Alison Sealey is Professor Emerita of Applied Linguistics at Lancaster University, UK. Bob Carter is Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of Warwick.

• Foreword by Derek Layder; Introduction; Making connections: some key issues in social theory and applied linguistics; Sociology and ideas about language; Language as a cultural emergent property; Researching language learning: theories, evidence, claims; Social categories and theoretical descriptions; Social domain theory: interpreting intercultural communication; Language in the world: properties and powers; A social realist approach to research in applied linguistics

"This book addresses an important question for linguists and applied linguists... Not all applied linguists agree they are social scientists, but this detailed and wide-ranging book should persuade them of the risks of ignoring the sociological tradition, for it is full of detailed examples of theory and practice, carefully examined from both linguistic and sociological perspectives." --Professor Christopher Brumfit, University of Southampton