| Recent debates in applied linguistics focusing on the nature and viability of research paradigm and theory formation have raised questions regarding the epistemological primacy of the field. Specifically, these debates revolve around the question of whether the social aspects of language may be considered in applied linguistic research, or whether applied linguistics research should be a strictly cognitive enterprise. This study investigates the epistemological orientation of the field of applied linguistics through an inventory of the previous 10 years of research articles published in the journals Applied Linguistics, TESOL Quarterly, and Studies in Second Language Acquisition. Abstracts from these journals were classified by four readers to ascertain their conformity to empirical/analytic, symbolic, or critical science. Results of the inventory reported an epistemological orientation towards symbolic (46%) and E/A (38%) science, with articles judged as conforming to critical science representing only 7.5% of the inventory corpus. Statistical breakdowns are also given across journal, time, scientific paradigm, and editor. Using critical cultural studies as an interpretive framework, this study utilized literature from theories in applied linguistics, social theory, discourse theory, critical pedagogy, psychology, and personal reflection as research arguments to help explicate how the field of applied linguistics represents the relationship among language, culture, and power in research literature and what this epistemological orientation might mean for the social agencies of intellectuals and consumers of theories in applied linguistics. |
