Book contents
- Critical Realism in Applied Linguistics
- The Cambridge Applied Linguistics Series
- Critical Realism in Applied Linguistics
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1Critical Realism
- 2Critical Realism and Research on Students’ Self-efficacy Beliefs
- 3Structure, Culture, Agency, and English Language Learning among Undergraduate Students in Cancun
- 4Realist Evaluation of ESP Curriculum Implementation
- 5What Makes Academic Writing Human(e)
- 6Empiricism in Interpretivist Sociolinguistics
- 7Counter-Voices of Resilience, through a Critical Realist Lens
- 8Critical Realist Reflections on Race Pedagogy in a University English for Liberal Arts Course in Japan
- 9A Non-anthropocentric Realism?
- Conclusion
- Index
- References
Conclusion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 January 2026
Book contents
- Critical Realism in Applied Linguistics
- The Cambridge Applied Linguistics Series
- Critical Realism in Applied Linguistics
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1Critical Realism
- 2Critical Realism and Research on Students’ Self-efficacy Beliefs
- 3Structure, Culture, Agency, and English Language Learning among Undergraduate Students in Cancun
- 4Realist Evaluation of ESP Curriculum Implementation
- 5What Makes Academic Writing Human(e)
- 6Empiricism in Interpretivist Sociolinguistics
- 7Counter-Voices of Resilience, through a Critical Realist Lens
- 8Critical Realist Reflections on Race Pedagogy in a University English for Liberal Arts Course in Japan
- 9A Non-anthropocentric Realism?
- Conclusion
- Index
- References
Summary
As mentioned in the Introduction, critical realism (CR) is both a specific approach to the philosophy of science and a broad philosophical tent. Although in agreement on the fundamental principles of CR (e.g., ontological realism, epistemological relativism, judgemental rationality, mechanism-based view of causality), the authors in this edited volume have both foregrounded and backgrounded certain CR principles in relation to their research foci. In doing so, they have demonstrated a flexible approach to CR-grounded research into language and social issues in which language plays a central role. We want to close this edited volume by outlining some of the similarities and differences between chapters, in part to show how CR principles can be interpreted, contextualised, and put to use in specific applied linguistics (AL) research projects. In the Introduction, we presented the chapter contributions in sequential order. Here, we instead begin with contributions which offered more theoretical arguments and follow with contributions that were more explicitly empirical.
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- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Critical Realism in Applied Linguistics , pp. 247 - 254Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
References
Alderson, P. (2021) Critical realism for health and illness research. Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Collier, A. (1994) Critical realism: An introduction to Roy Bhaskar’s philosophy. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Corson, D. (1997) ‘Critical realism: An emancipatory philosophy for applied linguistics?’, Applied Linguistics, 18(2), pp. 166–188.10.1093/applin/18.2.166CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Regan, J. and Gray, J. (2018) ‘The bureaucratic distortion of academic work: A transdisciplinary analysis of the UK Research Excellence Framework in the age of neoliberalism’, Language and Intercultural Communication, 18(5), pp. 533–548.10.1080/14708477.2018.1501847CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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