Is Language Policy Applied Linguistics?

In the long term, it is reasonable to investigate the definition of a field by looking

at the experts participating in its research. Most language policymakers are educated
in different aspects of language, but just a few are educated in specialized policy
disciplines (politics, administration, perhaps even law). This, too, contributes to the
overlap. However, this offers the prospect of a more precise definition of applied
linguistics. Practitioners were traditionally taught as linguists and then considered to
be qualified to use that knowledge to addressing language-related difficulties fifty
years ago.
Linguistics was supposed to be the theoretical subject that would create linguists
who could work in any hyphenated field, starting with foreign language teaching.
Professionals have been trained in each appropriate field-second language acquisition,
sociolinguistics, computational linguistics, psycholinguistics, language policy,
language testing, and so on-as the hyphenated fields have clarified their own
boundaries and accepted the need for education in disciplines other than core
linguistics. As a result, applied linguistics has evolved from an in-group designation
for foreign language instruction to a catch-all word for a slew of semi-autonomous
fields, each with its own parentage and history.
Those who have been pioneers in the field of applied linguistics, such as Kaplan,
have been engaged in a continuous expansion and redefinition of the field, which is
united with other subfields by its central concern for understanding the nature of
language use and the relevance of that understanding to society.