Applied Linguistics to Foreign

Language Teaching and Learning

Main issues

 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?
 Whatwill this course focus on? How is this
course organised?
What is linguistics?
Language & Linguistics

Lyons 1968:
1
What is Linguistics?
 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.
 Linguisticsis primarily concerned with
the nature of language and
communication. There are broadly three
aspects to the study, including language
form, language meaning, and
language use in discursive and
communicative contexts.
What is Linguistics?

Linguistics deals with the study of

particular languages, and the
search for general properties
common to all languages or large
groups of languages.
Some questions linguistics tries to
answer

 What distinguishes human language

from other animal communication
systems?
 What features are common to all human
languages?
 How are the modes of linguistic
communication (speech, writing, sign
language of the deaf) related to each
other?
Some questions linguistics tries to
answer

 How is language related to other types

of human behaviour?

 What is language and how is it

organized?

 How is it analysed? How are its units

discovered and tested, etc.
Branches of linguistics

Pragmatics

Semantic Phonolog
s y

LINGUISTI
CS

Syntax Phonetics

Morphology
What is Interdisciplinary
Linguistics?

Interdisciplinary  Historical
studies involve two Linguistics,
or more academic  Sociolinguistics,
disciplines which  Psycholinguistics,
are considered
 Ethnolinguistics or
distinct. The most
common Anthropological
interdisciplinary Linguistics,
branches of  Computational
Linguistics are: Linguistics,
 Neurolinguistics.
Applied Linguistics:
When did it all begin? (1/2)

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.
Applied Linguistics:
When did it all begin? (2/2)
 The British Association of Applied
Linguistics (BAAL) was formally
established in 1967, with the following
aims: “the advancement of education by
fostering and promoting, by any lawful
charitable means, the study of language
use, language acquisition and language
teaching and the fostering of inter-
disciplinary collaboration in this study”
(BAAL, 1994).
 Itwas largely taken for granted in the
1960s and 1970s that applied linguistics
was about language teaching.
What is Applied Linguistics? (1/4)
 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.
 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).
What is Applied Linguistics? (2/4)

“AL is the utilisation 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.” (Corder, 1974, p. 24)
What is Applied Linguistics? (3/4)

“Applied Linguistics is using what we know

about (a) 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).
What is Applied Linguistics? (4/4)

“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).
Defining characteristics of Applied
Linguistics
 Autonomous, multidisciplinary and
problem solving: uses and draws on
theory from other related fields
concerned with language and generates
its own theory in order to find solutions
to language related problems and issues
in the real world.
 Practicalconcerns have an important
role in shaping the questions that AL will
address.
What problems are related to
language?

Problems related to:  language assessment,

 language learning,  language use,
 language teaching,  language and
 literacy, technology,
 language contact
 translation and
(language & culture), interpretation,
 language policy and
 language pathology.
planning,
A sample of questions Applied
Linguistics addresses (1/2)

 How can we teach languages better?

 How can we diagnose speech pathologies
better?
 How can we improve the training of translators?
 How can we develop valid language
examinations?
A sample of questions Applied
Linguistics addresses (2/2)

How can we determine the literacy

levels of a population?
What advice can we give the
ministry of education on proposals
to introduce a new teaching
method?
What advice can we give a
defence lawyer on the authenticity
of a police transcript of an
interview with a suspect?
What is the relationship
between AL and other
language related disciplines?
 Applied linguistics occupies an intermediary,
mediating position between language related
disciplines (linguistics, psycholinguistics and
sociolinguistics) and professional practice
 It uses theories/principles from language related
disciplines in order to understand language
related issues and to solve language related
problems.
The choice of which disciplines are involved in
applied linguistics matters depends on the
circumstances.
What is the relationship
between AL and other
language related disciplines?

 Applied linguistics conducts research

into professional practice and on the
basis of the results develops theory.
 Theoretical, Interdisciplinary and
Applied Linguistics
Theoretical Interdisciplinary Applied
linguistics linguistics linguistics
• Phonology, • Psycholinguistic • Applied
• Morphology, s, linguistics to
• Syntax and • Sociolinguistics, language
structural • Pragmatics, education,
grammar, • Discourse • Applied
• Semantics, analysis. linguistics to
• Historical • Computational foreign language
linguistics. and corpus education,
linguistics. • Translation
studies,
• Lexicography.
Linguistics and Applied Linguistics

 Linguisticsis 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.
 Linguisticsis essential but not the only
feeder discipline.
Diagramme

Linguistics

Applied
Education
Linguistics
Applied linguistics and related
sciences. Linguistics
(the study of the nature, structure and variation of
Applied Linguistics

language).

Education (teaching, learning, acquisition,

assessment).

Sociology
(the scientific study of human behavior and the study
of society).
Psychology (the science of mind and behavior, and
the application of such knowledge of various spheres
of human activity).
Anthropology
(the scientific study of the origin and behavior of
man).