Applied Linguistics: History, Scope, Applications, and Key Disciplines

This essay provides an overview of applied linguistics, tracing its historical development from its emergence as an independent course to its current multidisciplinary status. It explores the various areas within applied linguistics, including language acquisition, language policy, and multilingualism, and highlights the work of applied linguists in addressing language-based problems in diverse settings. The essay also discusses the relationship between applied linguistics and other language-related disciplines, emphasizing its role as a mediator between theoretical linguistics and practical applications. Furthermore, it examines the evolving nature of applied linguistics in the 21st century, focusing on key areas such as language awareness, critical studies in assessment, and the impact of neurolinguistics. The essay concludes by emphasizing the problem-based nature of applied linguistics and its commitment to solving real-world language issues faced by individuals and communities.

Running head: Applied Linguistics
Applied Linguistics
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1APPLIED LINGUISTICS
INTRODUCTION:
Linguistics refers to the study of languages including the structure of the language, the
diversity of language, how language evolves and changes over time and the way people use
language to communicate with others1. Applied Linguistics deals with the practical issues that
involve language in the life of a community. It refers to the utilization of the insight that is
gained and knowledge that is obtained about the intrinsic nature of language that is achieved
with the help of linguistic research for the enhancement and improvement of the efficiency of
practical tasks wherein language is a key component. Applied Linguistics focuses on
multilingualism, language policy, language education, the conservation and revival of languages
that are becoming endangered and the treatment and assessment of the difficulties of language2.
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW:
Applied Linguistics in North America, was officially recognized for the first time as an
independent course in 1946 at the University of Michigan. In the early days, the word, Applied
Linguistics, was used both in Great Britain and in the United States of America to refer to an
adoption of a scientific approach for teaching foreign languages, including the English language
for those who were nonnative speakers. During the 1950s and 1960s, the usage of the word was
1 Block, David. "Social class in applied linguistics." Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 35
(2015): 1-19.
2 Canale, Michael, and Merrill Swain. "Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to
second language teaching and testing." Applied linguistics 1, no. 1 (1980): 1-47.

2APPLIED LINGUISTICS
broadened gradually to include what was then known as ‘automatic translation’3. The history of
Applied Linguistics goes back to 1948 when the first issue of the journal entitled Language
Learning: A Journal of Applied Linguistics was pubished. At present, the governing board of the
International Association of Applied Linguistics describes Applied Linguistics as a way to
resolve specific problems prevalent in society, in the areas where language plays an important
role. In addition to machine translation and teaching foreign languages, applied linguistics today
include topics such as communication and language problems pertaining to aviation, disorders in
language, medicine, law, science, language planning and policy and literacy and language
issues4.
The Various Areas of Applied Linguistics: Applied Linguistics is multidisciplinary,
autonomous, and helps to solve problems related to language. Applied Linguistics entails
research in language focusing on a wide variety of fields such as language acquisition, language
assessment, lexicography, bilingualism, multilingualism literacy, language policy, discourse
analysis, speech therapy, language minority rights, language teaching, language teacher training,
gender studies, censorship, translation, media studies, lexicography and forensic linguistics,
language and technology and corpus linguistics5.
3 Darvin, Ron, and Bonny Norton. "Identity and a model of investment in applied linguistics."
Annual review of applied linguistics 35 (2015): 36-56.
4 Davis, Kathryn A. "Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research." Tesol
Quarterly 29, no. 3 (1995): 427-453.
5 Davies, Alan, and Catherine Elder, eds. The handbook of applied linguistics. John Wiley &
Sons, 2008.

3APPLIED LINGUISTICS
The Work of Applied Linguists: Applied Linguists help legislators and planners of
various countries in developing and implementing a language policy, or help groups to develop
materials, scripts for languages that were previously unwritten, like the indigenous languages of
Papua New Guinea. Applied Linguists also help in developing effective programs to aid adult
newcomers to the United States of America and several other countries, many of whom have
limited education, to develop literacy in the languages that they will need to survive and also for
occupational purposes. Applied linguists also focus on the role that the mother tongue plays in
educating students, who are linguistically and culturally diverse, the language of politics and
persuasion and in developing programs and effective tools for translation and interpretation and
evaluation and testing of language. Applied Linguists aims at solving language-based problems,
which are encountered by individuals, whether they are learners, supervisors, teachers,
academics, service providers, lawyers, those in dire need of social services, policy developers,
test takers, translators, dictionary makers and business clients6.
Schools and Organizations that promote Applied Linguistics: In the United
Kingdom, the very first school teaching applied linguistics opened at the University of
Edinburgh in 1957 and Ian Catford was its Head. In the United States of America, an educational
organization, which was non-profit in nature called the Centre for Applied Linguistics, was
founded in 1959 and Charles Ferguson was its very first director. The mission of Centre for
Applied Linguistics include the promotion of the study of languages and assisting people in
attaining their occupational, educational and a plethora of social goals by effective
6 Housen, Alex, and Folkert Kuiken. "Complexity, accuracy, and fluency in second language
acquisition." Applied linguistics 30, no. 4 (2009): 461-473.

4APPLIED LINGUISTICS
communication. The organization, Centre for Applied Linguistics ensures that their mission is
carried out by collecting information and disseminating information. The organization also
undertakes practical research, develops materials, and provides training to educators,
administrators, teachers or other individuals specializing in human resources to use these in order
to mitigate barriers, which limited proficiency in language poses for linguistically, and culturally
diverse individuals, as they look for effective and full participation in occupational and
educational opportunities. In addition to the International Association of Applied Linguistics
there are other major national organizations and associations of applied linguistics like the
American Association for Applied Linguistics and the British Association for Applied
Linguistics. The various work of applied linguistics is described and presented in publications
like the journal entitled Applied Linguistics and the Annual Review of Applied Linguistics7.
Relationship between Applied Linguistics and other Language related
Disciplines: Applied Linguistics consists of a mediating and an intermediary position between
various disciplines that are all related to language such as linguistics, sociolinguistics and
psycholinguistics and professional practices. Applied Linguistics uses principles and theories
from various disciplines related to language in order to comprehend issues related to language
and to solve problems related to language8. Applied Linguists undertakes research on
7 Davis, Kathryn A. "Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research." Tesol
Quarterly 29, no. 3 (1995): 427-453.
8 Housen, Alex, and Folkert Kuiken. "Complexity, accuracy, and fluency in second language
acquisition." Applied linguistics 30, no. 4 (2009): 461-473.

5APPLIED LINGUISTICS
professional practices and develops theories based on the results of the research that has been
conducted.
Applied Linguistics as a Twenty First Century Discipline: At the start of the 1990s,
applied linguistics, in addition to linguistics began to incorporate anthropology, education,
modern languages, English studies that includes rhetoric, literary studies, composition, policy
studies, psychology, political sciences, sociology and public administration. Under applied
linguistics, research in language learning, research in language teaching, is now placing
importance on language awareness, learning and attention, content-based learning, task-based
learning and teacher as a researcher. Language learning research has shifted its focus to
information processing, the awareness of the way that language is used and the purpose it
serves9. Language teacher development has also undergone a change with an emphasis to engage
teachers in the practices of action research. A second emphasis amongst applied linguists is the
role that critical studies play in language assessment. A third emphasis in applied linguistics
research is on the use of language in academic, professional and disciplinary settings. A fourth
emphasis in applied linguistics research focuses on descriptive analysis of language in settings
that are real in nature and application of analysis in corpus linguistics, genre variation and
register variation. A fifth emphasis in research on applied linguistics tackle multilingualism and
interaction that is bilingual in nature, in schools, community, in work and at professional settings
or issues of policies at national and regional levels. Since most people of the world are bilingual
9 Kubanyiova, Magdalena, and Anne Feryok. "Language teacher cognition in applied linguistics
research: Revisiting the territory, redrawing the boundaries, reclaiming the relevance." The
Modern Language Journal 99, no. 3 (2015): 435-449.

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in nature and since this bilingualism necessitates the requirement to discuss life situations with
other language and cultural groups, this field of research is particularly integral to the concerns
of applied linguistics. A sixth emphasis in research on applied linguistics focuses on the
changing nature of discussion in assessment and language testing. A greater emphasis is now
being given to formative assessment or assessment for learning. A seventh emphasis in applied
linguistic research focuses on the perspectives and resources that are provided by
neurolinguistics, brain studies that are associated with language use and language learning. The
impact of literacy learning in various languages, the impact of literacy training and training with
people who suffer from language disability disorders has increased in recent years10.
The Problem-based Nature of Applied Linguistics: Applied Linguistics aims to solve
problems related to language that people face in the world whether they are employers,
dictionary makers, academics, lawyers, policy developers, learners, service providers,
supervisors, policy developers, teachers, those who require social services, test takers, business
clients and translators11. The major problems of language that individuals face in the world,
which applied linguists addresses include the following12:
10 Kubanyiova, Magdalena, and Anne Feryok. "Language teacher cognition in applied linguistics
research: Revisiting the territory, redrawing the boundaries, reclaiming the relevance." The
Modern Language Journal 99, no. 3 (2015): 435-449.
11 Kubota, Ryuko. "The multi/plural turn, postcolonial theory, and neoliberal multiculturalism:
Complicities and implications for applied linguistics." Applied Linguistics 37, no. 4 (2014): 474-
494.

7APPLIED LINGUISTICS
1.Problems regarding language assessment, such as validity, usability, reliability, fairness and
responsibility.
2. Problems pertaining to language contact which includes bilingualism, shift, loss, spread, and
maintenance, cultural and social interactions.
3. Problems arising due to language inequality such as ethnicity, region, class, age and gender
related problems.
4.Problems pertaining to learning languages that includes the emergence of various skills,
context, rules, awareness, use, automaticity, attitudes and expertise.
5. Problems pertaining to language pathology such as aphasias, physical abilities and dyslexia.
6. Problems related to language policy and planning which includes status planning, acquisition
planning, corpus planning, multilingualism, ecology of language and political factors.
7. Problems pertaining to teaching language such as resources, training, interaction, practice,
contexts, use, understanding, motivations, outcomes and inequalities.
8.Problems pertaining to technology and language, which includes learning, access, assessment
and use.
9. Problems related to language translation that includes access, technologies and effectiveness.
10. Problems related to the use of language such as dialects, discourse communities, registers,
gate keeping situations and restricted access to resources and services.
12 Laufer, Batia. "The development of passive and active vocabulary in a second language: same
or different?." Applied linguistics 19, no. 2 (1998): 255-271.

8APPLIED LINGUISTICS
11.Literacy problems that includes orthography development, resource development, new scripts
and learning issues.
The Various Disciplinary Characteristics of Applied Linguistics: The plethora of
disciplinary characteristics of Applied Linguists is as follows:
1. Applied Linguistics has the markings of academic disciplines
2. Applied Linguistics realizes the fact that linguistics should be included like a main knowledge
base in the work and training of applied linguistics.
3. Applied linguistics focus on problems related to language and issues that individuals face in
the real world regarding language use, multilingualism and language contact, language policies,
teaching and learning languages and language evaluation.
4. Applied linguistics incorporates disciplinary knowledge other than linguistics in its efforts to
tackle language related problems.
5. Applied Linguistics is an interdisciplinary field.
6. Applied linguistics includes a main set of practices and issues whose work is carried out by
applied linguists.
7. Applied Linguists includes a plethora of sub-fields like corpus linguistics, language testing,
forensic linguistics, language planning and policy, lexicography, interpretation and translation.

9APPLIED LINGUISTICS
8. Applied Linguistics has a wide definition and tends to includes issues in language-related
fields such as composition studies in first language, literacy research in first language, language
pathology and language processing13.
CONCLUSION:
Applied Linguistics is primarily interdisciplinary in nature. Since the resolution of
problems, pertaining to language is complex, dynamic and difficult, applied linguistics should
seek collaborative research and partnership if the language related problems are to be mitigated
and removed effectively.
13 Rampton, Ben. "Politics and change in research in applied linguistics." Applied linguistics 16,
no. 2 (1995): 233-256.

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11APPLIED LINGUISTICS
REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Block, David. "Social class in applied linguistics." Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 35
(2015): 1-19.
Canale, Michael, and Merrill Swain. "Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second
language teaching and testing." Applied linguistics 1, no. 1 (1980): 1-47.
Darvin, Ron, and Bonny Norton. "Identity and a model of investment in applied linguistics."
Annual review of applied linguistics 35 (2015): 36-56.
Davies, Alan, and Catherine Elder, eds. The handbook of applied linguistics. John Wiley & Sons,
2008.
Davis, Kathryn A. "Qualitative theory and methods in applied linguistics research." Tesol
Quarterly 29, no. 3 (1995): 427-453.
Dörnyei, Zoltán. Applied Linguistics. Oxford University Press, 2015.
Housen, Alex, and Folkert Kuiken. "Complexity, accuracy, and fluency in second language
acquisition." Applied linguistics 30, no. 4 (2009): 461-473.
Kramsch, Claire. "Applied linguistics: A theory of the practice." Applied linguistics 36, no. 4
(2015): 454-465.
Kubanyiova, Magdalena, and Anne Feryok. "Language teacher cognition in applied linguistics
research: Revisiting the territory, redrawing the boundaries, reclaiming the relevance." The
Modern Language Journal 99, no. 3 (2015): 435-449.
Kubota, Ryuko. "The multi/plural turn, postcolonial theory, and neoliberal multiculturalism:
Complicities and implications for applied linguistics." Applied Linguistics 37, no. 4 (2014): 474-
494.