Conclusion

As mentioned in the Introduction, critical realism (CR) is both a specific approach to the philosophy of science and a broad philosophical tent. Although in agreement on the fundamental principles of CR (e.g., ontological realism, epistemological relativism, judgemental rationality, mechanism-based view of causality), the authors in this edited volume have both foregrounded and backgrounded certain CR principles in relation to their research foci. In doing so, they have demonstrated a flexible approach to CR-grounded research into language and social issues in which language plays a central role. We want to close this edited volume by outlining some of the similarities and differences between chapters, in part to show how CR principles can be interpreted, contextualised, and put to use in specific applied linguistics (AL) research projects. In the Introduction, we presented the chapter contributions in sequential order. Here, we instead begin with contributions which offered more theoretical arguments and follow with contributions that were more explicitly empirical.