Open Scholarship in Applied Linguistics

Open scholarship (also referred to as open science or open research) is an umbrella term reflecting the idea that scientific knowledge of all kinds, where appropriate, should be openly accessible, transparent, rigorous, accumulative, and inclusive, all which are considered fundamental features of the scientific endeavour. The term open scholarship is used for its broad connotation and inclusiveness (i.e., not only open research but the surrounding infrastructure such as teaching/training for open research).

The field of applied linguistics initiated open scholarship practices early on to enhance research quality and transparency, as evidenced by the establishment of IRIS, a discipline-specific repository for research instruments and materials, back in 2011. There have been many initiatives to enhance research transparency, reproducibility and accessibility, ranging from Registered Reports at Language Learning to the Open Accessible Summaries in Language Studies (OASIS) initiative. Despite the initiatives and efforts by active proponents of open scholarship, the wider community of applied linguistics has yet to engage with open scholarship in greater depth. More efforts are still needed to raise the awareness of open scholarship and the many unresolved issues regarding research quality. Considering the diversity of research paradigms in applied linguistics, it is even more important to initiate wider discussions among researchers with different epistemological stances and collaboratively pursue a discipline-specific understanding of open scholarship in applied linguistics.

Sponsored by Cambridge University Press & Assessment and Open Applied Linguistics (AILA Research Network), we will hold a two-day online symposium on 9 – 10 June 2022.

The aims of the symposium are:

• To raise the awareness of open scholarship in applied linguistics
• To initiate conversations on open scholarship among researchers subscribing to different research paradigms to cultivate a discipline-specific understanding of open scholarship
• To promote interdisciplinary dialogues with scholars in other social sciences disciplines (e.g., Psychology) and key stakeholders such as publishers on how open scholarship can be promoted and how challenges can be addressed
• To facilitate academic exchange and collaborations regarding open scholarship in applied linguistics

A variety of topics will be covered at the symposium, ranging from replication and registered reports to research data management. Researchers across career stages with diverse backgrounds as well as stakeholders such as publishers have been invited to contribute to the discussion. We welcome anyone who is interested in open scholarship to join the conversation either by presenting at or attending the symposium.

Please visit our official website for more information.