Autoethnography and Critical Applied Linguistics

Abstract Although it is a relatively new research methodology, autoethnography has great potential to contribute to critical applied linguistics. Aiming to present the whos, whats, hows, and why (not)s of autoethnography, we first provide a broad definition of autoethnography along with its various types. Then, we present a brief history of autoethnography, which dates back as early as the mid‐1970s, and how it has transformed into its current state through the contributions of critical and poststructuralist social scientists. Next, we discuss autoethnography as a self‐study methodology in applied linguistics along with the “turns” applied linguistics has undergone since the 1980s. Later on, we provide examples of autoethnographic works in applied linguistics and introduce evocative and analytic autoethnographies as two ends of a broad autoethnographic spectrum. We then move on to discuss critical autoethnography and present critical autoethnographic narrative as a pedagogical activity for language teacher education. Overall, we note that autoethnography helps marginalized voices to be heard. It also gives applied linguists an opportunity to explore and make sense of the social dynamics, political ideologies, institutional practices, and personal thoughts/beliefs/emotions by making the personal political. Through autoethnography, language learners, users, teachers, teacher educators, and scholars are able to retro/intro/pro/spectively (re)create their stories and narrate them critically. Last but not least, we think/believe/feel that applied linguists may not only share their stories through autoethnography with like‐minded scholars but also transform academia into a more humanized space for everyone including language learners, teachers, and teacher educators.