This article reviews the literature on the relatively new field of materials development for language learning and teaching. It reports the origins and development of the field and then reviews the literature on the evaluation, adaptation, production and exploitation of learning materials. It also reviews the literature, first, on a number of controversial issues in the field, next, on electronic delivery of materials and, third, on research in materials development. It identifies gaps in the literature and makes proposals for future progress in materials development and in the research within the field. Much of the literature focuses on materials for learning English but the same principles apply to materials for learning any L2, as has been acknowledged by some of the authors whose publications focus on materials for learning other languages.

This article analyzes research in second/foreign language teaching and learning conducted in Taiwan over the period 2004–2009. Representative articles published in local refereed journals and conference proceedings – not readily accessible outside Taiwan – are reviewed to reflect current trends in English teaching and learning. The main themes discussed include English-in-education policy and curriculum, research on English-skills development, and assessment.

The analysis presented here highlights the fact that research in Taiwan not only follows international trends but also satisfies specific needs in local sociolinguistic contexts. Additionally, this paper sheds light on why the international readership of this locally conducted research remains very limited, and concludes by outlining the challenges that researchers face and the gradually shifting status of English in Taiwan in this increasingly globalized world.

In this plenary address, I suggest that Complexity Theory has the potential to contribute a transdisciplinary theme to applied linguistics. Transdisciplinary themes supersede disciplines and spur new kinds of creative activity (Halliday 2001 [1990]). Investigating complex systems requires researchers to pay attention to system dynamics. Since applied linguists study language systems that change (for example, as they develop in learners, this is a useful perspective to bring to bear on many of our concerns. To introduce Complexity Theory, I list twelve principles undergirding this perspective and elaborate on three of them: those to do with dynamism, complexity, and the role of context. I then discuss several studies of L2 development that have been informed by the perspective. I conclude by suggesting that the ultimate promise of Complexity Theory is the help it provides in humanizing science.

How are identities constructed in discourse? How are national and European identities tied to language and communication? And what role does power have – power in discourse, over discourse and of discourse? This paper seeks to identify and analyse processes of identity construction within Europe and at its boundaries, particularly the diversity of sources and forms of expression in several genres and contexts. It draws on media debates on Austrian versus Standard High German, on focus group discussions with migrants in eight European countries and on public and political debates on citizenship in the European Union which screen newly installed language tests. The analysis of different genres and publics all illustrate the complexity of national and transnational identity constructions in a globalised world. What is experienced as European or as outside of Europe is the result of multiple activities, some of them consciously planned in the sense of political, economic or cultural intervention, others more hidden, indirect, in the background. Such developments are contradictory rather than harmonious, proceeding in ‘loops’ and partial regressions (rather than in a linear, uni-directional or teleological way). Thus, an interdisciplinary approach suggests itself which accounts for diverse context-dependent discursive and social practices.

In a recent state-of-the-art (SoA) article (Stoynoff 2009), I reviewed some of the trends in language assessment research and considered them in light of validation activities associated with four widely used international measures of L2 English ability. This Thinking Allowed article presents an opportunity to revisit the four broad areas of L2 assessment research (conceptualizations of the L2 construct, validation theory and practice, the application of technology to language assessment, and the consequences of assessment) discussed in the previous SoA and to propose tasks I believe will promote further advances in L2 assessment. Of course, the research tasks I suggest represent a personal stance and readers are encouraged to consider additional perspectives, including those expressed by Bachman (2000), Chalhoub-Deville & Deville (2005), McNamara & Roever (2006), Shaw & Weir (2007), and Stansfield (2008). Moreover, readers will find useful descriptions of current research approaches to investigating L2 assessments in Lumley & Brown (2005), Weir (2005a), Chapelle, Enright & Jamieson (2008), Lazaraton (2008), and Xi (2008).

The National Research Centre for Foreign Language Education (NRCFLE) attached to Beijing Foreign Studies University (www.sinotefl.ac.cn/) is a key research institute in the humanities and social sciences in universities approved by the Ministry of Education (MOE) of the People's Republic of China. It was formally set up and approved in September 2000. After a decade of dedicated hard work, the centre has become an applied linguistics hub of research and training unrivalled in China, and co-hosted AILA2011, the 16th World Congress in Applied Linguistics in August 2011. The current director of the centre, WEN Qiufang, currently presides over the China English Language Education Association, another co-host of AILA2011. The centre publishes two journals, one of them, Foreign Language Teaching and Research, being pre-eminent in the field in every key journal index in China, as well as being the only journal in applied linguistics and foreign language education to feature in the MOE's 2010 Distinguished Journals in Humanities and Social Sciences.