The rapid worldwide growth in migration, asylum seekers and refugees and reactions to this, the expansion of media and technology, political and economic changes at international and local levels are both challenges and opportunities for research in applied linguistics.

This book presents 23 articles by key researchers exploring the ways in which applied linguistics can play a role making a difference in people’s lives. It is a timely publication when access to powerful discourses is increasingly an issue for many of the world’s populations. The book showcases the contribution of applied linguists working in such areas as language teaching and learning, policy development, discourse analysis, language assessment, language development and bilingualism in the UK, Asia and Australasia.

The book is aimed at teachers, teacher educators, undergraduate and postgraduate students who are working in the areas of the applied linguistics and language education, but also to anyone with an interest in language and the impact that it has on our lives.

“The whole idea is that so many of us live our lives applying linguistics and yet we don’t even think about it”. – Shirley Brice Heath, in Heath and Kramsch (2004, 82): Individuals, Institutions and the Uses of Literacy: Shirley Brice Heath and Claire Kramsch in Conversation. Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1(1):75-94.