Book Award
2026
The American Association for Applied Linguistics Book Award recognizes outstanding work in the field of applied linguistics. In bestowing this award, the association honors books that make an exceptional contribution to the field as a whole or to a specific area of specialization. The Book Award is given biennially, alternating every other year with the First Book Award. AAAL membership is not required of authors or editors for publishers to submit a nomination for consideration. AAAL will accept e-books only for book award submissions.
The 2026 award nomination is closed.
Eligibility
Books published in the two years prior to the call for submissions are eligible for consideration. The must also be a scholar’s first published book. For the present award cycle, books must have copyright dates of 2023 or 2024. The Book Award is given in two categories: (1) monograph and (2) edited book.
Submission of first edition monographs bearing an ISBN welcome from any publisher or organization worldwide. While second edition books are not eligible, volumes previously published in another language and translated into English may be submitted. A book based on a dissertation may not be submitted for the book award if the dissertation has also been submitted for the AAAL dissertation award in past or present award cycles. Similarly, books previously submitted for the general Book Award may not also be submitted for the First Book award and vice versa.*
The author(s) or editor(s) of a submitted book are not required to be members of AAAL in order to be considered.
Submission Procedure
Submission should be made by the publishing organization. Complete the online submission form below, including the name, address, e-mail, and phone number of the publisher’s point of contact as well as the name, institutional affiliation, and e-mail address of the author(s) or editor(s).
A publishing organization may submit up to two different titles for award consideration in each category (i.e., up to two monographs and up to two edited books and no more than four in total). A processing fee of $100 USD will be invoiced for each title submitted for consideration. The book awards do not include a monetary prize for recipients. Failure to pay the fee will result in the nomination being pulled from consideration. This is an administrative fee only; the fee will be waived for non-profit organizations that may submit verification of their status in lieu of the processing fee.
Publishers must be willing to provide hard copies of books and e-books in order to be considered for the award.
Hard copies submitted for consideration will not be returned.
Awarding Process
Submissions will be reviewed by an interdisciplinary committee of applied linguists who will evaluate the production qualities (e.g., title, layout, copyediting, and indexing) and scholarly contributions (e.g., theoretical/methodological rigor, organization, clarity of writing, and potential impact on applied linguistics), with greater weight given to scholarly contributions.
The publishers of books that are selected as the finalists and the award recipient will be notified in January 2026. These publishers will also receive comments from the review committee which may be used for promotional purposes. The award will be presented at the 2026 AAAL annual conference.
*Note: The present award cycle includes only the AAAL First Book Award. The next call for the AAAL First Book Award will be announced in 2024. While an author’s first book may be submitted for either the general AAAL Book Award or the First Book Award, but not both, the latter award specifically recognizes a scholar’s first book. In the case of more than one author, the nominated text should be each author's first book.
For questions about the Book Award, email BookAward@AAAL.org.
Recipients
| 2024 |
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Author: Jerry Won Lee |
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Finalists:
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Edited by: Natalia Knoblock |
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"Linguistic Penalties and the Job Interview" Author: Celia Roberts |
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"Multilingual Perspectives on Translanguaging" Edited by: Jeff MacSwan
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| 2022 |
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"The Power of Narrative: Climate Skepticism and the Deconstruction of Science" Authors: Raul Lejano, New York University & Shondel Nero, New York University
Publisher: Oxford University Press
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Finalist:
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"The Dynamics of Dementia Communication" Author: Alison Wray
Publisher: Oxford University Press
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| 2020 | ||
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"The Routledge Handbook of Migration and Language" Edited By: Suresh Canagarajah, Pennsylvania State University |
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Finalists: |
Authors: Jonathan Culpeper, Lancaster University; Alison Mackey, Georgetown University; and Naoko Taguchi, Northern Arizona University Publisher: Routledge |
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Educating Refugee-background Students: Critical Issues and Dynamic Contexts Authors: Shawna Shapiro, Middlebury College; Raichle Farrelly, Saint Michael’s College; and Mary Jane Curry, University of Rochester Publisher: Multilingual Matters |
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Scripts of Servitude: Language, Labor Migration and Transnational Domestic Work Author: Beatriz P. Lorente, University of Bern Publisher: Multilingual Matters |
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2018
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Edited Book:
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"Language Policy and Political Economy" Edited by: Thomas Ricento Publisher: Oxford University Press |
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No Finalists |
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| Monograph: | ||
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"The Invention of Monolingualism" |
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"Emotion and Discourse in L2 Narrative Research" Author: Matthew T. Prior Publisher: Multilingual Matters |
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"Metrolingualism" |
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| "Usage-Based Approaches to Language Acquisition Processing" Author: Nick C. Ellis, Ute Römer, Matthew Brook O'Donnell, Mary J. Schleppegrell Publisher: Wiley |
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2016
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"Translingual Practice: Global Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations" Author: Suresh Canagarajah, Professor at The Pennsylvania State University Publisher: Routledge |
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| "The Language of Murder Cases: Intentionality, Predisposition, and Voluntariness" Author: Roger W. Shuy Publisher: Oxford University Press |
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| "Second Language Learning in the Early School Years: Trends and Contexts" Author: Victoria A. Murphy Publisher: Oxford University Press |
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