An Introduction to Applied Linguistics part 2

Dr.Mohhamad Ghazanfari Applied linguisticsApplied linguistics

Dr. Mohammad GhazanfariEnglish Language DepartmentFersdowsi University of Mashhad

Session 2


7. Applied linguistics not merely 7. Applied linguistics not merely restricted to language teachingrestricted to language teaching

Theories about the nature of human language are, of course, of use to other people besides the language teacher. It would be a mistake to associate applied linguistics exclusively with language teaching. There are other people who are engaged in practical activities which involve language in a central role for whom a knowledge of its nature could be of use in dealing with problems which arise in their work:


the speech therapist, the literary critic, the communications engineer, for example. We do not uniquely associate applied linguistics with any single one of these activities. Whilst applied linguistics and language teaching may be closely associated, they are not one and the same activity. (Corder, p. 10)


8. Applied linguistics not a 8. Applied linguistics not a theoretical studytheoretical study

The application of linguistic knowledge to some object—or applied linguistics, as its name implies—is an activity. It is not a theoretical study. It makes use of the findings of theoretical studies. The applied linguist is a consumer, or user, not a producer, of theories. If we use the term 'theory' as it is used in science, then there is no such thing as a 'theory of language teaching' or a 'theory of speech therapy' or a 'theory of literary criticism'.


Language teaching is also an activity, but teaching language is not the same activity as applied linguistics. However, if we interpret language teaching in the very broadest sense, to include all the planning and decision-making which takes place outside the classroom, then there may be an element of applied linguistics in all language teaching. Just as there may be an element of applied linguistics in all speech therapy or all literary criticism. (Corder, pp. 10-11)


In spite of the many hundreds of years through which language has been studied in our civilization, we still know little about many of its aspects. The pace of investigation has quickened in recent years and the methods of investigation have increasingly been made more rigorous, to the point that we can now, with some justification and within certain defined boundaries, claim that linguistic studies are scientific. . . . We are still a long way from achieving some sort of rigorous systematization in studying language.


For this reason, linguistics can, as yet, scarcely claim to give firm answers to any but a few problems in language teaching. Applied linguistics as a field of study is scarcely twenty years old [that is, until the publication of Corder's book, in the beginning years of 1970s]. The reader must judge for himself how much has been achieved in that time. (Corder, p. 11)


9. The scope of applied linguistics 9. The scope of applied linguistics (adapted from Guy Cook, 2003, pp. 7-(adapted from Guy Cook, 2003, pp. 7-8 )8 )

Since language is implicated (involved درگیر، دخیل) in so much of our daily lives, there is clearly a large and open-ended number of quite disparate activities to which applied linguistics is relevant. So even with these examples, the scope of applied linguistics remains rather vague. To get at a more precise definition of the field we need to be more specific. We need not just to give examples but to classify the kinds of problem we are concerned with in a systematic way, and so map out the scope of our area.


In other words, we need to refer specific instances to more general conceptual areas of study. These areas can be identified under three headings as follows:

1 Language and educationThis area includes:First-language education, when a child studies

their home language or languages. Additional-language education, often divided

into second-language education,


when someone studies their society's majority or official language which is not their home language, and foreign-language education, when someone studies the language of another country.

Clinical linguistics: the study and treatment of speech and communication impairments, whether hereditary, developmental, or acquired (through injury, stroke, illness, or age).


Language testing: the assessment and evaluation of language achievement and proficiency, both in first and additional languages, and for both general and specific purposes.

2 language, work, and lawThis area includes: Workplace communication: the study of how

language is used in the workplace, and how it contributes to the nature and power relations of different types of work.


Language planning: the making of decisions, often supported by legislation, about the official status of languages and their institutional use, including their use in education.

Forensic linguistics: the deployment of linguistic evidence in criminal and other legal investigations, for example, to establish the authorship of a document, or a profile of a speaker from a tape-recording.


3 language, information, and effectThis area includes: Literary stylistics: the study of the relationship

between linguistic choices and effects in literature.

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA): the study of the relationship between linguistic choices and effects in persuasive uses of language, of how these indoctrinate or manipulate (for example, in marketing and politics), and the counteracting of this through analysis.


Translation and interpretation: the formulation of principles underlying the perceived equivalence between a stretch of language and its translation, and the practices of translating written text and interpreting spoken language.

Information design: the arrangement and presentation of written language, including issues relating to typography and layout, choices of medium and effective combinations of language with other means of communication such as pictures and diagrams.


Lexicography: the planning and compiling of both monolingual and bilingual dictionaries and other language reference works such as thesauri.

All of these areas fall within our definition of applied linguistics and are claimed as areas of enquiry by organizations and journals concerned with the discipline. Yet in practice some of them are more independent than others.


Clinical linguistics and translation studies in particular are often regarded as independent disciplines. Among the others some--such as the study of foreign language learning--are more active as areas of academic enquiry than others.


ReferencesReferences

D A V I E S, A. (1999/2007). An Introduction to Applied Linguistics: From Practice to Theory (2nd. ed.). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Cook, G. (2003). Applied linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Corder, S. P. (1973). Introducing applied linguistics. Harmondsworth,

Middlesex: Penguin Books.Crystal, D. (1992). An encyclopedic dictionary of lalnguage &

languages. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.Kaplan, R. B. (Ed.). (2002). The Oxford handbook of applied

linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Schmitt, N. (Ed.). (2002). An introduction to applied linguistics.

London: Arnold. Coffin, C., Lillis, T. & O’Halloran, K. (Eds.) (2010). Applied

linguistics methods: A reader. London and New York: Routledge.


منبع فارسی

یادگیری و : زبانشناسی کاربردی). 1372الس، تئووان و همکاران (. (محمود الیاسی، مترجم). مشهد: آستان آموزش زبانهای خارجی

قدس.

Education

An Introduction to Applied Linguistics part 2