ABSTRACT
In this chapter we propose an initial mapping of the domain of educational psycholinguistics by deriving its problems from the nature of education. The surface manifestations of an educational psycholinguistics will, of course, occur in such areas as foreign language learning, the acquisition of reading skill, concerns for individual language variation, and the development of rhetorical skills. But a systematic discipline must be founded on questions for research and a coordinated set of problems with an underlying theme. The mere application of existing findings to specific instructional tasks will not suffice. Worse than merely failing to define a discipline, such mechanical procedures also lead to a lack of circumspection and confusion in educational practice.
