Applied linguistics: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 20:39, 2 October 2007
Applied linguistics is the branch of linguistics concerned with using linguistic theory to address real-world problems. It has been traditionally dominated by the fields of language education and second language acquisition, but some see it as encompassing all applications of linguistic theory. Both definitions are widely used.
While sociolinguistics and discourse analysis have played an increasingly important role within the field, whether applied linguistics should concern itself with the political ramifications of linguistics has been much debated. One outcome of this debate has resulted in the formation of critical applied linguistics, which is considered either a separate discipline or an offshoot of applied linguistics proper.
The American Association for Applied Linguistics formed in the 1970s when it began holding separate conferences from the Linguistic Society of America. In the UK, the main forum is the British Association for Applied Linguistics; Canada has a similar association, while the Association Internationale de Linguistique Appliquée serves a more international forum.
Major journals include Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Modern Language Review, Language Learning, Applied Linguistics, AILA Journal and TESOL Quarterly.
Research in language teaching
Today, 'applied linguistics' is sometimes used to refer to 'second language acquisition', but these are distinct fields, in that SLA involves more theoretical study of the system of language, whereas applied linguistics concerns itself more with teaching and learning. In their approach to the study of learning, applied linguists have increasingly devised their own theories and methodologies, such as the shift towards studying the learner rather than the system of language itself, in contrast to the emphasis within SLA.[1][2]
The field of applied linguistics first concerned itself with second language acquisition, in particular errors and contrastive analysis, in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1970s, with the failure of contrastive analysis as a theory to predict errors, second language researchers began to adopt Noam Chomsky's theory of universal grammar[3] to explain second language learning phenomena; its impact in applied linguistics and language teaching was more limited.[4] In the 1990s, more and more researchers began to employ research methods from cognitive psychology. Today, the field is a cross-disciplinary mix of departments primarily from linguistics, anthropology, psychology, and education.
Clinical linguistics
Clinical linguistics entails the application of linguistics to speech-language pathology. This involves treating individuals whose linguistic development is atypical or impaired.[5] This branch of applied linguistics may also involve treatment of specific language impairment, where one aspect of language develops exceptionally.[6] The field has also adopted existing ideas which have have not become 'mainstream' in theoretical linguistics. For example, both behaviourism[7] and natural phonology[8] have appeared in the literature.
Footnotes
- ↑ The applied linguist Vivian Cook has, for example, introduced the term L2 user as distinct from L2 learner (see Cook's page: Background to the L2 User Perspective). The former are active users of the language; the latter those who learn for later use. Cook's view also severs a link to SLA, in that a user's language ability is seen not as an approximation towards native speakers' competence, but as a system in its own right.
- ↑ See also Wei (2007) for an appeal to focus on the learner rather than the system. Wei L (2007) 'A user-friendly linguistics.' International Journal of Applied Linguistics 17: 117.
- ↑ e.g. Chomsky (1957).
- ↑ Hymes (1972) outlined a theory of education in opposition to what some applied linguists and educators perceived to be inadequacies in Chomsky's ideas of linguist competence for developing teaching methodologies. However, Chomsky and his associates never presented 'universal grammar' as relevant to language teaching.
- ↑ The most famous case is Genie, an individual who was deprived of language throughout much of her childhood.
- ↑ Bishop (2006).
- ↑ Castagnaro (2006), for review.
- ↑ Grunwell (1997).