Founded in 1977, the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) is a professional organization of scholars who are interested in and actively contribute to the multi-disciplinary field of applied linguistics. AAAL members promote principled approaches to language-related concerns, including language education, acquisition and loss, bilingualism, discourse analysis, literacy, rhetoric and stylistics, language for special purposes, psycholinguistics, second and foreign language pedagogy, language assessment, and language policy and planning.

Organizationally, AAAL is the United States affiliate of the International Association of Applied Linguistics (Association Internationale de Linguistique Appliquée, AILA).

Nationally and internationally, the AAAL conference has a reputation as a comprehensive and stimulating conference including in-depth colloquia and paper sessions, topical and thought-provoking plenary presentations, excellent book exhibits, and plentiful opportunities for networking.