Tuning up amidst the din of discordant notes: on a recent bout of identity crisis in applied linguistics

This paper examines some of the key issues that were at the centre of a recent controversy over how best to characterise the status of applied linguistics (AL) and its distinctiveness vis‐à‐vis linguistics proper. It endorses the position maintained by Rampton (1992, 1993, 1997) that AL should assume its role not simply as a field independent of linguistics (the so‐called “Widdowson‐Brumfit stance”) but, more importantly, as an area of enquiry that poses a challenge to basic linguistic research, as it is customarily carried out under the aegis of mainstream linguistics. It also examines some of the criticisms of Rampton's view offered by Widdowson (1998a, b) and Brumfit (1997) and argues that Rampton's essential thesis survives their objections. The author speculates, however, that the next major paradigm shift in linguistics may well involve greater awareness on the part of researchers of the ethical, ideological and political implications of their own work. If and when this happens, the current stand‐off between mainstream linguistics and AL will lose a good deal of its raison d'être .