Ika Kurniawati Khasanah / 2201409032
Rombel 03
TOPICS IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
1. Obtain the definition of Applied Linguistic from three different experts/ authors!
- Applied Linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of research and practice dealing with practical problems of language and communication that can be identified, analysed or solved by applying available theories, methods or results of Linguisticsor by developing new theoretical and methodological frameworks in linguistics to work on these problems. (AILA International Association of Applied Linguistics)
- Applied Linguistics itself may be seen as an autonomous, problem-solving disciple, concerned broadly with language (mainly, but not exclusively second language) education and language problems in society. (Steve McDonough, 2002)
- Applied Linguistics is the theoretical and empirical investigation of real-world problems in which language is a central issue. (Brumfit, 1995)
2. Find the similarities and differences of three definitions!
The similarities:
- Those definitions deal with the existence of problems.
- The problems are analyzed or investigated, then can be solved.
- Applying theories (theoritically) and methods (empirically).
- AL is related to language.
The differences:
| No. | Experts/ Organization | Concern |
| 1. | AILA | AL is an interdisciplinary field. The problems are practical. |
| 2. | Steve McDonough | AL is autonomous. It is concerned with language education and problems. |
| 3. | Brumfit | The problems are real-world |
3. 3. Describe the scope of Applied Linguistics!
Defining the Scope of AL “ AL is the utilisation of the knowledge about the nature of language achieved by linguistic research for the improvement of the efficiency of some practical task in which language is a central component.” (Corder, 1974, p. 24) (Ibid.)
Defining the Scope of AL “ Whenever knowledge about language is used to solve a basic language-related problem, one may say that applied linguistics is being practiced. AL is a technology which makes abstract ideas and research findings accessible and relevant to the real world; it mediates between theory and practice.” (Strevens, 1992, p. 76)(Ibid.)
The scope of Applied Linguistics
• Language teaching and learning
Both in the first and additional (second of foreign) language are
• Language testing
Language Testing is the practice and study of evaluating the proficiency of an individual in usinga particular language effectively.
• Psycho- and neurolinguistics
In general, psycholinguistic studies have revealed that many of the concepts employed in the analysis of sound structure, word structure, and sentence structure also play a role in language processing. However, an account of language processing also requires that we understand how these linguistic concepts interact with other aspects of human processing to enable language production and comprehension.
(William O'Grady, et al., Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001)
Neurolinguistics isthe study of the relationships between the human nervous system and language especially with respect to the correspondence between disorders of language and the nervous system.
• Sociolinguistics
The primary concern of sociolinguistic scholarship is to study correlations between language use and social structure… It attempts to establish causal links between language and society, [asking] what language contributes to making community possible & how communities shape their languages by using them… [It seeks] a better understanding of language as a necessary condition and product of social life… Linguistic theory is… a theory about language without human beings.
(Florian Coulmas (1997), Handbook of Sociolinguistics “Introduction”, page 1-11)
• Discourse analysis
Discourse analysis is a primarily linguistic study examining the use of language by its native population whose major concern is investigating language functions along with its forms, produced both orally and in writing. The branch of applied linguistics dealing with the examination of discourse attempts to find patterns in communicative products as well as and their correlation with the circumstances in which they occur, which are not explainable at the grammatical level (Carter 1993:23).
• Computational linguistics
The study of the applications of computers in processing and analyzing language, as in automatic machine translation and text analysis.
• Translation studies
André Lefevere – Louvain Colloquium on Literature and Translation, 1976
‘Translation Studies’ is a discipline concerned with the problems raised by the production and description of translation.
