Extending Research Horizons in Applied Linguistics: Between Interdisciplinarity and Methodological Diversity

Extending Research Horizons in Applied Linguistics is targeted at professional scholars as well as language students who plan their own research in the fuzzy field of applied linguistics, while working on their degree papers, or doing any academic work related to language study. This volume has a unique operational methodological character and may function as a methodological manual.

The academically fashionable word 'interdisciplinarity' is frequently made void in research perspectives. Understood as a mark of academic liberalism, standing for 'anything goes', it is questioned by orthodox minds adhering to the compartmentalization of scientific disciplines. This volume bridges the gap in three ways: it offers theoretical justification for crossing disciplinary borders in methodological terms; it presents an application of adopted methods or techniques from a different discipline; and it considers research benefits resulting from such an approach. These three elements, around which each chapter is organized, account for the integrationist aspect of interdisciplinarity.

The volume includes seven chapters dedicated to a selected methodology incorporating an empirical avenue coming from outside of the linguistic domain, yet applied to linguistic issues which are interdisciplinary in their character. They either occupy a contested space between disciplines, or need an interdisciplinary insight, which ultimately imparts a more comprehensive understanding.