In this article I shall attempt to characterize some of the stresses and strains experienced by researchers in the field of second language acquisition (SLA), both intellectual and personal. I shall offer my perspective on how we are responding, and how we should be responding, to those stresses and strains. Together with this discussion of academic politics, I will interweave two research lines I consider important, research lines unique to the field of SLA, which should have impact both on linguistic theory making and on appropriate pedagogical decisions involving language classrooms.
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