The Cambridge Introduction to Applied Linguistics

Having been introduced to a range of work in applied linguistics, and having worked through some activities that asked you to analyze language-related information, you are ready to begin exploring your own interests within the field of applied linguistics. Exploring your own interests requires a solid knowledge base of the research in your chosen area and the ability to communicate knowledge to others. In order to gain this knowledge and learn to communicate with others in the field, you need to learn the discipline-specific reading and writing skills used in applied linguistics. While acquiring these skills may seem daunting at first, understanding why applied linguists write the way they do can help you read research articles more strategically and produce research papers that meet the expectations and needs of readers in applied linguistics. This chapter focuses on the structure of empirical research papers and gives tips for both reading and writing these kinds of papers in the field.