Applied linguistics is a complex field with varying definitions, emphasizing its role as a mediator between theoretical linguistics and practical language applications across many domains. The field has evolved significantly since its origins in 1948, expanding to include areas like second language acquisition, language policy, and discourse analysis. Key subfields include clinical linguistics, forensic linguistics, and computational linguistics, each addressing unique real-world language-related challenges.

1. APPLIED
LINGUISTICS

2. What is Applied Linguistics?
(Definitions)
■ Applied linguistics is not easy to define.
■ In fact, those who practice applied linguistics do not agree upon a
certain definition.
■ The definition problem is due to the lack of agreement on what is
that to be applied?

3. Widdowson (1998, 2000,
2004, 2005)
He has argued over a decade that applied linguistics is not an
interdisciplinary discipline as much as a mediating field or
domain between the theoretical plane of linguistics and
language knowledge on the one hand and its applications to
problems that arise in a number of real-world settings.

4. Corder 1974
He defined applied linguistics as “the utilization 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.”

5. Cook (2005, 2006)
 Cook agrees with Widdowson 2005 ‘the task of applied
linguistics is to mediate’ between linguistics and language
use.
 In 2006 Cook supposed that applied linguistics means
many things to many people.

6. Spolsky (2005)
He defined the discipline by looking at the professionals
involved in its study “Applied Linguistics [is now] a cover term
for a sizeable group of semi-autonomous disciplines, each
dividing its parentage and allegiances between the formal
study of language and other relevant fields, and each working
to develop its own methodologies and principles”.

7. Development of Applied
Linguistics
1948 1950s 1960s
1970s 1980s 1990s

8. 1948
■ A realistic history of the field of applied linguistics would place its origins at around
the year 1948 with the publication of the first issue of the journal Language
Learning: A Journal of Applied Linguistics (cf. Davies, 1999; Kaplan, elsewhere in
this volume). Although there are certainly other possible starting points,
particularly from a British perspective, this dating still accords roughly with most
discussions of the beginning of applied linguistics.

9. 1950
■ Over the years, the term applied linguistics has been defined and interpreted in a
number of different ways. In the 1950s, the term was commonly meant to reflect
the insights of structural and functional linguists that could be applied directly to
second language teaching, first language (L1) literacy and language arts issues as
well.

10. 1960
■ In the 1960s, the term broadened to cover matters of language assessment,
language policies, and the new field of second language acquisition (SLA), focusing
on learning, rather than on teaching (Ortega, 2009).

11. 1970
■ In the 1970s, the field of applied linguistics was accompanied by more overt
specification of its role as a discipline that addresses real-world language-based
problems such as language assessment, SLA, L2 literacy, multilingualism,
language-minority rights, language policy and planning, and language teacher
training (Kaplan, 1980; Widdowson, 1979/1984). Although the focus on language
teaching remained central to the discipline.

12. 1980
■ In the 1980s, applied linguistics truly extended in a systematic way to encompass
language assessment, language policy and planning, language use issues in
professional settings, translation, lexicography, bilingualism and multilingualism,
language and technology, and corpus linguistics.

13. 1990
■ By the beginning of the 1990s, a common trend was emerging to view applied
linguistics as incorporating many subfields and drawing on many supporting
disciplines in addition to linguistics (e.g., anthropology; education; English studies;
modern languages; policy studies; political sciences; psychology; public
administration; and sociology). Combined with these two foundations (subfields
and supporting disciplines) was the view of applied linguistics as problem driven
and real-world based rather than theory driven and disconnected from real
language use data (Davies, 1999; Kaplan and Widdowson, 1992; Strevens, 1992).

14. Applied
Linguistics
Domains
Language Policy and Planning
Lexicography
Clinical linguistics
Forensic Linguistics
Second Language Acquisition (SLA)
Bilingualism
Discourse analysis
Translation and interpreting
Computational linguistics
Literacy
Pragmatics

15. Language Policy and Planning (LPP)
■ is defined as large-scale national planning, usually undertaken by governments,
meant to influence, if not change, ways of speaking or literacy practices within a
society (Baldauf, 2006 [5]). The modern history of this discipline can be described
in terms of three main stages (Ricento 2000): (i) the language problems of newly
independent states could be solved via the implementation of rational and
systematic procedures; (ii) a more critical and reflexive appreciation of the role that
language and linguists play in society; and (iii) a growing sense that LPP needs to
be reconstituted as a multidisciplinary and politicized approach, since the issues it
grapples with are complex and represent interests that can pervade multiple levels
of social life, ranging from the individual to the state and across state boundaries
as well.

16. Lexicography
■ is an area of applied linguistics that focuses on the compilation of dictionaries
(practical lexicography) as well as on the description of the various types of
relations found in the lexicon (theoretical lexicography). It is the science concerned
with the theory and practice of dictionaries. Historians generally agree that the first
dictionaries can be traced back to the explanations of difficult words inserted into
Latin manuscripts in the middle ages.

17. Clinical linguistics
■ involves the study of how language and communication may be impaired. In its
most applied sense it focuses on the use of linguistics to describe, analyze, assess,
diagnose and treat communication disorders (e.g. Crystal 1981). A major
milestone in putting the study and treatment of communication disorders on a
more scientific footing, based on the discipline of linguistics, was Roman Jakobson
in 1941.

18. Forensic Linguistics
■ is "the field of the provision of linguistic evidence" which includes phonetic,
syntactic, lexical, handwriting, discourse and sociolinguistic analyses (J. Gibbons).
Linguists with specialisms ranging from phonetics to pragmatics can perform
tasks as fundamental as informing decisions about whether an illegal activity has
occurred. Forensic linguistics is so new and diverse that its history is still being
written.

19. Second Language Acquisition (SLA)
■ This field is a branch of applied linguistics that has a history extending over half a
century. It investigates the human capacity to learn additional languages during
late childhood, adolescence, or adulthood, once the first language have been
acquired. SLA shares its interest in explaining human language development with
two other fields. These are Bilingual First Language Acquisition (BFLA), and First
Language Acquisition (FLA).

20. Bilingualism
■ is ‘the ability of societies, institutions, groups and individuals to engage, on a
regular basis, with more than one language in their day-to-day lives’ (European
Commission 2007: 6). The relationship between multilingualism and applied
linguistics is that research in applied linguistics deals with real-world problems
related to language, and while multilingualism is not a problem in itself but a
traditional monolingual view has seen multilingualism as a problem (Auer and Li
2007). Multilingualism is related to many areas of applied linguistics including
cognitive issues and socioeducational issues.

21. Discourse analysis
■ Discourse can be defined as a stretch of language in use, of any length and in any
mode, which achieves meaning and coherence for those involved. Discourse
analysis can be defined as the use and development of theories and methods
which elucidate how this meaning and coherence is achieved. Applied linguistics
discourse analysts have espoused and also developed a wide range of approaches
to language beyond linguistics. These have included pragmatics, schema theory,
conversation analysis, ethnography, semiotics, multimodal analysis, literary theory,
rhetoric, genre analysis, and social theory

22. Translation and interpreting
■ are forms of linguistic mediation that involve rendering written or oral text from
one language to another. As language-based activities that have practical
implications, they are often seen as falling within the remit of applied linguistics.
The academic study of translation and interpreting dates back only to the middle
of the twentieth century

23. Computational linguistics
■ is a field ranges between linguistics and computer science with the help of
psychology and logic. It uses computers to simplify treating with linguistic issues
(McGuigan, 2006). Computational linguistics is still considered a new field.
Researchers of C.L. are divided into two teams: One of them apply their experience
in computer science to linguistics showing people what they should know in order
to understand a natural language, how they find this knowledge and how they
should use this knowledge. The second apply their experience in linguistics to
computer science so that computers can understand everyday human language
and translation. They also deal with computers linguistically under the name of
natural language processing NLP (Wintner, 2004).

24. literacy
■ The term literacy in its narrowest sense is “the ability to read and write”. Literacy in
the broad interpretation, on the other hand, examines the deployment of literacy
practices in society, and has its origins in sociology and anthropology. Literacy
comes under the remit of applied linguistics as it represent some of the more
recent shifts that have moved away from an emphasis on so-called ‘problems’ and
towards an understanding that all language and literacy practices are situated
within particular social, historical, political contexts and are therefore potential
resources which might be differentially valued and supported depending on
situation, place, audience, and goals.

25. Pragmatics
■ Pragmatics is the study of language use and its object is meaning in use.
Pragmatics theories can be used in analyzing language problems and therefor it
can be used as a tool in applied linguistics researches.