The Routledge Applied Linguistics Reader is an essential collection of readings for students of Applied Linguistics. Divided into five sections: Language Teaching and Learning, Second Language Acquisition, Applied Linguistics, Identity and Power and Language Use in Professional Contexts, the Reader takes a broad interpretation of the subject from its traditional foundations in language teaching and learning to cover the newer subdisciplines from corpus linguistics to forensic linguistics.
Using a multidisciplinary approach, the Reader focuses on the topics and issues to which Applied Linguistics research has made a significant contribution, in particular:

• our understanding of key concepts and notions in the study of real-world problems in which language and communication play a central role
• the theoretical debates of broader social science issues that impact on language teaching, learning and use
• the main methodological advances.

Featuring twenty-seven carefully selected readings, the Reader focuses on both the major contributions of Applied Linguistics, and the conceptual and theoretical issues of the subject in a variety of contexts and methods. The selection comprises seminal articles from leading researchers, as well as fresh perspectives from new voices in the subject. These readings are amplified by a general introduction as well as detailed, critical summaries of each section, discussion questions and recommended further reading for each article.