This article begins with a review of second language acquisition research leading up to the 1997 article by Firth and Wagner. We argue that the Firth and Wagner article did not represent a new direction, but rather continued a type of argumentation that was already prevalent in the field at the time of the 1997 publication. We identify 3 issues as key in Firth and Wagner's argument: the scope of the research question, the multiple identities of research participants, and the context considered in research. A survey of 4 journals in the field and their treatment of these 3 issues, beginning before Firth and Wagner (1997) and leading up to the present, suggests that the article did not result in significant changes to the field and its target questions. The significance of Firth and Wagner's article lies in its licensing of situated research, and that broadening of the research base is undoubtedly positive. (Contains 2 tables.)