Assignment 1: Definitions and Scope of Applied Linguistics

Definitions of Applied Linguistics

Guy Cook defines applied linguistics as ‘the academic discipline concerned with the relation of knowledge about language to decision making in the real world’ (ibid: 5).

(Source: Davies, Alan. 2007. An Introduction to Applied Linguistic: From Theory to Practice. Retrieved from http://ebooksfreedownload.org/tag/an-introduction-to-applied-linguistics-from-practice-to-theory-by-alan-davies-pdf on 10 March 2012)

The definition of a field can reasonably be explored by looking at the professionals involved in its study … Applied Linguistics [is now] a cover term for a sizeable group of semi-autonomous disciplines, each dividing its parentage and allegiances between the formal study of language and other relevant fields, and each working to develop its own methodologies and principles.

(source: Davies, Alan. 2007. An Introduction to Applied Linguistic: From Theory to Practice. Retrieved from http://ebooksfreedownload.org/tag/an-introduction-to-applied-linguistics-from-practice-to-theory-by-alan-davies-pdf on 10 March 2012 )

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 tasks in which language is a central component.

(Source: Farhady, Hossein. On the Scope of Applied Linguistics. Retrieved from http://aua.am/academics/dep/hf_publications/3 On scope of Applied Linguisticsno biblio.pdf on 11 March 2012)

The Scope of Applied Linguistics

               

The idea that AL is, or almost is, interchangeable with language teaching misdirected the field of AL for some years. The reason is that the scope of AL cannot be limited to language teaching, because linguistics was one of the fields of which the findings were applicable to language teaching. There were some other areas of science that contributed to language teaching as well. Furthermore, there were other areas of science, which had little or no connections to language teaching, to which linguistics contributed.

It should be noted that as the scope of AL widens, so does the responsibilities of the applied linguists. Applied linguists can no more rely on the mere application of the findings of linguistics to solve language related problems. Nor can they depend on the mere speculations and theoretical principles laid by linguists, or any other single field of study for that matter.

There is An Illustration of the Scope of Applied Linguistics taken from Kaplan (1980)

(Source: Farhady, Hossein. On the Scope of Applied Linguistics. Retrieved from http://aua.am/academics/dep/hf_publications/3 On scope of Applied Linguisticsno biblio.pdf on 11 March 2012)