Towards a Critical Applied Linguistics for the 1990s

Abstract

Like many other areas of the social sciences. applied linguistics developed into its present form during the age of high modernism. Yet. while many other areas are going through a difficult stage of reappraisal in response to postmodern critiques of modernism. applied linguistics has remained to date steadfastly bound to its modernist paradigm. The significance of the challenges to this mode of thinking. however. suggests that applied linguistics urgently needs 10 look afresh at its view of language and research. and to acknowledge new thinking on discourse. the subject. culture. objectivity and knowledge. Applied linguistics also needs to address the fundamental limitations of asocial. ahistorical and apolitical modes of inquiry for the highly political domain of second language education. What 1am arguing for here is a pedagogically andpolitically engaged critical applied linguistics which is responsive to its social. cultural and political context and which uses a notion of transformative critique as its main mode 0/ inquiry.