BIL6024 ISSUES IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS

Week 2

What is applied linguistics?• Read the article by Vivan Cook, and answer the following questions:• (i). What is the language teaching view of applied linguistics?• (ii). How important are other disciplines (beside linguistics) in applied

linguistics?• (iii). What does this statement “…applied linguistics is applying linguistics

to actual data…” means? Explain.• (iv). What is the relationship between applied linguistics and second

language acquisition (SLA)?• (v). What does Vivian Cook mean when she says that “…applied linguistics

then means many things to many people…?”

What is Applied Linguistics?

• Applied linguistics is using what we know about language, how it is learned and how it is used, in order to achieve some purpose or solve some problems in the real world, and those purposes are many and varied (Schmitt & Celce-Murcia, 2002).

•According to Wilkins (1999:7)(cited in Schmitt & Celce-Murcia, 2002):

•“In a broad sense, applied linguistics is concerned with increasing understanding of the role of language in human affairs and thereby with providing the knowledge necessary for those who are responsible for taking language-related decisions whether the need for these arises in the classroom, the workplace, the law court, or the laboratory.”

Areas of Applied Linguistics 16 topic areas based on American Association of

Applied Linguistics (AAAL) 2010 conference: * analysis of discourse and interaction * assessment and evaluation * bilingual, immersion, heritage and language minority education * language and ideology * language and learner characteristics * language and technology

* language cognition and brain research * language, culture, socialization and pragmatics * language maintenance and revitalization * language planning and policy * reading, writing and literacy * second and foreign language pedagogy * second language acquisition, language acquisition and attrition * sociolinguistics * text analysis (written discourse) * translation and interpretation

ISSUES IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS

• McCarthy (2001)• (1). Should applied linguists be theoretical?• (2). What is an applied linguist’s theoretical

stance with regard to a problem or set of problems?

• (3). Can linguistics offer an approach or a solution to a problem at hand?

(4). If so, which branch of linguistics study? (5). And, by what method? (6). If there is conflicting information to be

had from the findings of linguists, how does one best evaluate which approach is likely to be the most useful?

(7). Can the non-linguist take on such a task, or is this a job for highly trained specialists?

Being theoretical

McCarthy (2001) states that being theoretical is a desirable thing in applied linguistics.

He cited Widdowson (1984) who viewed that: “applied linguistics must formulate concepts

and theories in the light of the phenomena it is trying to account for …. Applied linguistics must certainly account for, and be accountable to, the contexts in which they work and the problems with which they engage.”

Theoretical stance

• “They must not shy away from stating the beliefs, claims and attitudes that inform their position on any given applied linguistic activity, whether it be solving a language-teaching problem or proposing a socio-political language-planning solution that might have wide humanitarian implications. This is one’s theoretical stance.” (Widdowson, 1984)

• Thus, encountering problems and adopting a convincing stance towards them is what defines applied linguistics as a discipline (McCarthy, 2001).

Methodology of Applied Linguistics

Complex.It must refer to the findings and theories of linguistics,

choosing among the different schools and approaches, and making these theories relevant to the problem in hand.

At the same time, it must investigate and take into account the experience and needs of the people involved in the problem itself.

It must then seek to relate these two perspectives to each other, attempting to reformulate each. And it must undertake investigation and theorizing of its own (Cook, 2003)

PROBLEM SOLVING

• Applied linguistics try to offer solutions to ‘real-world problems in which language is a central issue’ (Brumfit, 1991:46)(cited in McCarthy, 2001)

Approaching Problems in an Applied Linguistic Way

• (1). Identifying and defining problems.• (2). Contextualizing those problems within

linguistic study and developing a theoretical stance.

• (3). Harnessing appropriate resources for the exploration of possible solutions.

• (4). Evaluating the proposed solutions.• (Refer to the book by McCarthy (2001), pages 7-

13)

• One of the first and most important things for the teacher who would be an applied linguist is to have a good working knowledge of how linguistics is sub-divided and how the linguistics community makes its decision as to what to include in what (McCarthy, 2001).

• Real-world problems are best not regarded as divorced from the world outside of the classroom, from the wider socio-cultural and political contexts in which language learning takes place. As with all problem-solving activities, the solutions may not come easily or immediately (McCarthy, 2001).

The Native Speaker in Applied Linguistics

The concept of native speaker occupies an important position in applied linguistics.

On the one hand, it is widely used as a benchmark for knowledge of a language (and as such attracts opposition because it excludes those who are not native speakers), and as a criterion for employment.

On the other hand, a definition of the native speaker is elusive (Davies, 2004).

Who is a native speaker? Davies (2004) (i). The native speaker acquires the L1 of which

he/she is a native speaker in childhood. (ii). The native speaker has intuitions (in terms of

acceptability and productiveness) about his/her idiolectal grammar.

(iii). The native speaker has intuitions about those features of the standard language grammar which are distinct from his/her idiolectal grammar.

(iv). The native speaker has a unique capacity to produce fluent spontaneous discourse, which exhibits pauses mainly at clause boundaries (the “one clause at a time” facility) and which is facilitated by a huge memory stock of complete lexical items. In both production and comprehension, the native speaker exhibits a wide range of communicative competence (Pawley & Snyder, 1983), cited in Davies (2004).

• (v). The native speaker has a unique capacity to write creatively (and this includes literature at all levels from jokes to epics, metaphor to novels).

• (vi). The native speaker has a unique capacity to interpret and translate into the L1 of which he/she is a native speaker. Disagreements about the deployment of an individual’s capacity are likely to stem from a dispute about the standard or (standard) language.

Native speaker or native speaker-like?

• To what extent can the L2 learner become a target language native speaker?

• (i). The second language learner does not acquire the target language in early childhood. If he/she does, then he/she is a native speaker of both L1 and the target language (TL), or he/she is a bilingual native speaker (Davies, 2004).

• (ii). However, with sufficient contact and practice, it is possible for the L2 learner to gain access to intuitions about his/her own idiolectal grammar of the target language (Davies, 2004).

• (iii). With sufficient contact and practice, the L2 learner can also gain access to the standard grammar of the target language (Davies, 2004).

(In many formal learning situations it is through exposure to a target language standard grammar that the target language idiolectal grammar would emerge.)

• (iv). In practice, it is difficult (but not impossible) for the non-native speaker to gain the discourse and pragmatic control of a native speaker (Davies, 2004).

(v). With practice, it is possible for an L2 learner to become an accepted creative artist (writer, performer, etc.) in the target language (Davies, 2004).

(However, problems may arise from the L1 community’s acceptability of the L2 learner’s creative works and of him/her writing not in the standard target language but in a non-codified (standard) language.)

Native speaker (NS) vs. Non-native speaker (NNS)

• It is now difficult to distinguish between native speakers and non-native speakers since there are many views of what being a native speaker means, which include:

• (i). Native speaker by birth (by early childhood exposure)

• (ii).Native speaker by virtue of being a native user.

• (iii). Native speaker (or native speaker-like) by being an exceptional learner.

• (iv). Native speaker through education in the target language medium.

• (v). Native speaker through long residence in the adopted country.

• Hyltenstam & Abrhamsson (2000), cited in Davies (2004).

• Disputes and differences of opinion about the native speaker arise because the concept is interpreted differently. That is why it has been referred to as both a myth and reality (Davies, 2004).

Question

• Should L2 learners be ‘native-like’ in the target language?

Question

• How important is applied linguistics in the field of language education?

Applied Linguistics in Language Education

• Mackey (1965:253)cited in Davies (1999) says that ‘…throughout the history of formal language teaching there has always been some sort of applied linguistics, as it is known today…..if there is one single source which has been responsible for stimulating innovation and activity (in language teaching), it is applied linguistics.’

R.H. Robbins (1987:147)cited in Davies (1999) states ‘…the teacher who understands and can make use of the methods of scientific linguistics will find the task of presenting a language to his pupils very much lightened and facilitated.'

According to Richards (1985:19)cited in Davies (1999), a role of applied linguistics is the study of second and foreign language learning and teaching.