In:Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching: Historical perspectives
Edited by Richard Smith and Tim Giesler
[AILA Applied Linguistics Series 20] 2023
► pp. 2–22
Chapter 1How can perspectives from Applied Linguistic Historiography
improve our understanding of innovation?
Published online: 27 June 2023
https://doi.org/10.1075/aals.20.01smi
https://doi.org/10.1075/aals.20.01smi
Abstract
As an emerging interdisciplinary, plurilingual
and intercultural field (McLelland & Smith, 2018), the History of Language
Learning and Teaching – and associated considerations of Applied
Linguistic Historiography (Smith, 2016) – can be expected to provide useful
perspectives on innovation: how, when and why to
attempt it and how to sustain it, but also, from a relatively
philosophical perspective, how to define and assess it. Innovation,
after all, is an activity, or a construct, which is inextricably
bound up with views of the past, whether imagined or
well-researched – a past seen to be in need of replacement or at
least reconstruction. Researching the past can, indeed, give rise to
considerations of whether – and, if so, why and how – innovation
occurs, or is seen to be required at all. In this introduction to a
book devoted to historical perspectives on innovation, we consider
three specific ways in which Applied Linguistic Historiography can
contribute to a revised understanding of innovation in language
teaching and we identify ways in which the chapters in the book shed
new light on its nature, causes, effects and rationale.
Article outline
- Why are historical perspectives on innovation needed?
- How did innovation rise to prominence?
- Characterizing and identifying innovation
- Managing innovation with historical sense
- Aspects of innovation, from chapter authors’ perspectives
- Product innovation
- Innovation through scientific discovery
- Oscillations along a continuum
- Adaptation in specific contexts
- Conclusion
- Note on peer reviews, editorial assistance and translations
Notes References
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