Applied linguistics:introduction

Facultad de Humanidades

Escuela de Ciencias del LenguajeSeminario de Lingüística Aplicada

Prof. Carlos Mayora

Agosto 2014

introduction

• What is linguistics? What does a linguist do?

• What do you think is applied linguistics? What does an applied linguist do?

DEFINITION

Applied Linguistics

Interdisciplinary Practical

Language-related problems

In most definitions of

You will find these words/terms

DEFINITION

Not theoreticalEmpirical

Usable knowledge

Practical

Real-world

DEFINITION

Social/massCommunication

Language-related problems

Language teaching

Linguistic policySpeech

impairment

DEFINITION

Linguistics

Interdisciplinary

Anthropology

Psychology

Pedagogy

Example

• Curriculum and materials design.

• Resources available, both material and human.

• The linguistic system

• Mental processes involved in learning

Psychology Linguistics

EducationManagement

L2 curriculum design

scope

Real-world language-related problems

• L1 teaching (literacy).• L2 teaching (second and foreign languages).• Language planning and policy.• Language pathology therapy.• Computer-human interactions/automatic

translation.• Forensic linguistics.

Doing applied linguistics

Sources of language-related problems• Migration.• Social inequities.• Speech disorders.• Gender differences.• Economic development.• Globalization/internationalization.• An endless list of social, political and economic

conditions…

Doing applied linguistics

Identify the problem

Ask the right

questions

Measure the

problem

Check sources of information (disciplines).

Answer the questions (propose solution)

Implement the

solution

Assess the results

Example

Country “X” wants to enter the World Trade Organization, but it has a large rate of illiteracy, a fact that may be frown down upon by international organizations. The government of “X” wants an educational program to reduce illiteracy in a short time.

The problem…

Example

1. What percentage of the population is illiterate? What age group?

2. What is reading?3. What is writing?4. What other skills are linked to reading and writing?5. How do adults learn? How does learning in

adulthood differ from learning in childhood?6. What is the deadline?

The right questions…

Example

Measure the problem…

• Collect data about the problem.• Design/Use instruments (surveys,

questionnaires, tests, etc.)• Select a large sample that can be representative.• Get the numbers!

ExampleSources of information…

Learning/teaching Psychology Pedagogy

Reading and writing

Linguistics Psycholinguistics

Population Ethnography Anthropology

Deadline/budget Management Economy

Example

A nation-wide literacy program is designed considering all resources, variables and client needs. It is piloted in a few states and then launched in the whole-country.

The answer…

Example

The literacy program is continuously evaluated through…• Achievement tests.• Surveys of participants’ satisfaction.• Attendance records.• Class observations.Depending on the results, the program is maintained, modified or discarded.

The evaluation…

practice

In small groups of 3 to 4 people, choose one of the problems given and try to apply the process of doing applied linguistics. You will have 1 hour to discuss each of the problem and go through the process. After that, each of your proposals will be discussed as a whole class.

practice

• A Latin-American oil company has signed an agreement with a large British company. Mixed teams will work in several projects but only a few percentage of employees speak English fluently.

• An unknown tribe of aborigines has been “discovered” in South Australia. Linguists have studied their language and come up with a “grammar” of it. The government wants the people of this tribe to be educated and integrated with the rest of the population.

• After a century, an African nation has gained its independence from France. There are about 17 different local languages in the country. Most people speak either his/her native language and French. The new democratic government has to make a decision regarding the official language of the newly-born nation.

• A Korean university wants to project internationally its scientific productivity, but most of its researchers do not speak or write in English.

Model problems

Thanks

Carlos A. Mayora

Junio 2014