The Community of Practice: Theories and methodologies in language and gender research

This article provides an introduction to this issue of Language in Society by exploring the relationship of the concept of Community of Practice (CofP) to related terms and theoretical frameworks. The criterial characteristics and constitutive features of a CofP are examined; the article points out how a CofP framework is distinguished from other sociolinguistic and social psychological frameworks, including social identity theory, speech community, social network and social constructionist approaches. (Community of Practice, speech community, gender, sex, social practice, ethnographic sociolinguistics, discourse analysis).