Ripensare la ricerca italiana in linguistica educativa: a modest proposal

Abstract

This is not a research essay, it is a survey of the characteristics of present-day research essays in Italian educational linguistics. Many weak points are pointed out, most of which concern ‘borders’, such as the fuzzy epistemological borders between educational linguistics and other scientific areas; the frequent overlapping of different research typologies, which require different methodologies and have different rhetorical structures; confusion as far as implied readers are concerned. The consequence is that sometimes edulinguistic research allows amateurish trips outside educational linguistics, and allows for non educational linguists to take amateurish trips (and sometimes jobs) in the field of educational linguistics. A tentative list of parameters that can be used by referees, editors and evaluators is provided, in order to define the quality of studies before they are accepted in journals and conferences.