This is a selection of papers from a conference hosted by the Irish Association for Applied Linguistics at the Marino Institute of Education in Dublin in June 1994. In an introductory paper, Rosamond Mitchell calls us to “defend and develop the professionalism of language teachers” (p. 17), which Mary Ruane amplifies to counter pessimism among language professionals arising from a feeling of a lack of control over “issues on a wider agenda” (p. 27). On the same theme, John Edwards calls for sociopolitical engagement with ethnic-minority-language situations (p. 34) and Helen Ó Murchú calls for empowerment of the “lesser used language communities” (p. 44) in a supportive response to Edwards' keynote address.