Discursive Practice in Language Learning and Teaching

Discursive Practice in Language Learning and Teaching is an important contribution to applied linguistics and to our understanding of how languages are learned, taught, and tested. All talk and writing happens in a social context and this book takes context as the starting point for an understanding of language and develops a theory of discursive practice. Discursive practices derive their meaning from the institutional and political context in which they happen. What second language students learn is how to participate in discursive practices that socialize learners to a new community. That community is often a school community and not a community of speakers of the second language. This book will be an essential resource for students and scholars of applied linguistics and the analysis of talk in context. It will also be of interest to students in anthropology, sociology, second language studies, education, language and culture, and language testing.

Richard F. Young is Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he teaches courses in Sociolinguistics, English Syntax, Second Language Acquisition, and Research Methods. In his research, he investigates the relationship between the use of language and the social contexts that language reflects and creates. His books include Variation in Interlanguage Morphology (1991), Talking and Testing (1998), and Language and Interaction (2008). He has published over 50 articles in journals and anthologies and serves on the editorial boards of three major journals. He has served as President of the American Association for Applied Linguistics and Chair of the World Congress of Applied Linguistics.