An interview with David Block

Abstract The following is an edited transcript of an interview with applied linguist and sociolinguist Prof. David Block. Over the past four decades David has published books, articles and chapters on a variety of language related topics, including: second language acquisition; language teaching; multimodal practices; identity; social class; and political economy. Most recently he has examined the shifting trajectories of politics from left to far-right in the infosphere in his forthcoming book Diagonalism in online populist discourse: Left moving right (Routledge, 2026). Our interest in understanding his wide range of interests across his career, from SLA to Marxist political economy, is one of the main reasons for this interview. How and why does a scholar make such large epistemic leaps? What insights can we glean? What benefits and pitfalls might there be for others who wish to work in a similar fashion? We asked David to look back and reflect on the changes and continuities throughout his career, and seek to understand the why and how of these changes. We also asked for his thoughts on the current direction within the field towards multi- and interdisciplinarity, as well as his thoughts on the current state and future directions of language focussed research. Aside from unpacking the breadth and depth of work throughout his career, we were also interested in the extent to which David has looked outside of language-related study, towards strands of thought on political economy, neoliberalism, social class, and Marxism. This led to a revealing discussion on the necessity of reading and thinking beyond our own disciplinary boundaries, and beyond work in, and of our own time.