The first charge to the contributors to this volume was to consider applied linguistics from the point of view of the subfield each of us represents. Such a formulation constructs writing and literacy research as subordinate to the super-ordinate domain of applied linguistics and this was not one that corresponded well with my own sense of my work in relation to applied linguistics. To investigate this issue further, I informally questioned other writing researchers about whether or not they consider themselves applied linguists and what they do to be applied linguistics.