Open Applied Linguistics

Open Scholarship in Applied Linguistics

Convenors:

Meng LIU, Beijing Foreign Studies University, China
Ali AL-HOORIE, Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, KSA
Phil HIVER, Florida State University, USA

Scope:

In the past few years, the momentum for open scholarship has been rapidly growing in applied linguistics (e.g., Al-Hoorie et al., 2024; Andringa et al., 2024; Godfroid & Andringa, 2023; Kremmel & Isbell, 2024; Liu et al., 2023; Marsden & Morgan‐Short, 2023; Plonsky, 2024). While there is an increasing number of initiatives and endeavors by active proponents of open scholarship, the wider community of applied linguistics is just beginning to engage with open scholarship in greater depth. More efforts are still needed to increase the awareness of open scholarship and to facilitate discussions and collaborations to address issues ranging from research quality to accessibility and inclusion. In response to this, Open Applied Linguistics (openappliedlinguistics.org), a field-specific community initiative dedicated to promoting open scholarship, was proposed and formally approved by AILA as a Research Network (ReN) in February 2022. As a field-specific open scholarship initiative, Open Applied Linguistics has a unique role to play in fostering a shared understanding of open scholarship that reflects the unique values, epistemologies, and priorities of the field, thereby contextualizing open scholarship to serve the diverse needs of the applied linguistics community.

The aims of our ReN are:

To raise awareness of open scholarship in applied linguistics through talks, symposia, and training workshops
To initiate conversations and collaborations on open scholarship among researchers, as well as with other open scholarship initiatives, to foster an inclusive understanding of open scholarship
To lower barriers to entry into open scholarship by creating/curating resources to support the adoption of open scholarship practices

Highlight of 3 scientific ReN works during the previous period:

Inaugural Two-Day Symposium: Open Scholarship in Applied Linguistics (June 2022)

In June 2022, Open Applied Linguistics held its first two-day symposium online. The event had 467 registered participants from around the world, creating a global conversation about open science in applied linguistics. The symposium featured 19 invited speakers and 12 presenters from various career stages. Over 19 sessions, they discussed key topics in open scholarship, such as replication studies, registered reports, and research data management. This event was crucial in raising awareness about open scholarship in applied linguistics. It started important discussions within and outside the field and set the stage for future work and collaborations in promoting open research values and practices.

Reading Club Initiative

The Reading Club Initiative is a key part of Open Applied Linguistics’ work to encourage ongoing learning about open scholarship. It includes two types of events – Meet the Authors Series and Open Reader Events.

Meet the Authors Series: These are live online sessions where authors of important works in open scholarship talk about their research. Participants can ask questions and exchange ideas with the author. Past events included discussions on:

Metascience in applied linguistics
Misconduct and questionable research practices
Replication studies in second language research
Responding to errors in academic work
Diamond Open Access and systemic inequality in publishing
Diamond Open Access publishing for books

Open Readers Events: These are discussions led by members of the network. They provide a space for researchers to explore different aspects of open science together. Topics have included UNESCO’s recommendations on open science and open access publishing.

By holding these events regularly and covering various topics, the Reading Club helps build a community interested in open scholarship. It gives researchers at all career stages a chance to engage with new ideas and learn how to apply open science principles in their work.

Promotion of Open Scholarship Initiatives in Applied Linguistics

This awareness-raising initiative aims to make ongoing open scholarship efforts in applied linguistics more visible to the wider community. For this project, we create and share infographic posters that highlight specific open scholarship initiatives. The project has several goals:

To inform the community about different open scholarship practices in applied linguistics
To show how community members can get involved with each initiative
To promote openness and collaboration in the field
To help researchers find ways to include open scholarship in their work
We worked with the teams behind each initiative to create the posters and held social media campaigns to promote these initiatives. The first set of featured initiatives are:
IRIS Database: An open repository of research data/code/materials/postprints for language studies.
OASIS: A database of non-technical, one-page summaries of research findings.
TESOLgraphics: An initiative that creates visual summaries of secondary research for language teachers.
TBLT Task Bank: A platform for sharing language learning tasks.
The Post-Print Pledge: A movement encouraging researchers to share their accepted article versions freely.
MuRAL: An initiative that provides translations of research abstracts into languages other than English.

Some members:

Xuechun HUANG, University of Leeds (UK)
Mehdi GOUGHARI, Independent Researcher (Iran)
Emma MARSDEN, University of York (UK)
Luke PLONSKY, Northern Arizona University (USA)
Kevin MCMANUS, Penn State University (USA)
Kara SHORT-MORGAN, University of Illinois Chicago (USA)
Laura GURZYNSKI-WEISS, Indiana University (USA)
Dan ISBELL, University of Hawaii (USA)
Benjamin KREMMEL, University of Innsbruck (Austria)
Aline GODFROID, Michigan State University (USA)
Graeme PORTE, University of Granada (Spain)