Abstract

The essays and research papers in this collection explore current issues in Language Education, English for Academic Purposes, Contrastive Discourse Analysis, and Language Policy and Planning, and outline promising directions for theory and practice in applied linguistics. The collection also honours the life-long contribution of Robert B. Kaplan to the field.

This book offers a diverse collection of chapters in five key areas of linguistics. The broad range of individual perspectives offers many insights for students and researchers who are interested in the complex relationships between language form and language use. This edited volume is a valuable contribution to the field, which shows both where we have come from, and where we might go.

This book is a significant contribution to the field of applied linguistics, for the insights it offers into current directions into the field, detailed exploration of issues informed by theory while at the same time paying honor to the influential works of Robert B. Kaplan. The wealth of illustrations, the details of discussion makes this book an extremely useful reference for those involved in Applied Linguistics studies.

This collection of articles by Robert Kaplan’s students and colleagues from around the world attests to the major role he has played in helping to define applied linguistics as a discipline and contributing to the development of a number of distinct areas within it. These include: language education, English for Academic Purposes, contrastive rhetoric/discourse analysis, and language policy and planning. As a former president of both TESOL and AAAL, he was uniquely positioned to train a cadre of students and work with diverse colleagues in many areas of applied linguistics, including understanding and improving teacher development and pedagogical practice, especially as it relates to the teaching of writing and reading for academic purposes; examining and understanding the differing contexts in which languages are used, learned, and taught and the types of policies which support language maintenance and learning. This collection will serve as an excellent text for an introductory course in applied linguistics or as an additional text in courses in educational linguistics, language policy and planning, or the teaching of English for Academic Purposes.

This remarkable collection, as wide-ranging as the career to which it pays tribute, demonstrates the breadth and dynamism of applied linguistics. The authors and editors show that issues conceptualized at very different scales, from sentences to social policies, can be usefully illuminated and extended through the theoretical frameworks and research approaches based on Kaplan’s pioneering efforts. All contributions attest to the vitality of the research foci and offer guidelines for productive future investigations in classrooms, communities, and other sites where decisions regarding language choice, instruction, and use are identified, implemented, and sometimes contested. Truly an applied linguistic tour de force.

Few applied linguists are as deserving of a book in their honor as Bob Kaplan and few have been as richly served by the resulting volume. The twenty or so contributions, many written by leading figures in the field, cover the areas for which Kaplan’s work is best known—language education, EAP, contrastive rhetoric, and language planning. What shines through is how rich and vibrant a field applied linguistics has become in recent years. What also shines through is Bob Kaplan’s role as a scholar, an educator, an editor and, perhaps most significantly, as a mentor of doctoral students and younger colleagues. So we additionally find in this volume, affectionate and appreciative accounts of Bob Kaplan’s influence on the scholarly development of important applied linguists of a generation after his.

Paul Bruthiaux, Dwight Atkinson, William G. Eggington, William Grabe and Vaidehi Ramanathan conducted their doctoral research at the University of Southern California in the 1980s and 1990s, with Robert B. Kaplan playing a significant role in their development as applied linguists. Now they have joined forces to co-edit a collection of essays and research papers that review current trends across the spectrum of applied linguistics and discuss their implications for the future the field.

The volume provides opportunities to look backwards and forwards and to take stock of the evolution of applied linguistics and its new directions. Well-designed new studies and thoughtful perspectives from various contexts expand the field, and the references are comprehensive. In short, this well-edited, engaging, and stimulating volume is a fitting tribute to Kaplan and his work.