Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field that addresses practical language-related problems in order to improve lives and society. It draws on theories and methods from linguistics as well as other disciplines like education, sociology, and psychology. Applied linguistics aims to identify, analyze, and solve language problems through existing linguistic theories or by developing new frameworks. It focuses on empirically investigating real-world language issues, unlike purely theoretical linguistics. Some key areas of applied linguistics include second language acquisition, literacy, language policy, discourse analysis, and computer-mediated communication.

1. Sungwoo Kim

2.  Real world problem-driven
 Solution-oriented
 Interdisciplinarity/Multidisplinarity

3. “The term 'applied linguistics' refers to a broad range
of activities which involve solving some language-related
problem or addressing some language-related
concern.”
http://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/applied-linguistics

4. “Applied Linguistics itself is an interdisciplinary field of
inquiry that addresses a broad range of language-related
issues in order to improve the lives of individuals and
conditions in society. It draws on a wide range of
theoretical, methodological, and educational approaches
from various disciplines–from the humanities to the
social, cognitive, medical, and natural sciences–as it
develops its own knowledge-base about language, its
users and uses, and their underlying social and material
conditions.” (AAAL)
http://www.aaal.org/content.asp?contentid=133

5. 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 and results of Linguistics or by developing
new theoretical and methodological frameworks in
Linguistics to work on these problems. Applied
Linguistics differs from Linguistics in general mainly
with respect to its explicit orientation towards
practical, everyday problems related to language and
communication.
(http://www.aila.info/about.html)

6.  Linguistics
 Education
 Sociology
 Anthropology
 Computer science
 Cognitive science
 Psychology

7. "Applied linguistics first concerned itself with principles and
practices on the basis of linguistics. In the early days, applied
linguistics was thought as “linguistics-applied” at least from the
outside of the field. In the 1960s, however, applied linguistics
was expanded to include language assessment, language policy,
and second language acquisition. As early as the 1970s, applied
linguistics became a problem-driven field rather than theoretical
linguistics, including the solution of language-related problems
in the real world. By the 1990s, applied linguistics had
broadened including critical studies and multilingualism.
Research in applied linguistics was shifted to "the theoretical
and empirical investigation of real world problems in which
language is a central issue.“
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_linguistics)

8.  Bilingualism and multilingualism
 Computer-mediated communication (CMC)
 Conversation analysis
 Sign linguistics
 Language assessment
 Literacies

9.  Discourse analysis
 Language pedagogy
 Second language acquisition
 Lexicography
 language planning and policy
 Pragmatics
 Forensic linguistics
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_linguistics)

10. What Can You do With a Masters Degree in
Applied Linguistics?
 http://www.salisbury.edu/careerservices/Students/Graduate
Majors/AppliedLinguistics.html

11.  What kind of language-related problems are there?
 Why are they important?
 What are some problems around you?
 Can you think of language-related problems on
campus?

12.  Search “language-related problems” or “language-related
issues” in Google and review first two pages.
 What problems are identified?
 What kinds of problems interest you most?
 How would you solve them?