Applied Linguistics as Social Science surveys the increasing dialogue between linguistics and social theory. The book shows how social theory, applied linguistics and sociolinguistics share a set of common concerns, and how an analysis of these to produce a social scientific account of applied linguistics helps to explain the interaction between social structures, human agents and language. Foreword • 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