Three definitions are given of the (debated) nature of ‘Applied Linguistics’ (AL):

1. (1) foreign language (L2) teaching/learning;

2. (2) use of linguistic knowledge to solve problems where language is a central issue;

3. (3) anything related to language except theoretical linguistics.

Rejecting (3), the authors develop specific aspects of definitions (1) and (2).

Definition (1):

• - Relation between language theory and AL: main approaches to L2 teaching (e.g., Reform Movement, structuralist and behaviorist trends, contrastive analysis, audiolingual methods, L2 development (error analysis and interlanguage — supported by generative theory);

• - Interdisciplinarity: research in L2 (cognitive) psycholinguistics: experimental investigations on language processing, e.g., language activation by bilinguals;

• - Interdisciplinarity: growing interest in the social contexts of L2 acquisition: development of ‘communicative language teaching,’ of usage-based teaching (with corpora), attention paid to learners’ age/gender/social class and the sociocultural context of development.

Definition (2):

• - Focus on multilingualism: cognitive advantage/disadvantage of bi/multilingualism;

• - Language policy and planning in AL;

• - International, national, local policies (CEFR, ACTFL);

• - The spread of English, local standards of English;

• - Bilingual education (immersion, CLIL).

• - Language testing: psychometric-structuralist, integrative-sociolinguistic approaches, moral/ethical dilemmas in testing;

• - Neurolinguistic issues related to bilingual aphasia (e.g., affected areas of the brain and location of language in the brain; use of modern tools (ERP, fMRI) for research).