Lecture 0Introduction

◦ The British Association of Applied Linguistics (BAAL)was formally established in 1967, with the followingaims:

“the advancement of education by fostering andpromoting, by any lawful charitable means, thestudy of language use, language acquisition andlanguage teaching and the fostering of inter-disciplinary collaboration in this study” (BAAL,1994).

◦ An interdisciplinary field of study that identifies,investigates, and offers solutions to language-relatedreal-life problems.

◦ Some of the academic fields related to appliedlinguistics are education, linguistics, psychology,anthropology, and sociology.

• concerned with solving or at least ameliorating socialproblems involving language.

• a response to the narrowing of focus in linguistics withthe advent in the late 1950s of generative linguistics,

• has always maintained a socially accountable role,demonstrated by its central interest in languageproblems.

• For the most part, those who write about appliedlinguistics accept that the label “applied linguistics”refers to language teaching (in its widest interpretation,therefore including speech therapy, translation andinterpreting studies, language planning, etc.).

• One important source of that enrichment has been thejournal Language Learning, published from theUniversity of Michigan, providing a chronicle of thedevelopment of applied linguistics over the past 50 years(Catford, 1998).

Corder (1973) was well aware that in limiting thecoverage of applied linguistics to language teaching hewas open to criticism.

There are voices suggesting that applied linguistics canfulfill a role wider than language teaching.

“the theoretical and empirical investigation of real-worldproblems in which language is a central issue” (Brumfit,1997, p. 93);

“‘Applied Linguistics’ is using what we know about (a)language, (b) how it is learned, and (c) how it is used, inorder to achieve some purpose or solve some problemin the real world” (Schmitt & Celce-Murcia, 2002, p. 1).

• “the focus of applied linguistics is on trying to resolvelanguage-based problems that people encounter in thereal world, whether they be learners, teachers,supervisors, academics, lawyers, service providers,those who need social services, test takers, policydevelopers, dictionary makers, translators, or a wholerange of business clients” (Grabe, 2002, p. 9).

• Kaplan suggests that applied linguists “are likely to move toward the analysis of new data, rather than continue to argue new theory” (Kaplan, 2002, p. 514).

◦ First and Second Language Acquisition, LanguagePedagogy, Bilingualism and Multilingualism,Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC),Conversation Analysis (CA), Contrastive Linguistics,Language Assessment, Literacy, DiscourseAnalysis, Lexicography, Language Planning andpolicies, Pragmatics, Forensic Linguistics, andTranslation.

some common questions….

How can languages be best learnt and taught? What social factors affect language learning? How can technology be used to contribute to the

effectiveness of language teaching/ learning? What are the related problems associated with language

disorders? How can these be prevented?

listening media policy reading research methodology society speaking technology translation/interpretation writing

Language and… its acquisition assessment the brain cognition culture ideology instruction interaction

literacy speech pathology deaf education interpreting and

translating communication practices

lexicography first language acquisition

authorship identification forensic linguistics

Schmitt, Norbert. 2010. An Introduction to Applied Linguistics, second edition. London: Hodder Education, p. 2.

L2 learning is a long and complex undertaking L2 learner struggles to break away from the confines of

L1. An ideal L2 learning involves the acquisition of:◦ A new language.◦ A new culture.◦ A new way of thinking, feeling, and acting.

Successful L2 learning requires total commitment, total involvement, total physical, intellectual, and emotional response.

Variables which affect the process of L2 teaching and learning. These variables are the answers to the following questions:

• Who does the learning?• Who are the learners and where do they come from?• What are their native languages?• What are their levels of education?• What are their socioeconomic levels?• Who are their parents?• What are their intellectual capacities?• What sort of personalities do they have?• Who does the teaching?• What is his native language?• How much knowledge does he/she have of L2 and its

culture?• How is he/she as a person?

• What must be taught and learned?• What is communication?• What is language? • What do we mean when we say someone knows a

language?• What are the differences between L1 and L2?• How much descriptive knowledge of L1 and L2 systems

is L2 teacher required to have?

• How does learning take place?• How can we ensure L2 learning success?• What cognitive processes are used in L2 learning? • What strategies does the learner use?• What is the optimal cognitive, affective, and physical

domains for successful L2 learning?

• When does L2 learning take place? • We know by observation that children are “better”

language learners than adults. If so, why?

• Where is L2 learning taking place? • Is it being learned within the cultural and linguistic milieu

of L2 or not?• What are the sociopolitical conditions of a particular

country and how might that affect the learning process? • How do intercultural contrast and similarities impact L2

learning process?

• Why learn a second language?• What is the learner’s purpose? • Is he/she motivated by the prospects of a successful

career, by passing a foreign language requirement, or by wishing to identify with the culture and people of the target language?

Answers to these questions and others help us understandbetter the process of language teaching and learningand the variation in the levels of achievement among L2learners.

In order to answer these questions, we must delimit anddefine the following three concepts/terms which aregoing to be the focus of inquiry:

1. Language 2. Learning 3. Teaching

1. Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols. 2. These symbols have conventionalized meanings. 3. Language is used for communication. 4. Language is used in a community with a culture. 5. Language is a human social phenomenon. 6. Language is acquired the same way universally. 7. Language has universal characteristics.

The simplicity of the previous statements about “language” should notbe allowed to mask the sophistication of linguistic research. A studyof the following categories are suggested for a thoroughunderstanding of “language”:

Explicit and formal accounts of the system of language on severallevels of analysis (mainly phonological, morphological, syntactic andsemantic).

The symbolic nature of language; relationship between languageand reality; philosophy of language; history of language; writingsystems; kinesics; proxemics; language and cognition;psycholinguistics; sociolinguistics; language and culture;bilingualism; first and second language acquisition; languageuniversals etc..

Components of language Relationship between language and

Cognition Writing system Nonverbal communication Sociolinguistics First language acquisition

Learning is acquiring knowledge of a subject/skill bystudy, experience, or instruction.

Learning is/involves Acquisition or “getting.” Retention of information or skill. Relatively permanent but subject to forgetting A change in behavior. Active conscious focus on and acting upon events outside or

inside the organism. Some form of practice, perhaps reinforced practice.

Teaching is Guiding and facilitating learning. Enabling the learner to learn. Setting the conditions for learning. Reinforcing practice.

Language teaching is not easily categorized intomethods and trends.

Each teacher should try and develop a sound overallapproach to various language classrooms.

There are no instant recipes. Every learner is unique. Every teacher is unique. Every teacher-learner relationship is unique. Every context is unique. A language teacher can build a theory based on

principles of second language teaching and learning,using eclectic approach.

• Unlike “strong” professions, such as medicine and law,applied linguistics (and other “weak” professions) lacksanctions. As such they do not control entry nor do theyoversee continuing membership or license members topractice as professionals. However, what they can do is createan ethical milieu and in this way exercise informal control.They can establish a professional association, mount trainingcourses leading to degrees and certificates, they can organizeinternal discussions, hold conferences and annual meetingsof the national associations, and provide regular publications(such as Applied Linguistics, the International Review ofApplied Linguistics, the Annual Review of Applied Linguistics,the International Journal of Applied Linguistics). In theseways, in applied linguistics, consensus can be achieved onwhat is required to become a professional applied linguist.

• What is more, a “weak” profession can develop an ethicalframework, such as is to be found in a Code of Conduct orCode of Ethics. Increasingly professions have laid claim totheir own professional status by demonstrating their concernto be ethical. Indeed, House claims, “ethics are the rules orstandards of right conduct or practice, especially thestandards of a profession” (1990, p. 91). BAAL has made clearits own commitment to be ethical by publishing its DraftRecommendations on Good Practice in Applied Linguistics(1994). Koehn (1994) considers that what characterizes aprofession is that it serves clients rather than makes acustomer-type contract. What the professional offers isservice or duty, to be professional, to act professionally,rather than to be successful, since success cannot beguaranteed.

Widdowson presents the question in terms of linguistics applied and applied linguistics:

• The differences between these modes of intervention is that in the case of linguistics applied the assumption is that the problem can be reformulated by the direct and unilateral application of concepts and terms deriving from linguistic enquiry itself. That is to say, language problems are amenable to linguistics solutions. In the case of applied linguistics, intervention is crucially a matter of mediation . . . applied linguistics . . . has to relate and reconcile different representations of reality, including that of linguistics without excluding others.

(Widdowson, 2000, p. 5)