ABSTRACT
This chapter describes stock and identifies features of contemporary applied linguistics that are affecting research and practice in all its diverse arenas, all around the globe, today. It focuses on the developments with a critical eye, and try to estimate how they are likely to pan out in the short and medium terms. The chapter addresses the radical impact of new technologies, the dissolution of borders, political, linguistic, disciplinary and professional, and the exercise of the profession, including new ways applied linguists are working and their renewed focus on language, freedom and social responsibility. As the scope of applied linguistics broadens to include a wider range of jobs in publicly funded institutions, exercised across national boundaries, professional standards can be used to ensure that users receive equitable services independently of geographical locations, social connections, economic conditions and language backgrounds.
