2 The informants
In this chapter the process of the data collection will be described, including
the selection of informants, some of the characteristics of this group, their
educational background and the role of gender, race and age. Finally, some
information will be provided on how informants became affiliated with AL
as theirfield.
2.1 Demarcation problems
In the next chapter I will present views on what the definition of AL is, but
for the selection of the informants some decisions had to be made that fol-
lowed from my own definition of AL: the development and use of multiple
languages. Though this is already a broad definition, some problems with
demarcation had to be solved. The first demarcation concerns the line
between AL and TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Lan-
guages). There is a group of researchers that will typically go to con-
ferences of the American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL) and
TESOL, some because they like to connect fundamental research with
teaching practices (e.g. Diane Larsen-Freeman and Norbert Schmitt), others
because they represent organizations that have contact with teachers as one
of their goals (like CALPR (Centre for Advanced Language Proficiency) at
Pennsylvania State University or Carla (Center for Advanced Research on
Language Acquisition) at the University of Minnesota. Some names are
typically connected with TESOL, such as Donald Freeman, Kathleen Bailey
and Neil Anderson. All of them have played, or still play, a role in the
TESOL Research Foundation (TIRF, http://www.tirfonline.org),,) which tries to
support research within TESOL. They clearly belong to the two worlds of
AAAL/AL and TESOL. Other people are more based in TESOL, like Marianne
Celce-Murcia and David Nunan, though they certainly have done work that
would qualify as AL.
The general feeling among the informants is that TESOL is aimed pri-
marily at teaching, teachers and teaching materials, while AAAL is more
focused on research, though this will often be research on teaching and
learning. Also, TESOL is about English, as its name suggests, while AAAL