INTRODUCTION

Business-oriented research projects increasingly form the focus of PhD research in applied linguistics. This paper discusses the issue of preparing PhD candidates for their engagement with a business organisation and proposes an integrative framework supporting the maintenance and mutual benefits of the research-to-business relationship. Overall, the paper aims to encourage debate around teaching in academia, towards which it was presented in Kraków, April 2017.

As a field of study, applied linguistics is experiencing exciting times. It not only attracts an increased number of research students, but applied linguists are also moving out of the confines of language teaching. Increasingly, applied linguists are called upon by private, public and third sector businesses and organisations to assist them in addressing language-related workplace, institutional and social problems which centre either on spoken or written interaction and on the understanding of language practices. The word “practices” is important as language practices, often also termed discursive or communicative practices, embody an intersection between linguistics and professional practice. Therefore, awareness of how language works in workplace and professional settings is best to be arrived at through mutual collaborations between linguists and workplace professionals. Fine examples of such research-to-practice collaborations are the Language in the Workplace project (LWP) and Linguistic Profiling for Professionals (LiPP). Through projects like these, applied linguistics is progressively being recognised as a discipline with the potential to inform and even intervene in business and institutional practice.

Managing the collaboration between the academic needs of a PhD candidate and the host organisation's requirements to undertake applied linguistic research creates new challenges for academic institutions. What processes are in place to ensure that PhD students – future ‘field agents’ – acquire the approaches necessary to perform as applied language specialists? Does the journey of undertaking PhD research in its academic sense indeed prepare doctoral students in applied linguistics for their entry into the workplace in order to carry out the research? This paper argues it does not.

Academic placements in business contexts are well established in particular in business specialisations. This is especially the case when the business organisation has a particular issue to be addressed in a field that it understands, such as Marketing, Promotions, Manufacturing Processes or IT.