Proceedings of the - British Association for Applied Linguistics

The Impact of Applied Linguistics: Proceedings of the 44th Annual Meeting of BAAL
University of the West of England
The importance of the word impact
British applied linguistics has both a general and a specific interest in the
word impact. The general interest is because, like all good scholars, applied
linguists should be wary of vague and undefined terms – academic
discourse should strive for precision and clarity. The specific interest
derives from the disciplinary concern with language use in society. Central
to applied linguistics is the idea that choices of words matter, and that
words of social significance and power should be submitted to critical
scrutiny. One such word is impact, which has taken on a new prominence
in academic life, and whose resonance merits some exploration.
Word meanings change, sometimes through specific interventions (gay in
the 1960s) or technological changes (mouse in the last two decades or so).
For British academics impact has taken on a new significance following a
very specific intervention: the demand for evidence of impact in the REF
(Research Excellence Framework), the UK government's latest attempt to
quantify academic success, and to reward or punish universities in line with
that assessment (e.g. REF 2011a, 2011b). Yet this vague but powerful word
has been subjected to very little scrutiny within our discipline, though it has
been much discussed elsewhere (e.g. Collini 2009). The purpose of this
paper is first to explore the significance of the word, and then to consider
not only current impacts of applied linguistics, but also current impacts on
applied linguistics. Much of my argument addresses the situation in the
UK; hopefully it has a wider relevance, perhaps as a portent of things to
come elsewhere.
Etymology, denotation and semantic prosody
The OED (Oxford English Dictionary) tells us that impact derives from
impactum, the passive participle of the Latin verb impingere (meaning to
strike or dash against), and gives both literal and metaphorical meanings.
Among literal meanings of impact as a verb are to press closely into or in
something, to fix firmly in or to press into a confined space. This sense,
dating back to at least 1601, survives in the phrase impacted teeth. Another
meaning is to come forcibly into contact with a larger body or surface.
Among literal senses of impact as a noun are collision, the striking of one
body against another, and the action of one object coming forcibly into
contact with another. From this latter sense we get the current widespread
metaphorical senses, denoting an impingement of circumstances or ideas
on a person or situation. The first recorded such metaphorical use is by
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