Linking Research to transforming the real world: critical language studies for the next 20 years

During the last 20 years, Critical Inquiry in Language Studies has played an important role in advancing research on critical applied linguistics. Although the level of scholarly interest in critical research and its visibility have increased, issues that critical research has attempted to problematize, such as normative ideologies of language and language education, continue to dominate policies, practices, and ordinary people's consciousness in the real world. Critical approaches to research should be grounded in praxis, namely, committed reflection and action for transformation. In order to further promote critical language studies with a vision of praxis, it is necessary to amplify a synergy between producing scholarly knowledge within academe and making efforts to put the knowledge into practice through concrete actions for transformation in the real world. This article examines some challenges that scholars face in forging the synergy, including institutional constraints and neoliberal expectations that dissociate research from local impact. Proposed ideas for praxis-oriented scholarly work include, but are certainly not limited to, decolonizing our minds, paying attention to and intentionally making a commitment to transformation, actively engaging with public scholarship for knowledge mobilization, legitimizing and encouraging multilingual scholarship, changing institutional expectations and practices, and actively connecting with communities.