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    Applied linguistics course

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    Applied linguistics course

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    11 views36 pages

    Applied Linguistics

    Uploaded by

    bertaniamine7
    Applied linguistics course

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    | eee ($2g0 GilaLull doats ile gis - AxiLmiyl pglall g ciladl agls F+-ONLE+ GSBHEol C2H-F OWE! t-ON.UEt | FORM N +C-OOalE! +£leXRelEl - SIE CHK Sue UNIVERSITE SULTAN MOULAY SLIMANE FACULTE DES LETTRES ET DES SCIENCES HUMAINES - BENI MELLAL EE Studies Opti | Department of English | Semester 5 7 ] | : Linguistics Pr. ELMOUHTARIM | Beni-Mellal Group 2 Module: 30 Applied Linga ties Academic year: 2021 -2022 1 Objectives of the course: The aim of this course is to familiarize students with applied linguistics and some basic concepts related to this field ranging from the branches of applied linguistics, language teaching, language acquisition and language learning. A section is devoted to contrastive analysis, error analysis and interlaguage. A further major section is also devoted to the presentation of theories of learning starting from behaviourism, cognitivism, constructivism and the innateness theory. Content of the course ‘What is Applied Linguistics? Aims of applied linguistics ‘The need for Applied Linguistics ‘The Scope of Applied Linguistics Major branches of applied linguistics Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching: An Overview Language acquisition and language learning Contrastive analysis, error analysis, interlanguage analysis ‘The schools of thought (Theories of Learning) Defining learning Bebaviourism ‘The principles of behaviourism Coguitivism ‘The principles of cognitivism Constructivism Basic concepts of constructivism Principles of constructivism. Innateness theory A view on the basic principles Limitations of Chomsky's theory What is Applied Linguistics? Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field which identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related problems. There are many definitions to this discipline. Kaplan and Widdowson (1992) define applied linguistics as ‘the application of linguistic knowledge to real- world problems ... whenever knowledge about language is used to solve a basic language-related problem, we may say that applied linguisties is being practiced’ According to the International Association of Applied Linguistics, applied linguistics “is an interdisciplinary field of research and practice dealing with practical problems of language and communication that can be identified, analyzed or solved by applying available theories, methods and results of linguistics.” In the same vein Schmitt & Celce-Murcia (2002) put forward that ‘Applied linguistics’ is using what we know about (a) language, (b) how it is learned and (c) how it is used, in order to achieve some purposes or salve some problems in the real world. ‘Wilkins (1999:7) claims that ‘applied linguistics is concerned with increasing understanding of the role of language in human affairs and thereby with providing the knowledge necessary for those who are responsible for taking language-related decisions whether the need for these arises in the classroom, the workplace, the law court, or the laboratory.” Grabe (2002: 9) clarifies that “The focus of applied linguistics is on trying to resolve language- based problems that people encounter in the real world, whether they are leamers, teachers, supervisors, academics, lawyers, service providers, those who need social services, test takers, policy developers, dictionary makers, translators, or a whole range of business clients.” Aims of applied linguistics Applied linguistics focuses on the relationship between theory and practice, using the insights gained from the theory-practice interface for solving language-related problems in a principled way. It is the study of language in order to address real-world concems. For applied linguisties to approach ‘real-world problems in which language is central issue’, those problems must be related to relevant linguistics literature. Therefore, one way of looking at the Tinguistics-applied linguisties relationship is the first being that academic discipline interested in studying generalities of language and looking for abstract idealization, and the second as the practical discipline that bases on that theoretical knowledge to address language-related problems as experienced in the real world (Cook, 2003). This considered, it sounds like applied linguistics is a branch of linguistics, or at best a dependent area of study that is powerless and ineffective on its own. So, linguistics is probably the nearest neighbor of applied linguistics and its main source of inspiration. The need for Applied Linguistics If we see language as a most useful tool for humanity, then, Applied Linguistics is what puts that tool to work. Applied Linguistics helps us identify, investigate, and offer solutions to many language related real-life problems. It is here to help us solve most of the language-based issues we face in life. Apart from simply understanding the intricacies of world languages, this knowledge can be applied to improving communication between people, teaching and learning different languages and contributing to translation activities, assisting in literacy efforts, and treating speech disorders. So, the need for applied linguistics springs from the fact that: The importance of AL lies in the significant role it has in solving language-related problems. 4 ‘Language is crucial to human lives. Without language, most important activities will be inconceivable. Applied linguistics is concerned with this magic tool Throughout history and across the world, people have been using language to communicate. Applied linguistics has a lot of contribution in this respect. ‘In the world there are many rapid changes. These changes affect people, language itself and how it is used. Applied linguistics is always involved in all changes related to language. Hence, people need to investigate and understand the facts of language use, to organize and formalize what they know and to subject their knowledge where the place of language is crucial to rational consideration and critical analysis. The Scope of Applied Linguistics Applied linguistics as a problem-driven area of investigation secks to find solutions to the following intricate situations: 1.A speech therapist sets out to investigate why a four-year-old child has failed to develop normal language skills for a child of that age. 2. A teacher of English as a foreign language wonders why groups of learners sharing the same first language regularly make a particular grammatical mistake that leamers from other language backgrounds do not. 3. An expert witness in a criminal case tries to solve the problem of who exactly instigated a crime, working only with statements made to the police, 4, An advertising copy writer searches for what would be the most effective use of language to target a particular social group in order to sell a product. 5, A literary scholar suspects that an anonymous work was in fact written by a very famous writer and looks for methods of investigating the hypothesis. 6. A group of civil specialists have a task related to standardizing language usage in their country, or deciding major aspects of language planning policy that will affect millions of people. Major branches of applied linguistics ‘The major branches of Applied Linguistics include language teaching and learning, second language acquisition, language pedagogy, language planning and policy, discourse analysis, issues related to translation, contrastive linguistics, conversation analysis, language education, the assessment and treatment of language difficulties, as well as areas of language material development, and teacher education. Here are some axes related to these branches: > Language teaching methodology: applied linguistics seeks to uncover the best teaching methods and techniques using classroom research, > Syllabus and materials design: researchers in this field are concemed with the order and the way in which learning material is presented to leamers. Research in this area is also interested in what type of syllabus to be adopted depending on one’s understanding of how language is structured and how it is leamed. > Language assessment and testing: it is an important area of research into language teaching and learning where the focus is placed on how learners’ ability is assessed. This has always involved the development and implementation of frameworks for describing student's progress in language learning over time. > Language for specific purposes: it examines the characteristics of the different types of language with a view of how to teach leamers to use these specific types in everyday communicative situations. > Second language acquisition: areas of interest here include for instance whether or not there is 4 natural constant order of acquisition across all language leaming situations; the extent to which the acquisition of a second language resemble that of a first language; how language is organized in the minds of those who speak more than one language ete. > Language policy and planning: the way language is controlled at intemational, national and local levels; the role of official languages in national identity; and what language(s) should be used as vehicle(s) of instruction at schools make examples of research interests for language planners and policy makers, » Lexicography: Lexicography is important and an integral part of applied linguistics in second/foreign language learning and teaching at all ages and levels of education. It is concemed with the writing and study of dictionaries for first/second/foreign language education. It also involves mono- bi- and multilingual works and general children’s school, college, and specialised technical dictionaries. > Corpus Linguistics: This is aimed at improving language description and theory. Stubbs (2006) notes that the task of applied linguistics is to assess the relevance of the language description to practical applications. Corpus data are essentially for accuracy in the description of language use and have shown how lexis, grammar and semantics interact. > Discourse analysis and text analysis: This is related to different fields. Each domain of language use makes its discourse and the analysis of language used in a specific field helps to reveal its discourse. Among the examples of discourse, there is the political discourse, the scientific I discourse ete... discourse, the religious discourse, the media discourse, the educ > Forensic linguistics: This is an integral part of applied linguistics. Those who are interested in this field work and analyze statutes (laws), legal procedures, courtroom language, and language used zs evidence in criminal and civil court cases. The legal arena is a fertile area in which to apply linguistic knowledge. Today, the interaction of linguisties and law, also known as forensic linguistics, is a flourishing and a growing area of interest for both linguists and lawyers. > ‘Translation studies: as one of the topics that fall under the general rubric of applied linguistics, translation studies focus on the choices that people make when translating from one language to the other. These choices may vary between achieving loyalty to the original text and achieving naturalness in the target language. So, in addition to important issues in education, language is deeply involved in almost everything else in life, including such areas as law, medicine, advertising, polities, communication, diplomacy, therapy, commerce, religion ete. Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching: An Overview used in the United States in 194] The concept of “applied linguistics” as we know it today was fir as the name of @ course in the English Language Institute at the University of Michigan which was based on applying a “scientific approach” to teaching foreign languages. The work of Charles Fries, and Robert Lado on contrastive linguistics — two closely linked names to the inception of the field “resulted in the journal of Language Learning: A quarterly Journal of Applied Linguistics in 1948. In the 1950s and 1960s, other journals in the field have emerged along with associations like the Jnernational Association for Applied Linguistics, After the Second World War, the growth of the language teaching profession was faced by the lack of knowledge about language and how to teach language for teachers, trainers and supervisors of teachers. This was the challenge that faced applied linguistics. In the 1970s, contrastive linguistics and the psychology of second language leaming were new trends in applied linguistics, People were interested at that time in comparing and contrasting learners’ first and target languages, as well as understanding the processes of acquisition and learning to facilitate the process of additional language learning, Therefore, it is fair to say that the emergence of applied linguistics was mainly motivated by deficiencies in the practice of foreign language teaching and leaming. A discipline like applied linguistics was necessary to go hand in hand with the rapidly growing area of language ‘caching and learning in order to bridge the gap between theoretical findings of linguisties and the Pedagogical practices of the classroom, Widdowson (1979) explains in this regard: “applied linguisties, as 1 conceive of it, is a spectrum of inquiry which extends from theoretical studies of language to classroom practice” (p. 1). B. Spolsky once suggested the term “educational linguistics” rather “than applied linguistics” (cited in Semitz, 2010). Furthermore, Widdowson (1984) holds that applied linguistics is “an area of enquiry bearing on the techniques of language teaching” where the main business “should be the establishing of appropriate concepts or models of anguage in the pedagogic domain” (p. 6). |n fact, language teaching and Jearning, especially the learning and teaching of foreign languages “have always been universally recognised as central to the concerns of applied linguistics. For ‘any people, applied linguistics is the academic study of second language learning and teaching (Groom & Littlemore, 2011, pp. 7-8). Today with the expat ion of the discipline’s scope to include other areas, typical aspects of language education that are stil centrally important to applied 9 linguistics activities include curriculum, syllabus and materials design/evaluation, classroom management, teaching the four skills, limguage testing and learners" assessment, teacher education; et... ‘To sum up, applied linguisties was once focused narrowly on foreign language teaching and learning before undergoing a process of rapid expansion of scope to become the discipline that covers a wide range of practical and theoretical concerns as far as language use in the real world is concerned. However, foreign language pedagogy “remains by far the largest area of research activity in contemporary applied linguistics, and this is likely to remain the case for the foreseeable future” (Groom & Littlemore, 2011, p. 14). Language acquisition and language learning 1, What is language acquisition? Language acquisition is the process whereby children acquire their first language. All humans (without exceptional physical or mental disabilities) have an innate capability to acquire language. Children may acquire one or more first languages. For example, children who grow up in an environment in which only English is spoken and heard will acquire only English as their first language. However, children who grow up in an environment in which both German and English are spoken and heard equally will acquire both German and English as their first languages. “Acquisition occurs passively and unconsciously through implicit learning. In other words, children do not need explicit instruction to lear their first languages, but rather seem to just “pick up” language in the same way they lea to roll over, crawl, and walk. Acquisition (as opposed to leaming) depends on children receiving linguistic input during the critical period. The critical w period is defined as the window of time, up to about the age of twelve or puberty, in which humans can acquire first languages. Children must receive adequate linguistic input including phonology (speech sounds), semantics (vocabulary and meaning), grammar (syntax or word order and ‘morphology or grammatical markers), and pragmatics (use and context) and prosody (intonation, their first languages. If hythm, stress) before the end of the critical period in order t0 acc} linguistic input is not adequate, children will never fully acquire language (as is the case of Genie, ‘an abused and neglected girl who was discovered by authorities in 1970). Language acquisition cannot normally occur after the critical period because the brain becomes “hardwired” to the first language. 2. What is Language Learning? Language leaming, in contrast to language acquisition, is the process whereby humans past the critical period leam second languages. All humans have the ability to Jeam additional languages although, just as with other areas of study like math or science, some people are better at learning second languages than others. Older children and adults may leam one or more second languages. For example, a woman who acquired French as a child and leamed English as an adult would have ‘one first language (French) and one second language (English). Similarly, a man who acquired Japanese as a child and learned English and Spanish as an adult would also have one first language (apanese) but two second languages (English and Spanish). As opposed to acquisition, learning occurs actively and consciously through explicit instruction and education. In other words, older children and adults past the critical period need explicit teaching to leam their second languages. Language learning requires explicit instruction in speaking and hearing additional languages. For example, while children who acquire English as their first language just seem unconsciously and without instruction to “know” that most adjectives precede nouns in English, those same children as adults must be taught that most adjectives follow nouns in Spanish. The brains of first language English speakers have become “hardwired” to innately accept only an adjective-noun pattern; in order to successfully Jean Spanish as a second language, those English speakers must consciously leam the different pattern of noun-adjective. Or rather, second language learners must “retrain” the brain to accept language systems outside the confines of the first language. 3. Language Immersion Language immersion is a second language learning method in which language learners immerse themselves in the target (second) language. For example, Spanish language learners might plan a Spanish immersion experience through an extended vacation to a Spanish-speaking country and communicate only with the Spanish language. Parents who want their children to lean French as @ second language might enroll their children into a school with a Janguage immersion program that teaches all subjects (math, science, social studies) in the French language. The goal of language immersion is to create a linguistic environment that mimics the environment of first language acquisition. The idea behind language immersion is that, if all incoming (auditory) communication is in the target language, then students will eventually be compelled to use the target language for all outgoing (spoken) communication. The outcome of language immersion is language learning, not language acquisition. 4, The possibility of Second Language Acquisiti ‘The theory behind language leaning programs (with Rosetta Stone as the most well-known) is that ‘adults past the critical period can acquire language. Although some older children and adults can seemingly acquire languages in addition to their first, most people must learn second languages. Such language leaming programs fail to take into account that people leam second languages differently from the acquisition of first languages, by ignoring the differences between language acquisition and language learning, While all children before the critical period can innately acquire their first languages, most adults past the critical period must lear second languages through explicit education and instruction. In addition to the problems with the claim of second language acquisition, many language leaming programs also mistakenly claim to teach second languages through language immersion. For example, Rosetta Stone proclaims that its language learning programs help people leam second languages naturally by providing a “completely immersive environment” that recreates on the computer the childhood experience of “speaking instinctively by experiencing the world.” Instant Immersion similarly claims to “immerse learners in authentic dialogue and traditions” through its language learning programs, However, authentic language immersion cannot happen through a computer program. Instead, real language learning through language immersion can only occur when language leamers physically and mentally immerse themselves in a linguistic environment with adequate linguistic input from the target language. Computer software cannot replicate actual linguistic interactions. Conclusion First language acquisition differs from second language learning in that children acquire first languages innately and passively while adults leam second languages actively through explicit education and instruction, Older children and adults past the critical period can successfully learn second languages through language immersion. However, many language learning programs that promise language aequisition through immersion fail to take into account the differences between first language acquisition and second language leaming as well as the necessary linguistic B environment for authentic Ianguage immersion. Nonetheless, language immersion programs can reinforce the learning that language learners gained through explicit second language education and instruction. Contrastive analysis, error analysis, interlanguage analysis Introduction ‘Second language acquisition is one of the pertinent areas for applied linguistics investigations. “Traditionally, the primary concern of applied linguistics has been second language acquisition theory, second language pedagogy and the interface between the two" (Schmitt, & Celce-Muricia, 2010, p. 2). In the early 1970s, contrastive linguistics was considered the most efficient approach to facilitate the process of second language education, Therefore, a number of sub-disciplines have emerged under the umbrella of contrastive linguistics which still until today contribute to our "understanding of the process of second language acquisition, and provide us with knowledge to enhance the practice of additional language education. 1. Contrastive Analysis ‘The Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (henceforth CAH) came to existence when structural linguistics and behavioural psychology were very influential in the sixties with regards to language teaching/learning. “Structuralism assumes that there is a finite structure of a given language that ‘can be documented and compared with another language” (Yang, 1992, p. 134). On the other hand, language under behaviourism is viewed as a system of habits where learning proceeds producing a response to a stimulus and receiving either positive or negative reinforcement. As a consequence, while leaning an additional language, the first language habits will interfere in the process and the focus of teaching should be on where the first and target languages differ. 4 ‘The CAH originated from Lado’s (1957) Linguistics across cultures where he made one of the strongest claims of the hypothesis: “we can predict and describe the patterns that will cause Jifficulty in learning, and those that will not cause difficulty, by comparing systematically the language and culture to be learned with the native language and culture of the student” (Lado, 1957: vii). He adds: In the comparison between native and foreign languages lies the key to ease or difficulty in foreign language learning. We assume that the student who comes in contact with a forcign language will find some features of it quite easy and others extremely difficult. Those elements that are similar to his native language will be easy for him and those elements that are different will be difficult Contrastive analysis (henceforth CA) entails the examination of similarities and differences between languages seeking to provide material for applied disciplines (such 2s translation or language teaching) as well as predicting possible areas of difficulty and error for second/foreign language learners, The analysis and comparison of language entailed by contrastive analysis takes place at different levels (phonology, morphology, syntax, lexis, etc.). The focus is always placed on areas of difference -which equals difficulty- to provide solutions for second/foreign language leaming problems and adopt adequate instructional contents. According to Fries (1945), the most efficient materials for teaching are based on a systematic analysis of the target language features and comparing them to those of the first language. The three main assumptions underlying the strong version of contrastive analysis could be summed up as follows: 3) The main difficulties in learning a new language are caused by interference from the first language, b) These difficulties can be predicted by contrastive analysis, 15 ©) Teaching materials can make use of contrastive analysis to reduce the effects of interference (Richards and Schmidt, 2002, p. 119). The premise of contrastive analysis is simple: through the process of learning an additional language, learners will unavoidably make recourse to their first language. If the two languages are similar, learning becomes easier. What is known as ‘positive transfer’ takes place. If they are different, transfer will occur negatively. Furthermore, it is believed that “the greater the difference between languages, the more difficult they would be to acquire, whereas the more similar, the easier they would be to lear” (Lightbound, 2005, p. 66). At the operational level, contrastive analysis goes through four main steps: 1) writing formal descriptions of the two languages, LI and L2 2) picking forms from the descriptions for contrast, 3) making a contrast of the forms chosen, and 4) making a prediction of difficulty through the contrast. ‘Though contrastive analysis has achieved a great success in explaining language leamers”

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