《魏多遜應用語言學自選集》為英國倫敦大學教育學院和奧地利維也納大學英語語言學教授魏多遜（H.G.Widdowson）應用語言學研究的論文精選，凝聚了魏多遜教授四十年來教學與研究的心得，體現了他在本領域所做出的傑出貢獻。
世界應用語言學名家自選集叢書收錄了世界知名應用語言學家的學術論文，是國內首次以國際著名應用語言學家為主線的自選集。入選文章多散見於國際學術期刊，且時間跨度很大，讀者不易尋得。自選集展示了作者在應用語言學方面的研究脈絡，彙集成叢書，是應用語言學研究不可多得的資料。本叢書讀者對像為英語教師、英語專業研究生、本科生等，可作為其從事科研、撰寫論文的參考文獻。

H. G. Widdowson began his academic career in 1969 as a lecturer in Applied Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh and in 1977 became Professor of Education at the University of London with particular responsibility for the Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages. He was also for several years concurrently Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Essex and subsequently Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Vienna. He was a founding editor of the journal Applied Linguistics and for thirty years acted as applied linguistics adviser to Oxford University Press. He has himself written extensively on a range of topics relating to applied linguistics including discourse analysis, the stylistics of literature and language teacher education. His most recent publications are Defining Issues in English Language Teaching, Text, Context, Pretext and Discourse Analysis. He now lives in （relative） retirement as Professor Emeritus, University of London, and Honorary Professor, University of Vienna.

序
Remembrance of Things Past
Part I Applied Linguistics
Models and Fictions
Knowledge of Language and Ability for Use
The Description and Prescription of Language
On the Limitations of Linguistics Applied
Applied Linguistics, Interdisciplinarity, and Disparate Realities
Part II The English Language
Language Spread in Modes of Use
The Ownership of English
EIL, ESL, EFL: Global Issues and Local Interests
Idiomatic Variation and Change in English: The Idiom Principle and Its Realisations. (With Barbara Seidlhofer)
Part III Discourse Analysis
Approaches to Discourse
Conceptual and Communicative Functions in Written Discourse
The Theory and Practice of Critical Discourse Analysis: A Review Article
Critical Practices: On Representation and the Interpretation of Text
Part IV Stylistics
The Untrodden Ways
On the Interpretation of Poetic Writing
Representations in Prose: Setting the Scene
Person to Person: Relationships in the Poetry of Tony Harrison
The Unrecoverable Context
Essay on Literature and Language Teaching--An Epistle to Dr Edmondson
Part V Language Learning and Teaching
Aspects of the Relationship Between Culture and Language
The Relevant Conditions of Language Use and Learning
The Pedagogic Relevance of Language Awareness
Setting a Good Example: Dealing with Meaning in Learner Dictionaries
Approaches to Second Language Teacher Education
Language Teaching: Defining the Subject
List of Publications

This paper seeks to clarify the notion of competence in language and to draw on its relevance to language teaching practices. It is suggested that Hymess account of communicative competence as incorporating language beyond grammar and ability as well as knowledge raises problematic issues concerning the analysability and accessibility of knowledge and the scope and application of linguistic rules. A consideration of these issues suggests the possibility that competence for use may involve not so much the generation of expressions by direct reference to rules as the adjustment of pre- assembled and memorized patterns. The ability to use language, therefore, may have to do with access which is relatively independent of the analytic knowledge of grammar as defined in Chomskys original concept of competence.
The influence of ideas, whether for good or ill, does not depend upon their being fully understood in their own terms. Usually, indeed, it depends upon them being recast in different terms to suit other conditions of relevance. This should not be a matter of surprise or regret. The more influential an idea, the less dependent it is, obviously enough, on the particular context of its conception. All interpretation, after all, is a matter of reformulating ideas so that they key in with one s own frame of reference. And so it is with the idea of communicative competence. It has been adapted, interpreted, and exploited, keyed in with the concerns of applied linguistics and language teaching pedagogy. It has inspired a good deal of innovative activity in the field. Some of this comes from partial understanding of the concept, from a distortion indeed of the original. This does not matter. Many a new dish has emerged from a mistake with a recioe. We do not condemn this; we call it being creative.

“世界應用語言學名家自選集”叢書收錄世界知名應用語言學家的學術論文和專著章節，結集成書，共10部。本叢書的出版可填補兩方面的空白：1.以世界知名應用語言學家為主線的自選集；2.以應用語言學學科為主題的繫列叢書。
應用語言學有狹義和廣義之分，狹義的應用語言學指跟語言教學密切相關的學科，如二語習得、教學法、語言測試等；廣義的應用語言學則指利用語言學的理論解決社會生活的實際問題的邊緣學科，如社會語言學、翻譯學、詞典學、文體學等。本叢書除有些學者的研究集中於狹義的應用語言學概念之外，一般采用廣義應用語言學的概念。
本叢書選用的文章多散見於國外學術期刊、論文集和專著，時間跨度較大，讀者不易覓得。這些文章彙集成自選集，充分展示了諸位名家對應用語言學各分支學科的研究脈絡，是應用語言學研究領域不可多得的資料，可作為英語教師、英語專業研究生、師範院校英語本科生等從事科研、撰寫論文的參考文獻。
叢書編寫體例如下：
一、收錄發表於學術期刊、論文集中的學術論文以及學術演講，文章字數無嚴格限制。專著中的章節酌情收錄。
二、所收論文的語言僅限英語。
三、所收論文的內容須與應用語言學有關，純語言學理論、文學研究、國情研究類論文不收錄。
四、所收論文大多為原已發表過的文章，基本保持原貌以尊重歷史的真實。文章一般注明論文發表的時間和發表刊物的名稱（或論文集、專著書名）和期號（或出版社名）。文章格式也基本保持發表時的原貌。未在刊物上發表過的文章，如演講等，則注明對外發布（成稿）的時間、地點和場合。
五、作者可將新的觀點以尾注的方式放在相應論文的後面，表明作者目前的觀點與當時有所不同。
六、每部選集作者撰寫自序，詳細地記錄作者求學、教學、治學的經歷和感悟。書後附有作者主要學術著述的目錄。