topic of language and power from an applied linguistics perspective. It is clearly split into three sections: the power of symbolic representation, the power of symbolic action and the power to create symbolic reality. It draws upon a wide range of existing work by philosophers, sociolinguists, sociologists and applied linguists, and includes current real-world examples, to provide a fresh insight into a topic that is of particular significance and interest in the current political climate and in our increasingly digital age. The book shows the workings of language as symbolic power in educational, social, cultural and political settings and discusses ways to respond to and even resist symbolic violence.

Language and Subjectivity

• Tim McNamara
• Published online: 20 February 2019 Print publication: 28 February 2019
• View description Understanding the role of language within the formation of a sense of self has been revolutionised by developments in social theory, particularly poststructuralism. There is now a new emphasis on the way in which subjects are vulnerable in the face of powerful discourses such as nation, gender, race and sexuality. This book is a clear and engaging introduction to these developments and their relevance to students of language. Using lively and often personal examples throughout, Tim McNamara explores the role of language within processes of subjectivity using the insights of conversation analysis (CA), creating an original conceptual and methodological bridge between the macro- and micro-dimensions of social discourse and everyday conversational interaction.

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Confronting Epistemological Racism, Decolonizing Scholarly Knowledge: Race and Gender in Applied Linguistics Ryuko Kubota Applied Linguistics , Volume 41, Issue 5, October 2020, Pages 712–732, https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amz033 Research Trends in Applied Linguistics from 2005 to 2016: A Bibliometric Analysis and Its Implications Lei Lei, Dilin Liu Applied Linguistics , Volume 40, Issue 3, June 2019, Pages 540–561, https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amy003  ELF Awareness in English Language Teaching: Principles and Processes Nicos C Sifakis Applied Linguistics , Volume 40, Issue 2, April 2019, Pages 288–306, https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amx034 The Effects of Corpus Use on Second Language Vocabulary Learning: A Multilevel Meta-analysis   Hansol Lee, Mark Warschauer, Jang Ho Lee Applied Linguistics , Volume 40, Issue 5, October 2019, Pages 721–753, https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amy012 Researching the Intercultural: Intersubjectivity and the Problem with Postpositivism  Adrian Holliday, Malcolm N Macdonald Applied Linguistics , Volume 41, Issue 5, October 2020, Pages 621–639, https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amz006 Word Knowledge: Exploring the Relationships and Order of Acquisition of Vocabulary Knowledge Components   Beatriz González-fernández, Norbert Schmitt Applied Linguistics , Volume 41, Issue 4, August 2020, Pages 481–505, https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amy057 Sensitivity to Language-based Rejection in Intercultural Communication: The Role of Language Mindsets and Implications for Migrants’ Cross-cultural Adaptation  Nigel Mantou Lou, Kimberly A Noels Applied Linguistics , Volume 40, Issue 3, June 2019, Pages 478–505, https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amx047 Discipline, Level, Genre: Integrating Situational Perspectives in a New MD Analysis of University Student Writing   Sheena Gardner, Hilary Nesi, Douglas Biber Applied Linguistics , Volume 40, Issue 4, August 2019, Pages 646–674, https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amy005 Patterns, Constructions, and Local Grammar: A Case Study of ‘Evaluation’   Susan Hunston, Hang Su Applied Linguistics , Volume 40, Issue 4, August 2019, Pages 567–593, https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amx046 The Onto-Epistemologies of New Materialism: Implications for Applied Linguistics Pedagogies and Research   Kelleen Toohey Applied Linguistics , Volume 40, Issue 6, December 2019, Pages 937–956, https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amy046

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TSL 3251 - Applied Linguistics for ESL (Del Prado)

• Intruduction
• Using Primo
• Using Subject Databases
• Using Effective Keywords

Anatomy of a Research Article

• Identiying Primary Sources
• APA Style Guide

In class, we discussed not just how to locate research articles in the LLBA, but also how to read them strategically by identifying their main components. As I noted in class, this will vary by field and there are times you can identify the field based just on how an article is structured. Being aware of this is an important research skill and part of being a strategic reader.

Remember that, when conducting your literature review, you don't need to read every article you find in depth. Rather, your scanning it for relevance to see which ones fit the scope of your project. You can do this by reading the abstract and introduction. If they look promising, scroll down to the results, discussion, and conclusion to see how well it fits with your project.

For example, common features of Social Science articles are:

• Author credentials
• Introduction
• Literature review
• overview of the study being conducted or analyzed
• Works Cited

Being able to identify these components and noting that they each serve a specific purpose can make a 30-40 page research study seem a lot less intimidating.

This can also give you insight into the norms of the field you're working in and how to structure your own study. 

***Pro Tip:

In class, I showed you how to scan articles for terms like "more research is needed" or "further research is needed." These terms usually appear in the discussion section or conclusion of an article and they're useful because the authors are telling you what to do next. Once you start gather articles for your lit review, scan them for those terms and you'll gain insight into where to go with your own research because they're literally telling you what needs to be done next.

• << Previous: Using Effective Keywords
• Next: Identiying Primary Sources >>
• Last Updated: Sep 12, 2024 4:35 PM
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