Introduction: The advocacy turn of educational linguistics

The papers in this volume collectively show the many ways in which education and linguistics intersect. The naming and definition of educational linguistics as a field is credited largely to Bernard Spolsky in the 1970s (Spolsky 1974, 1978) out of recognition of the significance of language-related issues in education and out of dissatisfaction with efforts to define applied linguistics. Hult (2010) traces the roots of the field back further: as far as 1948, in a journal entitled Language Learning: A Quarterly Journal of Applied Linguistics. Since then, many scholars identify educational linguistics as their disciplinary home, and there are programs in educational linguistics at major universities in the United States (e.g., Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, University of New Mexico, Monterey Institute of International Studies). Scholars from the University of Pennsylvania, such as Dell Hymes, Nessa Wolfson, Teresa Pica, and Nancy Hornberger, have been crucial to shaping and championing educational linguistics as a field in its own right, while negotiating spaces for educational linguistics in journals and professional associations that identify with the broader field of applied linguistics.