Article published In: Australian Review of Applied Linguistics: Online-First Articles
Applied linguistics research in Australia
An evolving landscape
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.
For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.
Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with The University of Adelaide.
Published online: 13 November 2025
https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.25026.koh
https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.25026.koh
Abstract
The hundreds of articles published in the Australian Review of Applied Linguistics since its
inception in 1977, as noted by Curnow and Kohler in their longitudinal study (2017), constitute a key resource for examining the
nature of research in applied linguistics in Australia and its mutations over time. This study updates the findings of Curnow and
Kohler, firstly by adding to the data analysis the articles that have appeared in ARAL since 2016, when John
Benjamins became the journal’s publisher, and secondly by including a discussion of the data derived from a selected number of
congresses of the Applied Linguistics Association of Australia (ALAA) over the decades since the association’s first gathering in
1976. The aim is threefold: to highlight the fields of interest that have remained a feature of applied linguistics research in
Australia during ALAA’s history; to identify any changes of emphasis the data reveal over time; and to contextualize these shifts
within the evolving intellectual, institutional, and societal contexts in which applied linguistics research in Australia is
undertaken.
Keywords: applied linguistics, history, mutations, sub-fields, publications, conference papers
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.ARAL articles: Data analysis
- 2.1ARAL: An overview
- 2.2ARAL articles: Sub-fields
- 2.3ARAL articles: Language focus
- 3.ALAA congress papers: Data analysis
- 3.1ALAA congresses: An overview
- 3.2ALAA conference papers: Sub-fields
- 3.3ALAA congress papers: Language focus
- 4.Evolution of the field
- 5.Conclusion
- Notes
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