MPhil English Linguistics

Semester 1

APPLIED LINGUISTICS
1
MAIN ISSUES OF THE UNIT
What is linguistics?

What is the relation between linguistics and applied linguistics? How do they differ?

What is applied linguistics?

When did applied linguistics develop as an independent area of study?

What are the main areas of concern of applied linguistics?

What will this course focus on? Or How is this course organized?

2
REFERENCE BOOK

1. History and ‘definitions’

2. Doing being applied
linguists: the importance
of experience

3
WHAT IS LINGUISTICS? (1/2)

• Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Linguists do work on

specific languages, but their primary goal is to understand the nature of
Language in general.

• Linguistics is primarily concerned with three aspects to the study,

including language sounds, language structure, and meanings.

4
WHAT IS LINGUISTICS? (2/2)

• Linguistics deals with the study of particular languages, and

the search for general properties common to all languages or
large groups of languages.

5
 LINGUISTICS DICTIONARY
DEFINITION
• The study of language as a system of human communication.
Linguistics includes many different approaches to the study of language
and many different areas of investigation, for example sound systems
(PHONETICS, PHONOLOGY), sentence structure (SYNTAX),
relationships between language and cognition (COGNITIVE
LINGUISTICS), meaning systems (SEMANTICS, PRAGMATICS,
FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE), as well as language and social factors
(SOCIOLINGUISTICS). Several specialized branches of linguistics
have also developed in combination with other disciplines, e. g.
APPLIED LINGUISTICS, ANTHROPOLOGICAL LINGUISTICS,
PSYCHOLINGUISTICS, FORENSIC LINGUISTICS .

6
HOMEWORK
5 Dictionary Definitions of term “Linguistics”
Submit this assignment in handwritten form on given date

7
8
WHAT IS INTERDISCIPLINARY
LINGUISTICS?
Interdisciplinary studies
involve two or more academic
disciplines which are
considered distinct.
The most common
interdisciplinary branches of
Linguistics are:
• Historical Linguistics,
• Sociolinguistics,
• Psycholinguistics,
• Anthropological
Linguistics,
• Computational
Linguistics,
• Neurolinguistics
9
APPLIED LINGUISTICS

Psycholinguistics
Applied Linguistics is
also an interdisciplinary Forensic Linguistics
field
Computational

Linguistics

Translation Studies
10
APPLIED
LINGUISTIC
S HISTORY Vivian Cook remarks: ‘Applied Linguistics
means many things to many people’(Cook
2006). 11
APPLIED LINGUISTICS (HISTORY)
•It has also been observed by many scholars that the history of modern linguistics, especially in the

USA, was directly influenced by the perceived prospects for immediate application of its findings to

such matters of strategic interest as designing and conducting crash courses in unfamiliar languages

for soldiers selected for overseas assignments during World War II, automatic machine translation

and the cracking of enemy military codes, etc.

•Arguably then, the history of modern linguistics itself, as indeed that of perhaps every what is being

claimed is that some of the major developments in the history of linguistics were the result of factors

not intrinsic to the study of language itself, but primarily having to do with the sociopolitical milieu

prevailing at given historical moments.

12
APPLIED LINGUISTICS

• Having said that, it is important to register that it is from the enormous

prestige of theoretical linguistics in the first half of the twentieth century

that Applied Linguistics initially borrowed its scientific credentials

(Mackey, 1966, p. 197). And, from its early stages until fairly recently,

applied linguistics (AL) was practically identified with language teaching.

13
 APPLIED LINGUISTICS
The term Applied Linguistics (AL) is an Anglo-American coinage.

• It was founded first at the University of Edinburgh School of Applied Linguistics in 1956.

• Then at the Center of Applied Linguistics in Washington D.C. in 1957.

• The British Association of Applied Linguistics (BAAL) was established in 1967, with the following aims: “the
advancement of education by fostering and promoting, the study of language use, language acquisition and
language teaching and the fostering of inter-disciplinary collaboration In this study” (BAAL, 1994).

• It was largely taken for granted in the 1960s and 1970s that applied linguistics was about language teaching.

14
APPLIED
LINGUISTI
CS

1950s 1960s 1960s to 85 1990 1990 onward

Language Individual Different Language L2 Pedagogy
Teaching Differences Models of L2 Pedagogy relevant
Methods Learning disciplines

15
APPLIED
LINGUISTICS
DEFINITIONS
16
 WHAT IS APPLIED LINGUISTICS?
“Applied Linguistics is using what we know about
language, (b) how it is learned, and (c) how it is used,
in order to achieve some purpose or solve some
problem in the real world” (Schmitt & Celce-Murcia,
2002, p. 1).
1. The study of second and foreign language learning and teaching.

2. The study of language and linguistics in relation to practical

problems, such as LEXICOGRAPHY, TRANSLATION,
SPEECH PATHOLOGY, etc.

(Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics)

17
WHAT IS APPLIED LINGUISTICS?

• Applied Linguistics entails using what we know about language, about how it is
used, and about how it is learned in order to solve some problem in the real
world.
Function
• Applied Linguistics uses language-related research in a wide variety of fields
(e.g., language acquisition, language teaching, literacy, gender studies, language
policy, speech therapy, discourse analysis, censorship, workplace
communication, media studies, translation, lexicography, forensic linguistics).

18
 if you want to know about applied
linguistics, ‘look around you’.
OSTENSIVE
DEFINITION:
A mediation between theory and
practice (Kaplan and Widdowson
1992: 76);

a synthesis of research from a

variety of disciplines, including
linguistics (Hudson 1999)

19
 Corder 1974

Applied Linguistics is the utilization

of the knowledge about the nature of
language achieved by linguistic
research for the improvement of the
efficiency of some practical task in
which language is a central
component.
20
 Crystal 1985

Applied Linguistics is a branch of

linguistics where the primary concern
is the application of linguistic theories,
methods and findings to the
elucidation of language problems
which have arisen in other areas of
experience.

21
Richards et al. 1985

AL covers two main points:

1. The study of second and foreign
language learning and teaching.
2. The study of language and linguistics
in relation to practical problems.

22
Streven 1992

AL is a multidisciplinary
approach to the solution of
language-related problems.

23
Society: planning & policy

Policy / institution: curriculum, syllabus, testing

Teachers: teacher beliefs, education…

Classroom: tasks, materials, discourse

Learner as person: needs, attitude, motivation,

biography…

Learner as mind: aptitude, age, processing,

memory…

24
Policy / institution: curriculum, syllabus, testing

Teachers: teacher beliefs, education…

Classroom: tasks, materials, discourse

Learner as person: needs, attitude,

motivation, biography…

Learner as mind: aptitude,

age, processing, memory…

25
 BASIC CONCERNS OF APPLIED
LINGUISTICS
Traditionally, the primary concerns of Applied Linguistics have been second language acquisition theory, second

language pedagogy and the interface between the two, and it is these areas which this volume will cover” (Schmitt,

2002, p. 2).

Grabe’s describes the function of AL in these words: “the focus of applied linguistics is on trying to resolve

language-based problems that people encounter in the real world, whether they be learners, teachers, supervisors,

academics, lawyers, service providers, those who need social services, test takers, policy developers, dictionary

makers, translators, or a whole range of business clients” (Grabe, 2002, p. 9).

26
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LINGUISTICS,
APPLIED LINGUISTICS AND EDUCATION
• Linguistics is primarily concerned with language in itself and in
findings ways of analysing language and building theories that
describe language.
• Applied linguistics is concerned with the role of language in
peoples’ lives and problems associated with language use in
peoples’ lives.
• Linguistics is essential but not the only feeder discipline.

27
QUESTIONS

28