Applied Linguistics LANE 423/ First Semester

Introduction/ Lecture 1

DR. Amira Kashgary1433 /2012

Objectives

• Develop an awareness of the various sub-disciplines within the field of Applied Linguistics

• Gain a broadly-based understanding of first and second language acquisition

• Understand how people learn- or fail to learn- a second language

• Understand the theoretical foundations of language teaching & learning

• Differentiate between the various models, theories and research findings within the field of SLA

Required Textbooks

• Lightbown, P. & Spada, N. (2006). How languages are learned. Oxford: Oxford University Press• Schmitt, N. (2002). An introduction

to applied linguistics. London: Arnold.74

Topics to be covered• Language learning in early childhood• First language acquisition (FLA)• Second language acquisition (SLA)

• Styles and strategies in SLA

• Cross-linguistics influence and learner language

• Theories of second language acquisition

An Overview of Applied Linguistics

• Schmitt and Celce-Murcia

• Chapter 1 (p 1-7)

What is Applied Linguistics?

a subarea of linguistics

the applications of linguistic principles or theories to certain more or less linguistic

practical matters such as second language teaching, teaching of reading, composition and language arts, speech therapy, speech disorders

etc.

What is Applied Linguistics?

Applied linguistics uses information from sociology, anthropology, and information

theory as well as from linguistics in order to develop its own theoretical models of language

and language use, and then uses this information and theory in practical areas such as syllabus design, speech therapy, language

planning, literacy, and bilingualism.

What is Applied Linguistics?

Using what we know about (a) language, (b) how it is learned

and (c) how it is used in order to achieve some purposes or solve some problem in the real world.

What is linguistics?

“the scientific study of language”.

In other words, it tries to study language from a scientific point of view with the aim of

establishing language as a scientific phenomenon with its own distinctive rules,

theories, description…etc

What is Language?

“language is a set of signals by which people communicate”.

This definition contains three important words: signals, people and

communication.

Features of Language?

•Language is systematic – possibly a generative system. • Language is a set of arbitrary symbols.

• Those symbols are primarily vocal, but may also be visual.

• The symbols have conventionalized meanings to which they refer.

• Language is used for communication. • Language operates in a speech community or culture. • Language is essentially human, although possibly not

limited to humans.

• Language is acquired by all people in much the same way – language

and languages learning both have universal characteristics.

What is Clinical Linguistics?

• It is a sub-discipline of linguistics and involves the application of linguistic theory to the field of Speech-Language Pathology.

• The central focus of Clinical Linguistics is the application of the principles and methods of linguistics and phonetics to communication impairment (weakness) in children and adults.

What is Clinical Linguistics?

• Clinical linguistics plays a key role in the description, analysis and remediation of communication impairment. The study of linguistic aspects of communication development and disorder is also of relevance to linguistic theory and our understanding of language more generally.

Major areas in communication impairment

1- Autism. 2- Cleft palate. 3- Developmental speech and language disorders. 4- Traumatic brain injury. 5- Williams syndrome.

What is educational linguistics?

• It is an area of study that integrates the research tools of linguistics and other related disciplines of the social sciences in order to investigate the broad range of issues related to language and education with the aim of presenting advice in these fields.

• As an area of inquiry, educational linguistics is young. It started in the early 1970s with the work of Bernard Spolsky. The history of educational linguistics is linked to applied linguistics, with which it continues to have a symbiotic relationship.

Questions on “An overview of Applied Linguistics”

• What is AL?• What are the sub-disciplines of AL?• Is AL and language teaching the same

activity?• What are the major developments of AL?

Questions on “An overview of Applied Linguistics”

• What are the major development of AL in the 20th C.?

• Early Grammar Translation Method1. what are the features of this method?

2. What are the weaknesses of this method?

Questions on “An overview of Applied Linguistics”

• What are the major development of AL in the 20th C.?

• The Direct Method1. what are the features of this method? exposure to oral lang, listening and speaking, no translation into L1, imitating L1 acquisition

2. What are the weaknesses of this method?Neglecting differences between L1 and L2 acquisition

Questions on “An overview of Applied Linguistics”

• What are the major development of AL in the 20th C.?

The Reading Method1. what are the features of this method?

exposure to language through reading to prompt reading skills.

2. What are the weaknesses of this method?

Questions on “An overview of Applied Linguistics”

• What are the major development of AL in the 20th C.? After the World War II

The Army Method1. what are the features of this method?

training soldiers in aural-oral skills. lang is a result of habit formation “behaviorism” intensive oral drilling, sentence patterns and

memorization2. How did this method develop after the war?

”Audiolingualism”

Questions on “An overview of Applied Linguistics”

1. How did Chomsky (1959) contribute to the theory of language learning?

“universal grammar” & “underlying principles of language”

2. How did Hymes (1972) contribute to the theory of language learning?

“the concept of communicative competence”

Questions on “An overview of Applied Linguistics”

1. How did Haliday (1973)contribute to the theory of language learning?

“systemic functional grammar” language is not exclusively internal to a learner but a means of functioning in society

2. Three types of language function: ideational, interpersonal, and textual

3. Emphasizing the communicative and dynamic nature of language “Communicative Language Pedagogy”

Questions on “An overview of Applied Linguistics”

1. What is Krashen’s 1980 “Monitor Theory”? L2 is mainly unconsciously acquired

through exposure to comprehensible input rather than explicit exercises

It requires to focus on meaning rather than form

Learner’s emotional state can affect acquisition.

Questions on “An overview of Applied Linguistics”

1. What is Communicative Language Teaching? Littlewood 1981 (CLT)

the use of language for meaningful communication

focus on learner’s message and fluency rather than grammatical accuracy use problem-solving activities

Questions on “An overview of Applied Linguistics”

1. What is Communicative Language Teaching? (CLT)

focus on learner’s message and fluency not grammatical accuracy

taught through problem-solving activities and tasks which require students to transact information

students are taught non-language related subjects such as history and politics in the L2