Applied Linguistics (AL)

(full/detailed Summary)

Introduction:

Language is all around us. It can make us laugh, cry, convey our emotions &
make things happen. We use it every day, and have been doing since we were
very young children. It’s an essential part of what makes us human. Using
language is one of the most amazing things we do in our everyday life. Yet, so
many problems, obstacles may be faced when people deal with language…

AL is a very important field as it tries to analyze and deal with these problems
related to the use & users of language. AL is even more important as it touches on
different disciplines. For instance, you start with Linguistics and you go to society,
sociology and other areas of human endeavor that come together and interact
within the field of applied linguistics (Here we should notice the inter-disciplinary
nature of AL). In order to fully understand AL, we need to know all of these areas
so that we can be exposed to how language can be applied to them. (Application
of language can be categorized into these three: How language is used > society,
sociolinguistics, how language is learned > language learning theories and
acquisition & how language is thought).

Definition & History of AL

Definition:

Applied Linguistics is generally defined as a board inter-disciplinary field of study

concerned with solutions to language based problems, or at least the
improvement and amelioration of situations involving language & its uses and
users in the real world whether they’re learners, teachers, translators…
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 History of Applied Linguistics:

The term of AL which refers to the application of linguistics to the study &
improvement of language teaching, language learning, language planning,
management of language defects etc; owes its origin to US language teaching
programs during and after the Second World War. It is thought that it all started
with Bloomfield’s outline guide for the practical study of foreign languages (1942),
which was said to be influenced by the European advocated of the direct method
(this seems normal because everything actually started in Europe and then spread
to UK,US, Canada & Australia).

The history and development of AL can be discussed in different countries as it

has to do with many places like US, United Kingdom, Canada & Australia… In
America (1948) AL firstly appeared because they noticed issue in languages
teaching for the immigrants and minorities etc so that’s how the scientists and
researchers in the field of Linguistics started feeling the need for going beyond
language! Other orientations about applied linguistics appeared in many other
countries later. In Britain as well, a school of AL was established by J.C Cartford at
the University of Edinburgh (1956) and the center of AL was set up in Washington,
DC, under Charles Ferguson (1959) - (here we should conclude that there were
interactions and competitions between Europe and American schools of AL).

Later on, it has been noted that similar institutes have been set up in various
parts of the world. The national associations in Europe came together in 1964 to
form the Association International De La Linguistique Apliquée (AILA).

Now we move to Language Acquisition & Language Learning (there is a

difference between the two as LA is acquiring language by an infant who has no
language & Language learning is learning a second language)

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 Language Acquisition (first language):

The behaviorist theory:

Skinner was one of the most influential of American psychologists. A

behaviorist, he developed the theory of operant conditioning -- the idea that
behavior is determined by its consequences, be they reinforcements or
punishments, which make it more or less likely that the behavior will occur again--
Skinner believed that the only scientific approach to psychology was one that
studied behaviors, not internal (subjective) mental processes.

Language learning and its development, for the behaviorists, is a matter of

conditioning by means of imitation, practice, reinforcement, and habituation,
which constitute the paces of language acquisition. In other words, language
development is a result of environmental influence by parents, family and
caregivers… To explain this more, when talking about a child’s language
acquisition, it all starts with imitation and practice as early processes in language
development. One outside variable affects these processes... It is reinforcement
whether it is positive or negative. Positive reinforcement strengthens a behavior
by providing a consequence an individual finds rewarding. For example, if your
teacher gives you £5 each time you complete your homework (i.e., a reward) you
will be more likely to repeat this behavior in the future, thus strengthening the
behavior of completing your homework. Thus, a child’s use of the language is a
production of reinforcements made by their environment and people who
encouraged them to continue imitating sounds until they form habits of correct
language use!

The Innatist theory:

The Innatist theory is mainly concerned with language acquisition. It asserts that
human have access to the knowledge that is processed innately. One of its main
pioneers is Noam Chomsky. His theory came shortly after Skinner’s theory of
Behaviorism. He argued that if children learn language by imitation, why do they

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say things have never heard before? Chomsky hypothesizes that infants must be
born with some special built-in ability to learn languages. He called this biological
ability as the Language Acquisition Device. This means all people had (by innate)
rules of a language & Chomsky called this set of common rules “Universal
Grammar” which gives children the main rules for all possible human languages.
Thus, infants would learn a language just like they learn to walk and eat. In other
words, infants universally possess an innate ‘grammar template’ or universal
grammar that allows them to select out the many grammatical rules of the
language they hear spoken around them, they gradually construct the grammar of
their own language. One other thing is that for Chomsky, the environment makes
only a basic contribution and the biological endowment of a child will do the rest!

Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH):

The critical period hypothesis is a perspective of language acquisition that puts

light on the extent to which the ability to acquire language is biologically linked to
age. The hypothesis claims that there is an ideal time to acquire language in a
linguistically rich environment, after which further language acquisition becomes
much more difficult and effortful.

In other words, CPH says that there is a period of growth in which full native
competence is possible when acquiring a language & this period is from early
childhood to adolescence (or puberty). This means older learners may be able to
speak the language but they will lack the native fluidity of younger learners and
that after puberty, language acquisition becomes more difficult and effortful. The
most widely cited example in support of the CPH is that of Genie ( plz find her
story in the hard copy -starting from P.17-). She had not acquired language before
puberty. She missed the theoretical CP for first language acquisition and, although
she managed to acquire some vocabulary, she struggled to acquire very basic
English grammar and syntax. One other known example that supports CPH theory
is that of Victor, the French boy found in a forest. Victor show very little
responding to using language, although the many attempts to socialize him &
teach him language.

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 The Developmental Theory:

The Developmental theory of language acquisition is a compromise between

the Innatist theory and the behaviorist theory of language acquisition. This theory
recognizes that both environmental and biological factors are important in
language acquisition. Within this theory of compromise are theorists who are
closer to one end of the extreme than the other. However, all developmental
Linguists believe that language acquisition occurs as a result of the natural
interaction between children and their environment, more specifically, their
parents or caregivers. They have focused on the interplay between the innate
learning ability of children & the environment in which they develop.

One of the key figures of this view was the Swiss Psychologist Jean Piaget who
noticed children’s development of cognitive understanding of things (like their
permanence, quantity, size, weight etc). He claims that this developing cognitive
understanding, can partly explain how a child uses language. Piaget’s cognitive
development explains how a child constructs a mental model of the world. He
regarded cognitive development as a process which occurs due to biological
maturation and interaction with the environment.

One other key figure in Developmental theory is Vygotsky whose main

assertion was that children are entrenched in different socio-cultural contexts and
their cognitive development is advanced through social interaction with more
skilled individuals. For him, language acquisition involves not only a child’s
exposure to words but also an interdependent process of growth between
thoughts and language.

Second Language Learning:

An adult learning a second language is different from an infant acquiring their

first language in terms of Learner Characteristics1 and Learning Conditions2.
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For instance, an adult learning a language differ in terms of previous knowledge
of another language, cognitive maturity, meta-linguistic awareness, world
knowledge and anxiety about speaking.

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2
Learning conditions are also different in terms of children having ample time,
freedom to be silent and corrective feedback (grammar & pronunciation). > Brief,
SLA theories need to account for language acquisition by learners with a variety of
characteristics and learning in a variety of contexts.

The Second Language Acquisition Theories & approaches:

Behaviorism theory of 2nd L Learning:

Behaviorism theory sees language as a set of structures and acquisition as a

matter of habit formation. Ignoring any internal mechanisms, it takes into account
the linguistic environment and the stimuli it produces. Learning is an observable
behavior which is automatically acquired by means of stimulus and response in
the form of mechanical repetition > mimicry & memorization. Thus, to acquire a
language is to acquire automatic linguistic habits. Behaviorism undermined the
role of mental processes and viewed learning as the ability to inductively discover
patterns of rule-governed behavior from the examples provided to the learner by
his or her environment. This view of language learning was linked to research on
Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH), it predicts that where there are similarities
between the L1 and the target language, the learner will acquire target-language
structures with ease; where there are differences, the learner will have difficulty.

The Innatist Theory of 2nd L Learning

As a counterpoint to the Behavioral perspective, Chomsky’s followers try to

understand SLA in the light of his universal grammar (UG) theory, a human innate
endowment. Chomsky is interested in the nature of language and sees language as
a mirror of the mind. Although he is not concerned with SLA, his work has deeply
influenced studies in this point of Linguistics. According to his theory, every
human being is biologically endowed with a language faculty, the language
acquisition device, which is responsible for the initial state of language
development. The UG theory considers that the input from the environment is
insufficient for language acquisition.

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 Probably the most well-known second language theorist associated with the
Innatist perspective is Stephen Krashen and his monitor model. He described this
model in terms of five hypotheses:

1. The acquisition–learning hypothesis: We acquire language through exposure,

but we learn language through study.

2. The monitor hypothesis: The acquired system initiates utterances, but the
learned system monitor edits them.

3. The natural order hypothesis: Language features are acquired in a predictable

sequence, which is roughly the same for all language learners.

4. The input hypothesis: Acquisition occurs when the learner is exposed to

language that is comprehensible but a bit above the learner’s current operational
level. In other words, the learner needs to receive comprehensible input. From
this hypothesis we get Krashen’s famous “i + 1” model, which represents the
learner’s current level (which we can call the independent level) and +1 represents
the step above that level.

5. The affective filter hypothesis: A person’s general emotional state affects

language learning, either facilitating or preventing it.

Information Processing Model:

Cognitive psychologists working in this model:

➢ Compare language acquisition to the capacities of computers for storing,

integrating, and retrieving information.
➢ Do not think that humans have a language-specific module (i.e. LAD) in the
brain.
➢ Do not assume that ‘acquisition’ and ‘learning’ are distinct mental
processes.
➢ See L2 acquisition as the building up of knowledge that can eventually be
called on automatically for speaking and understanding.

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 Connectionism:
➢ Connectionists attribute greater importance to the role of the environment
than to any specific innate knowledge.
➢ They argue that what is innate is simply the ability to learn, not any
specifically linguistic principles.
➢ They emphasize the frequency with which learners encounter specific
linguistic features in the input and the frequency with which features occur
together.
➢ Connectionists suggest that learners gradually build up their knowledge of
language through exposure to the thousand of instances of the linguistic
features they hear or see.
➢ Eventually, learners develop stronger mental ‘connections’ between the
elements they have learned; thus, the presence of one situational or
linguistic element will activate the other(s) in the learner’s mind.
➢ Evidence comes from the observation that much of the language we use in
ordinary conversation is predictable or formulaic. Language is often learned
in chunks larger than single words.

Interaction theory:
➢ SLA takes place through conversational interaction.
➢ Long (1983) argued that modified interaction is the necessary mechanism
for making language comprehensible.
➢ What learners need is not necessarily simplification of the linguistic forms
but rather an opportunity to interact with other speakers, working together
to reach mutual comprehension.
➢ Research shows that native speakers consistently modify their speech in
sustained conversation with non-native speakers.

The Socio-cultural Perspective

➢ Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory

➢ Language development takes place in the social interactions between
individuals.
➢ Speaking (and writing) mediates thinking.
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 ➢ Zone of proximal development (ZPD): when there is support from
interaction with an interlocutor, the learner is capable of performing at a
higher level.
➢ L2 learners advance to higher levels of linguistic knowledge when they
collaborate and interact with speakers of the L2 who are more
knowledgeable than they are.
➢ The difference between Vygotsky’s social-cultural theory and the
interaction hypothesis.

Vygotsky
Interaction hypothesis

-Language acquisition takes - Interaction needs to be

place in the interactions modified and through
of learner and negotiation for meaning.
interlocutor.
-Greater importance is - Emphasis is on the individual
attached to the cognitive processes in the
conversations, with mind of the learner.
learning occurring
through the social
interaction.

Brief summary of 2nd language learning theories:

➢ There is no agreement on a “complete” theory of second language acquisition yet.

➢ Each theoretical framework has a different focus and its limitations.

1. Behaviorism: emphasizing stimuli and responses, but ignoring the mental

processes that are involved in learning.

2. Innatism: innate LAD, based on intuitions

3. Information processing and connectionism: involving controlled laboratory

experiments where human learning is similar to computer processing.

4. Interactionist position: modification of interaction promotes language acquisition

and development.