astronomy

Richard F. Young

Richard F. Young is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Richard F. Young rather than just read about it. In short: Richard Frederick Young (born 15 October 1948) is a British-born American applied linguist and professor of English linguistics and second-language acquisition at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is known for his work on interactional competence and discursive practice as frameworks for understanding second-language acquisition, teaching, and assessment.

Key takeaways

Richard F. Young belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Richard F. Young to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Richard F. Young from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Richard Frederick Young (born 15 October 1948) is a British-born American applied linguist and professor of English linguistics and second-language acquisition at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is known for his work on interactional competence and discursive practice as frameworks for understanding second-language acquisition, teaching, and assessment.

Early life and education Young was born on 15 October 1948 in Bushey, Hertfordshire. On 5 April 1949 he was adopted and raised by Richard William Young and Edith Young of Acton, West London. He graduated from the University of Oxford with a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics. He taught at the University of Turin before earning an M.A. in applied linguistics from the University of Reading. He worked with the British Council in Hong Kong as Materials and Methodology Officer and settled in the United States in 1983. He received a Ph.D. in educational linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1989.

Career Young joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1993 as Professor of English Linguistics and second-language acquisition. He retired in 2019 and was granted emeritus status. His research focuses on applied linguistics, linguistic anthropology, oral second language assessment, and classroom discourse.

Research and contributions Young’s scholarship examines the relationship between language use and social context in second-language acquisition. He has developed the concept of interactional competence - the co-constructed ability to participate effectively in face-to-face interaction - and a theory of discursive practice drawing on sociolinguistics, conversation analysis, and sociocultural theory. In a 2019 chapter titled “Interactional competence and L2 pragmatics” in The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Pragmatics, Young examined the relationship between interactional competence and pragmatics. His 2009 monograph Discursive Practice in Language Learning and Teaching (Wiley-Blackwell) has been described by reviewers as a comprehensive synthesis of his ideas on discursive practice and interactional competence. His earlier monograph Variation in Interlanguage Morphology (1991) applied multivariate quantitative methods to the analysis of learner language variation. His chapter “Interactional competence in language learning, teaching, and testing” (2011, in the Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning) has been referenced in studies on language learning and assessment. He also served as a consultant to the Educational Testing Service (ETS) on the major redesign of the TOEFL test.

Leadership roles Young served as President of the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) for the 2005–2006 term and chaired the 14th World Congress of Applied Linguistics (AILA 2005) in Madison, Wisconsin. He was General Editor of the Language Learning Monograph Series and has served on the editorial boards of several leading journals, including Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Language Learning, and the Journal of Applied Linguistics.

Personal life Young has lived in Italy, Hong Kong, and China. In 2024, he published Chronology of Desire, a collection of poetry, prose, and reflections.

Selected publications

Books Young, Richard F. (1991). Variation in Interlanguage Morphology. New York: Peter Lang. Focus: An early, foundational text examining how second-language learners systematically vary their grammatical and morphological structures as they develop a new language. Young, Richard F.; He, Agnes Weiyun (1998). Talking and Testing: Discourse Approaches to the Assessment of Oral Proficiency. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Focus: A critical volume examining the interactional mechanics of Language Proficiency Interviews (LPIs), bringing discourse analysis and conversation analysis directly into language assessment frameworks. Young, Richard F. (2008). Language and Interaction: An Advanced Resource Book. London & New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-38553-4. Focus: A comprehensive textbook and resource that outlines the major themes, questions, and structural layers of language treated as social interaction. Young, Richard F. (2009). Discursive Practice in Language Learning and Teaching. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-8444-1. Focus: This landmark text details his framework for "Discursive Practice Theory," arguing that language learning is fundamentally a social phenomenon and that interactional competence is co-constructed by all participants within specific cultural contexts.

Refereed articles and chapters Young, Richard F. (2017). "World languages, world Englishes and local identities". World Englishes. 36 (4): 488–508. Young, Richard F. (2018). Habits of mind: How do we know what we know?. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 41–53. Hulstijn, J. H.; Young, R. F.; Ortega, L.; et al. (2014). "Bridging the gap: Cognitive and social approaches to research in second language learning and teaching". Studies in Second Language Acquisition. 36 (3): 361–421. Young, R. F.; Astarita, A. C. (2013). "Practice theory in language learning". Language Learning. 63 (Supplement 1): 171–189. Young, R. F. (2012). Social dimensions of language testing (1st ed.). Routledge. pp. 178–193. Young, R. F. (2012). Qualitative research. Routledge. pp. 536–539. Young, R. F. (2011). Interactional competence in language learning, teaching, and testing. Vol. 2. Routledge. pp. 426–443. Garrett, P.; Young, R. F. (2009). "Theorizing affect in foreign language learning: An analysis of one learner's responses to a communicative-based Portuguese course". The Modern Language Journal. 93 (2): 209–226. Young, R. F.; Miller, E. R. (2004). "Learning as changing participation: Discourse roles in ESL writing conferences". The Modern Language Journal. 88 (4): 519–535. Young, R. F.; Lee, J. (2004). "Identifying units in interaction: Reactive tokens in Korean and English conversations". Journal of Sociolinguistics. 8 (3): 380–407. Young, R. F.; Nguyen, H. T. (2002). "Modes of meaning in high school science". Applied Linguistics. 23 (3): 348–372. Young, R. F. (2002). "Discourse approaches to oral language assessment". Annual Review of Applied Linguistics. 22: 243–262.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Richard F. Young

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Richard F. Young claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Richard F. Young before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Richard F. Young ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Richard F. Young

In research: Richard F. Young appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Richard F. Young in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Richard F. Young is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1948 births, Alumni of the University of Oxford, Applied linguists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Richard F. Young outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Richard F. Young in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Richard F. Young means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Richard F. Young out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Richard F. Young in simple terms?

Why does Richard F. Young matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Richard F. Young?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Richard F. Young.