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date: 22 February 2020

Abstract and Keywords

The use of language in professional context is the essence of this article. Scholars in several disciplines have studied the language used in professional contexts for many different reasons, so this topic represents an unusually interdisciplinary panorama. This article reviews some current work comprising the study of language in professional contexts with the dual goals of illustrating representative approaches taken to date and suggesting where additional efforts by applied linguists could be most productive. Social scientists have examined the language used in traditional high-status professions of law and medicine and similarly status-sensitive fields of education and social work for decades; consequently, applied linguists find a substantial foundation for related work. Research on language uses in professional activities belongs in the mainstream of contemporary applied linguistics. Without it, theorists are likely to oversimplify the contradictions connecting the study of language and society.

Keywords: language use, interdisciplinary, study of language, applied linguistics, language, society

Mary McGroarty

Mary McGroarty is professor in the applied linguistics program of the English department at Northern Arizona University, where she teaches courses in sociolinguistics, language pedagogy, and assessment. She has also been on the faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research addresses language policy, pedagogy, and assessment and has appeared in Applied Linguistics, Language Learning, Language Policy, TESOL Quarterly, and several anthologies. She is a past president (1997–1998) of the American Association for Applied Linguistics and has served on the editorial boards of Applied Linguistics, Canadian Modern Language Review, Journal of Language, Identity and Education, and TESOL Quarterly. From 2000 through 2006, she was editor-in-chief of the Annual Review of Applied Linguistics. She can be reached at http://mary.mcgroarty@nau.edu.

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