BAAL statement in support of SHAPE subjects

The British Association of Applied Linguistics (BAAL) stands in support of lecturers, researchers, students and administrators of the Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts for People and the Economy (SHAPE), and the many students who wish to study our courses. In an increasingly turbulent and complex world, SHAPE subjects have never been more important for, amongst other things, learning from the past and from each other, connecting across borders, tackling huge global and social challenges, understanding what makes us human, and enhancing our own individual and societal wellbeing. It is vital that these insights inform and shape today’s rapid political, scientific and technological developments.

SHAPE disciplines are stronger together, and when working in collaboration with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), a dynamic sometimes captured by STEAM (where A stands for Arts). Interdisciplinarity must build on a strong disciplinary base, and BAAL can point to the strengths of applied linguistics in, for example, providing students with critical media literacies, intercultural communication skills, discursive analytic techniques, and an understanding of the power of language to both uphold and fight injustice. But now is not the time for disciplines to compete with each other for university finances and favour, and all disciplines can succeed only as part of a wider endeavour, supporting and supported by insights from across subject areas. BAAL thanks individuals and associations such as the Academy of Social Sciences, British Academy and the Arts and Humanities Alliance who are mobilising interdisciplinary support for SHAPE subjects, and our STEM counterparts.

Lecturers, researchers, students and administrators who need to do so are invited to contact BAAL to request our support.

BAAL Executive Committee, May 2025