Applied Linguistics and Language

Teaching Prepared by :Asma AbasKawa Muhammad Joanna IsmaeelHawzhen Rahman

The starting points of any application of linguistics to any of the practical tasks is a description of the language or language involved in the task.

So in language teaching we cannot teach systematically what we cannot describe .

But this does not mean that people do not learn what is not specifically taught.

The ability to describe language by deferent theories still limited but people do succeed to a large extent in learning language .

Practical tasks such as language teaching can be performed either by:

  Following a very detailed and precise set of

instructions about how to proceed, or Applying some set of general principles to

the particular situation.  

But good language teachers do not work by rule of thumb or recipe. They possess a set of principles which guide their work, i.e. some general notions about what is going on when people learn languages, an informal ‘theory’ about how languages are taught and learned.

  Pit Corder calls it ‘informal theory’ because experienced teachers possess such

general principles, but they may not able to formulate them explicitly and clearly in words.

  In brief language teaching is an art rather than a scientific process and proceed

to some extent by try and error.   Language teaching does not only goes on in classroom, as people think, where

the teacher meets face to face with his pupils. While teachers know that being in classroom is only part of their job and teaching also includes: planning lessons, correcting, assessing progress, discussing with colleagues, selecting and perhaps producing textbooks and teaching materials.

 

Language teaching also involves other decision which ever made by the teachers like:

Organizing of the of the educational system in general .

The relative place of language teaching in the curriculum .

The nature of the syllabus and examining system.

Teaching language operation

In such decisions there is a set of wide principles which is wider that that of the specialist teacher : some are of a:

1. Political nature2. Economical =3. Social =4. Pedagogic and methodological .They imply different training and experience

also they will be taken at different levels.

For example : What languages are to be taught in the school system are

political and social . How to present and practice certain aspect of language are

pedagogical and methodological.In planning and implementing of the total language teaching

operation includes different branches of knowledge ,some have to do with :educational policy, educational economics or educational sociology . And some with general pedagogy , but some decision depends upon a knowledge of the nature of the language, how it is learned and its function in society; in another words upon knowledge derived from the scientific study the language in all its aspects

Applied linguistics is concerned with the identification and analysis of a certain class of problems which arise in the setting up and carrying out of language teaching programs, and with the provision of the answers or part of the answers to them.

  But it can not provide all the answers to all the questions.   It is a common experience for a person who possesses special knowledge

in some field to be asked to give his advise on some practical problem to which this knowledge is thought to be relevant. The difficulty he often faces in this situation is that he can not always understand the nature of the problem as explained by the person seeking advice because the latter can not analyze and describe it in the specialist’s terms.

  

Any teaching operation is faced with these three basic problems, whatever the subject:

  The problem facing an untrained teacher are not solved when we have listed

for him the content of syllabus, in any of these terms.  A syllabus is more than a list of items, it is a plan for teaching.  The material selected must be organized in a systematic fashion. This is no

longer a problem of what to teach but part of he problem of when and hoe to teach.

  Finally the material selected and organized into a syllabus must be

presented in such a way that any particular group of learners can best learn from it.

 

In short, the techniques of applied linguistics have to do with the selection of language data and their organization, and presentation in the form of teaching materials.

  These techniques are not independent of each other. Finding a solution to

one problem is a necessary condition for solving another.   Applied linguistics is a set of related activities or techniques mediating

between the various theoretical accounts of human language on the one hand and the practical activities of language teaching on the other.

  The relation between linguistic theory and classroom activities is thus

indirect one.    Language teaching is not the only practical activity in the planning and

implementation of which linguistic knowledge has a part to play. Other practical tasks such as data retrieval, mechanical translation and interpreting also make appeal to linguistic knowledge.

 

All linguistic studies aim at investigate the nature of human language which manifest itself in a myriad of different forms and serves different functions .

To test the validity of his theory ,the linguist must describe different languages .

Describing languages is part of the methodology of constructing theories about language .

To test the theory it is not necessary to make descriptions which aim at comprehensiveness, it is sufficient to make an intensive and detailed descriptions of some restricted aspect of the language . So it is by pressing theory to its limits in description that the adequacy of the theory is assessed .

Description which aim at comprehensiveness cannot readily at the same time pay detailed attention to every aspect of the language .

Description of languages or parts of languages can be made for reasons both Internal and external to linguistics , which involves the use of the categories and relations recognized by the theory .

Description of languages

Internal

Not application of applied linguistics

external

Application of linguistics

So making a description involves the application of theory to data .

What is an adequate theory ? An adequate theory is the one which can

provide a complete and logically coherent analysis of any data to which it is applied .

In the description of language not only criteria of purely structural linguistics ones are involved but also sociological and psychological linguistics .

Referring to one theoretical approach to language alone can rarely if ever solve the practical problem ,and it is a characteristic of applied linguistics.

In language teaching the result of adequate description of language , dialect and of variety of language in the practical activity is as comprehensive and detailed an account of the structure properties .this means description of the mother tongue of the learner , the target language and perhaps any other language that the learner already possess .

The descriptions are the raw material for the next process in applied linguistics in which use is made of linguistic description to solve some problem in the planning of a practical task. this all means the establishing of the content of teaching syllabus he with the techniques used to teach the items .

These procedure are all comparative .selection involve weighing up one thing against another .

Comparing language descriptions is part of linguistics .

The comparison of pairs of languages has a different and practical objective which show in what respect two language s differ from or resemble each other .

Contrastive linguistic studies seek to solve the practical problem of ‘’what is it to have to teach the speaker of language A who is learning language B?’’

Inter-linguistic comparison : comparing two different languages to yield insights which are relevant to the compilation of a syllabus for a particular language teaching programe.

The differences between learning a second language and acquiring the mother tongue :

The learner already possess language as a means of communication ; he knows what communicative functions language performs. this knowledge can have a facilitating effect in the learning of a second language because language in different communities fulfills a similar range of functions .

The differences between the structure properties of the mother tongue and that of the target language may present a learning task .

Contrastive linguistic studies reveal these structural similarities and differences . They provided us with information which is value in determine where the main emphases of teaching should fall , in explaining difficulties when they arise and suggesting ways in which some of the material may be presented, describe and practiced in the classroom .

Error analysis is a closely related descriptive and comparative technique in applied linguistics.

In the course of learning a second language the learner produces many forms which are not those which would be produced by a native speaker of the standard form of the target language.

For a certain period in his learning career many of the incorrect forms will be sufficiently well-established for us to regard the learner as speaking a language of his own, similar in many respects to the target language but nevertheless describable as a distinct form of that language. This language of his will demonstrate certain idiosyncratic characteristics some of which may resemble his mother tongue or some other language which he already knows.

Error analysis

To compare the learner's form of the target language at any particular point in his learning career with the target language;

Gives us information about what part of the target language as prescribed in the syllabus he has already learned, and what still remain for him to learn.

This comparison also provides part of the answer to the question: What does the learner know or not know of the target language?

  Error analysis is an activity in applied linguistics similar to the use of

language tests, chiefly of the diagnostic type. As in the case of contrastive comparisons, it will yield insights into the learner's problems which will suggest ways of presenting and practicing the language in the classroom.

Error analysis is also part of the methodology of psycholinguistic research into the learning of second languages.

It is a first and necessary step towards explaining why learners make errors.

Eventually it may give information about the best sequence which learners of one particular mother tongue should follow in the learning of some particular second language.

This information is of the greatest value in the task of organizing the material in a syllabus for particular language teaching programmes and for making decisions about the best manner to present the material of that language.

Error analysis is relevant to the study of second language learning as an application of linguistics.

As a technique it also has a place in the study of language disorders where it offers answers to the question: what does A still know of his mother tongue?

It provides information which can give differential diagnoses of the disorders and suggest appropriate treatments.

What does the child know so far of the adult target language? In the study of child language acquisition a description of the child's non-adult forms offers an answer to this question.

What is the relation between the idiosyncratic (personal) language of the poet and the standard language? In literary stylistic studies, a description of the poet's deviant grammatical forms provides an answer to this question.

The aphasic, the infant and the poet are regarded as speaking an 'idiosyncratic dialect' which bears some sort of regular relation to the standard adult language. Thus, although these techniques are not normally called 'error analysis' they are fundamentally the same process of comparing two 'languages'.

To prepare a learner behaving appropriately and purposefully in a variety of social situations, the syllabus acquired should be;

The content of the syllabus must reflect the needs and intentions of the learners as far as these can be established.

An appropriate syllabus should contain suitable teaching materials and some account of the nature of the language used in the situation and the purposes for which he is being prepared.

The common core; is the central body of knowledge, or the basic elements of a knowledge of the language which anyone must possess in order to use it for any purpose.

Intra-linguistic comparison: It is a process of making a selection from within the target language itself. As a selection procedure it is a question of weighing up the relative importance of one form against another. As speaker or writer of what is regarded as one and the same language makes a differential use of the repertoire he possesses in different social situations and for different communication purposes. Language demonstrates in this sense great formal variability in use.

language makes a differential use of the repertoire one possesses in different social situations and for different communication purposes, so language demonstrates a great formal variability in use; [distinction between varieties of language]◦ One of the tasks is to discover the dimensions of this variability and to relate the use of

certain forms of the language to certain social characteristics of the situation of language use.

◦ Decisions about the selection of material for the syllabus must be made. ◦ There are certain linguistic forms which occur uniquely in certain situations of language use

or it may be that they occur more of less frequently according to the social nature of the interaction.

The problem of selection is; Determining the relative value to the particular group of learners of

particular linguistic forms (in the light of the situation in which they will use the language and the communicative purposes they will have for the language).

Comparative studies are classified according to pit corder into three types: Linguistic, which is concerned with differences of kind. Intra-linguistic, which is a matter of degree Error analysis, which is concerned with differences of kind. There is no neat one-to-one relationship between description and

comparison for three reasons; They may well in many cases be a combined operation. Description identifies the range of what is there for learning, while

comparison serves to select out of that range what has to be learned in the case of any particular set of learners.

Both processes- description and comparison call into use theoretical and sociolinguistic approaches to language.

There is also no neat one-to-one relationship in the processes of selection, organization and presentation for two reasons;

They are distinct and separate techniques, But at the same time the activities of contrastive comparison and error

analysis give information and insights relevant both to the selection of material for the syllabus, its organization into a structure and its presentation in teaching materials.

The problems of organizing the syllabus or the material to be taught; The task of organizing the syllabus material into some sort of a structure

appears to owe little to theoretical linguistic knowledge. In the grouping, sequencing or staging of a teaching syllabus does not derive

exclusively or to any great extent from structural linguistic theory. There are no theoretical linguistic reasons why one tense should be taught

before another, nor why the singular/plural contrast should be introduced before the definite/indefinite contrast, and so on…

One fact is that some tense forms are morphologically simpler that others and might for that reason be taught earlier is a psycholinguistic reason not a theoretical linguistic one.

Good learning depends on; The material being taught (having some internal structure) Its being coherent and meaningful to the learner. There are different types of associative principles within the

material which are used in syllabus organization that are; Psychological Sociological Linguistic Which one is dominant in any particular language teaching

operation depends very largely on the nature and needs of the learner.

 

Good learning

If one goes back to the history of language teaching one finds that the form of the descriptions of the language being taught was not significantly different from that used in the works of linguistic scholarship or for the enlightenment of an educated general public. where differences existed, they where matters of degree, such as the amount of detail,

e.g. listing of exceptions to rules or the range of coverage or comprehinsiveness,rather than of kind.

-In more recent years, both the form &the content of the descriptions of a language intended for language learners has become distinct from the descriptions used by linguists for linguistic research &exemplication.

   

 

The Grammar- translation method

As a result of the increasing realization that materials of teaching should be adapted to the needs , abilities & strategies of learning of the pupil.

-The descriptions of the target language intended for teaching purposes are called ''pedagogic Grammars''. the term ''grammar'' used for the description of a language including statements about its phonology, semantics,syntax&morphology.

- Then a change has taken place because notions about how language are learned have changed,& the aim was to move from deductive view of language learning to a more inductive one.

 

What then a ''pedagogic Grammar'' in present day language teaching?

  -No one doubts that the learner must internalize the rules of

the target language or to discover the rules for its appropriate use ; but the argument is about the best way of presenting the ''facts of language''.

  In which way one can learn language? -By put a book en titled 'a grammar of French' in to the

hands of the learner? or -By living among the people who speak it? or -By induction from 'un organized' data of every day speech? 

The most important difference between learning a language in this way &learning it in the classroom is that, in the classroom the data has been controlled &structured in way to facilitate the process of discovery,& that the practice in the use of language is directed to or at any moment.

-The data is usually accompanied by descriptions & explanations of the systems & use of language.

-On the other hand the so- called 'grammar-translation method 'in which teaching is consists of the rules of the language &their exemplification followed by practice in applying them.

-For this reason some people prefer to restrict the use of the term to those statements about,&exemplications of, the language which are for the use of teachers rather than learners,& the object is to guide the teacher in the way he is to present the language material to his students.

 

-The area of classroom methodology is that the classroom teacher has a domain of decision making which is peculiarly his own because of his training and his particular knowledge of the characteristics of his pupils. then it will become clear, that no hard &fast line can be drawn between the techniques of producing teaching materials &the techniques of classroom practice.

  -this is because a particular form of presentation

implies a particular classroom methodology &vise versa.

 

we can then see that text books, language laboratory taps, programmed instructional materials, reading texts, visual material are all individually or collectively devises for the presentation of the material selected for the syllabus. They differ from each other, either because:-

-They are intended for different sorts of learners, varying in age,intelligence,maturity or motivation.

-Or because they have been based up on different psycholinguistic interpretations of the process of language learning,or they derive from different pedagogic grammars.

   

What shall we do in order to achieve reliable& consistent results in any practical task?

-In doing so, the knowledge that one had is not enough;one has also to be able to:

1-check that this knowledge has been properly applied. 2-the decisions that made where the right ones. 3-the knowledge appealed to was in fact relevant

&appropriate to the task in hand.  In the case of language teaching the validation of the

techniques of applied linguistics lies in the classroom, measured by the learners progress in learning &his ability to make purposeful use of his knowledge. these are measured by language

measuring individuals in a number of psychological dimentions,such as,intelligence,personality,motivation& perception.

-If a test is to be used to evaluate the adequacy of syllabuses, pedagogic grammars &teaching materials, then it presupposes his existence.

-Thus, language testing is integral part of applied linguistics &making of tests is the last in a series of applied linguistic procedures, since the aim is to evaluate all or any one of these previous activities.

-Language testing is used for other purposes than the evaluation of the techniques of applied linguistics, tests may be used prediction, or for assessing the present knowledge of a learner.

-tests may attempt to discover the problems a learner is facing in learning a language. such tests are diagnostic.

Human language is such a complex phenomenon that scientific enquiries into it have necessarily had to restrict their approaches to one aspect of the problem at a time.

-there is no comprehensive theory about human language. -knowledge of a language can not be explained simply in

terms of grammatical phonological rules or indeed as the ability to speak, read& write.

Language is all things &more -Applied linguistics is an integrative activity; the insights

acquired from the different approaches to the study of language have to be drawn together,reconciled,&used to make the acquisition of a knowledge of a language a more efficient, useful & pleasant task.

conclusion

THANKS