A critical look at the construction of power between applied linguistics and critical applied linguistics

This article addresses the potential power relationships between Critical Applied Linguistics (CALx) and Applied Linguistics (AL). The discussion is based on the presentation of AL and CALx in Davies (1999) and Pennycook (2001), respectively. Four basic possibilities will frame the arguments: either AL or CALx may exert power over the other, as when CALx is seen as simply a subfield of the more comprehensive AL, or insofar as CALx provides a forum in which to discuss ethics within AL. Furthermore, both CALx and AL may have a position of power, such that they are in conflict with each other. Finally, the possibility will be explored that CALx and AL may indeed work together, exerting power in tandem, as it were. Through this discussion, a dialectical relationship will emerge in which CALx and AL may be seen as creating a tension and balance in which both operate in a context inclusive of the other.