The document provides an overview of applied linguistics, including: - Its origins in the 1940s through efforts to ally language teaching with linguistics. - Definitions that describe it as concerned with investigating and solving real-world problems involving language. - Its problem-based and interdisciplinary nature in drawing on linguistics and other fields like psychology to address issues in areas like language teaching, literacy, and language policy. - Key topics it addresses including language learning, teaching, assessment, use, and pathology. - Its focus on applying linguistic knowledge to resolve language problems people face in various contexts.

1. Session 1
Presented by:
Dr. Mohammad Ghazanfari
English Language Department
Fersdowsi University of
Mashhad
Dr.Mohhamad Ghazanfari
Applied linguistics

2. Introduction: Nature and scope of
applied linguistics
The term applied linguistics came into existence in the
1940s through the efforts of teachers who wished to
ally themselves with “scientific” linguists and to
dissociate themselves from teachers of literature. By
the mid-1950s, the term was given credence by the
opening of the School of Applied Linguistics at the
University of Edinburgh and by the creation of the
Center for Applied Linguistics in the United States.
Finally, in the 1970s, the field was given scope
(chance ‫ )مجال، اقبال‬and substance (value, importance)
by the publication of Introducing Applied Linguistics
by Spit Corder (1973).
Dr.Mohhamad Ghazanfari
Applied linguistics

3. Kaplan (2002) has stated that “applied linguistics is a difficult notion
to define” (p. vii). Coffin, Lillis and O’Halloran (2010, p. 1),
similarly, emphasize that “there has been a good deal of debate
about the scope and nature of applied linguistics. Recently,
however, a certain degree of consensus seems to have been
achieved.” They quote Brumfit (1995) that applied linguistics is
concerned with “the theoretical and empirical investigation of realworld problems in which language is a central issue” (p. 27).
Nevertheless, in Kaplan’s words, applied linguists have repeatedly
argued that their field is not merely “linguistics applied” but rather
is multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary.
Dr.Mohhamad Ghazanfari
Applied linguistics

4. 1. Overview
Interest in language and language teaching has a long history, and we
can trace this back at least as far as the ancient Greeks, where
both "Plato and Aristotle contributed to the design of a
curriculum beginning with good writing (grammar), then moving
on to effective discourse (rhetoric) and culminating in the
development of dialectic to promote a philosophical approach to
life" (Howatt, 1984, p. 618, cited in Schmitt, 2002, p. 3). Kaplan
(2002) traces the origins of the field of applied linguistics back to
about 1948, after the publication of the first issue of the journal
Language Learning: A Journal of Applied Linguistics, although
he does not reject other possible starting points.
Dr.Mohhamad Ghazanfari
Applied linguistics

5. 2. What is applied linguistics?
David Crystal (1992) defines applied linguistics as
The use of linguistic theories, methods, and findings in elucidating and
solving problems to do with language which have arisen in other
areas of experience. The domain of applied linguistics is extremely
wide, and includes foreign language learning and teaching, language
disorders, translation and interpreting, lexicography, style, forensic
speech analysis, and the teaching of reading.
Dr.Mohhamad Ghazanfari
Applied linguistics

6. Guy Cook (2003) has defined the term applied
linguistics as "the academic discipline
concerned with the relation of knowledge about
language to decision making in the real world"
(p. 5). "On the basis of this definition," Cook
goes on, "then, we can say that applied
linguistics sets out to investigate problems in
the world in which language is implicated—both
educational and social problems" (ibid.). Kaplan
(2002, p. 10) also defines applied linguistics in
similar terms, "a practice-driven discipline that
addresses language-based problems in real
world contexts."
Dr.Mohhamad Ghazanfari
Applied linguistics

7. 

He further tries to reject the criticisms concerning
the seemingly wide scope of applied linguistics and
lack of a certain framework of investigation:
Critics note that applied linguistics is too broad and
too fragmented, that it demands expert knowledge
in too many fields, and it does not have a set of
unifying research paradigms. However, it is possible
to interpret applied linguistics as a discipline much
in the way that many other disciplines are defined.
It has a core and a periphery, and the periphery
blurs into other disciplines. . . . This picture may
not be very different from those of several other
relatively new disciplines in academic institutions.
(pp. 10-11)
Dr.Mohhamad Ghazanfari
Applied linguistics

8. 3. On relevance of applied
linguistics to language teaching
S. Pit Corder (1973) comments on the relationship between applied
linguistics and language teaching as follows:
There will certainly be some readers who, while not disputing the
relevance of linguistic studies to language teaching, will
nevertheless criticize my implied restriction of the term 'applied
linguistics' to this field of activity [i.e., language teaching], on the
grounds that there are practical tasks other than language
teaching to which a knowledge of linguistics is relevant. I do not
disagree with them in principle, but claim nevertheless that,
because of the greater public interest in language teaching and
the considerable official support there has been in recent years
for research and teaching in the application of linguistics to
language teaching, this term [i.e., applied linguistics] has
effectively come to be restricted in this way in common usage.
Dr.Mohhamad Ghazanfari
Applied linguistics

9. I am enough of a purist to believe that
'applied linguistics' presupposes
'linguistics'; that one cannot apply what
one does not possess. (pp. 7-8)
 Elsewhere Corder comments:
Linguistics provides a growing body of
scientific knowledge about language which
can guide the activity of the language
teacher. How this knowledge can be turned
to good effect is the issue with which
applied linguistics is concerned. (p. 10)
Dr.Mohhamad Ghazanfari
Applied linguistics

10. 4. Applied linguistics and language
teaching
Corder maintains that his book
is about the contribution that the discoveries
and methods of those who study language
scientifically—that is, the linguist, the
psycholinguist and the sociolinguist (to
mention only the most important groups)—
can make to the solution of some of the
problems which arise in the course of
planning, organizing and carrying out a
language-teaching programme. It is a book
about applied linguistics. (p. 10)
Dr.Mohhamad Ghazanfari
Applied linguistics

11. 5. The problem-based nature of
applied linguistics
Corder maintains that:
In a broader sense, the applications of a science
have to do with the use that is made of
scientific knowledge to plan and draw up
designs for some practical, everyday activity,
whether it be building bridges, making electric
toasters, brewing beer or mending broken
bones. Language teaching is such an everyday,
practical activity or series of procedures. The
process of planning and designing can be seen
as the making of a series of logically
interrelated and dependent decisions or
choices.
Dr.Mohhamad Ghazanfari
Applied linguistics

12. We can quite properly refer to these decisions as
answers to specific questions, in which case the
process of planning and designing can be
broken down into a series of questions and
answers, or, if we wish to put it another way, a
series of problems and solutions. It is for this
reason that applied linguistics has been called a
problem-based activity. The problems are
solved or the questions are answered according
to the principles or knowledge derived from the
scientific study of the structure of language,
how it is learned and its role in society. (pp.
137-8)
Dr.Mohhamad Ghazanfari
Applied linguistics

13. Similarly, Kaplan (2002, p. 9) states that "the
focus of applied linguistics is on trying to
resolve language-based problems that
people encounter in the real world, whether
they be learners, teachers, supervisors,
academics, lawyers, service providers, . . .
test takers, policy developers, dictionary
makers, or translators."
Kaplan (ibid.) then provides a detailed list of
major language-based problems that
applied linguists typically address, a
shortened form of which follows:
Dr.Mohhamad Ghazanfari
Applied linguistics

14. 6. problems that applied linguists
typically address
• Language learning
problems
• Language teaching
problems
• Literacy problems
• Language contact
problems
• Language inequality
problems
• Language policy and
planning problems
Dr.Mohhamad Ghazanfari
• Language assessment
problems
• Language use
problems
• Language and
technology problems
• Translation and
interpretation
problems
• Language pathology
problems
Applied linguistics

15. "The key point, however, is to recognize
that it is the language-based problems in
the world that drive applied linguistics",
Kaplan goes on. "These problems also
lead applied linguists to use knowledge
from other fields, apart from linguistics,
and thereby impose the interdisciplinarity
that is a defining aspect of the discipline"
(p. 10).
Dr.Mohhamad Ghazanfari
Applied linguistics

16. Elsewhere, Kaplan reminds us that although
applied linguistics recognizes linguistics as a core
knowledge base, it takes advantage of other
disciplinary knowledge besides linguistics to
address language-based problems. He mentions
psychology, education, anthropology, political
science, sociology, measurement, computer
programming, literature, and economics as some
disciplines in which applied linguists are
commonly well trained and draw upon.
Dr.Mohhamad Ghazanfari
Applied linguistics