ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that there is a need for more formal, scholarly work published by language practitioners themselves. It takes the view that a ‘scholar-practitioner’ expectation is appropriate for language educators teaching at university level. Starting with the often used definition of scholarship articulated by Shulman (2000), the first half of the chapter sets out why a distinct label for the scholarly work of language practitioners is needed. The argument is that the use of the term scholarship can include research, but that the nature of the scholarly activity of practitioners is different enough to warrant a label to distinguish it from the work of those academics for whom research is a formal expectation. The second half of the chapter goes on to explore each of the chapters presented in this edited volume. In doing so, it illustrates how the work of language practitioners confirms the view of scholarship as argued for here. It demonstrates not only the importance of scholarship by language practitioners in higher education, but also draws out future directions, indicating further work that can be done to build on the best practice included in this volume.
