ENG 327

A SURVEY OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS

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LECTURE NOTES
26th January, 2023

Applied Linguistics is an area of linguistics interested in practical applications of

language studies, for instance, language teaching, translation, and speech therapy.
According to Babatunde (2002), applied linguistics is a field of study that glances at
how linguistics can help comprehend real-life problems. According to Schmitt and
Celce-Murcia (2002:1): Applied Linguistics studies how a language is comprehended
and how it is utilized to acquire some purpose or solve some language-related
problems in the real world. According to them, the primary interests of Applied
Linguistics have been second language acquisition theory, second language
pedagogy and the interface between the two.

In the words of Davis and Elder (2006:11), Applied Linguistics is a coherent

recreation that deduces speculative and empirical investigations of real world
problems in which language is a central issue. Brumfit (1977:93) has a similar
opinion and he sees Applied Linguistics as the theoretical and empirical investigation
of real world problems in which language is a fundamental issue.

Applied linguistics is a particular field of linguistic investigation that not only studies
linguistics in a theoretical manner, but also evaluates how language has an actual
effect on society and on people’s lives. This type of study can be conducted and
utilized in several different ways and may exist side-by-side with research in some
related fields such as sociology, psychology, communications, and multicultural
studies. Applied linguistics examines human language or languages, and applies the
understanding of human thought and behaviour gained through such investigation
to real-world problems and applications that can be utilized in different ways.

One of the primary manners in which applied linguistics differs from other linguistic
domains is that the information gained through research can be relevant to other
disciplines. A linguistic student might, for instance, study how different language
sounds and differences that have developed in a language over hundreds of years.
While this may be useful for a greater understanding of linguistic evolution, it may
not necessarily have a direct use for someone in another field or practical linguistic
awareness.

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13th April, 2023

ESP in Applied Linguistics is an approach that takes particular significance or

importance in both academic and professional context (postgraduate students are
mostly the ones who partake in learning ESP).

Stages involved in ESP (English for Specific Purposes)

1. Needs Analysis: This analysis focuses on the EFL countries like China, Benin
Republic, Malaysia, Japan and all Arabian counties. ESP is not in use in outer
and inner circle but it is used in the expanding circle.
At this stage, people collect report but at the point of entrance, there
will be a pre-test, they know the purpose of ESP which people use primarily
for occupational purpose, e.g. Germany, where their first language is German,
medium of instruction in schools is through their national language (German)
but they need English to cater for other needs especially for those going out
of their country or domain to work or live. Hence, they go to Immersion
Centres to learn English and the first thing they do is answer a structured
interview or questionnaire to provide data for the purpose of their notice for
learning English.
These structured interviews, questionnaire, observations (non-verbal
communication) of needs analysis focuses on the motive of the learners, i.e.
the purpose of learning English Language. To also know the level they are or
the level they want to learn the language to.
2. Syllabus Development: At this stage, a tutor, after collecting data in needs
analysis then uses this data to develop a syllabus. Here, one doesn’t need a
method of teaching but on the needs of the learner. Also, the teacher would
decide the register to use for the learner based on their motive or purpose for
learning the language (English), e.g. engineering, for example, words like
‘cable, electrolyte, transmission, wire, rod, construction,’ etc. would be used
regarding the context of the motive of the learner. Also, for people learning
English for Business Purpose, words like ‘money, ledger, receipt, transaction,
invoice, profit and loss, bank, account, etc.’ are used as registers for teaching
the learners. Therefore, wrong registers must not be used as syllabus for a
particular context, e.g. scientific register should not be used in humanity
context.
3. Material Production: Under this stage, we have to go back to our needs
analysis to come up with our materials. We use only ‘authentic materials’ in
ESP; these materials are context-dependent, e.g. creating a syllabus for
Indian students and coming up with registers regarding cows, beef, elephant
and other animals or entity they portray as god may create a psychological
tension for the Indian student because they may perceive it as an indirect
way of abusing their god. So, a teacher must always come up with authentic
material which can be projected in the class through a projector.
4. Main Teaching and Learning: Here, the teacher would use already
developed ‘authentic’ materials to teach the audience while they learn.
5. Evaluation: There are 2 parts here mainly for teachers.
i. Formative Part: Here, the teacher would test whether all the materials,
styles, methods of teaching are effective on the parts of the learner. The

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 teacher would also check if a particular way is to be used consistently after it
was effective in teaching the students. Assignment, group assignments or
projects, mini games, movie projection and other forms of teaching can be
used to further elaborate and emphasize on the teacher’s authentic materials,
because students in most cases cannot learn without these materials that
would be related to their course of learning.
This formative part is basically where a trainer evaluates him/herself to
know whether his or her teaching has been effective. If the teaching is not
effective, the techniques are then changed. A teacher revamps to achieve the
objective of learning.
ii. Summative Part: Here is where the teacher would have their overall result
through testing and examination. At this point, a teacher goes back to do a
‘post-testing’, and this post-test is done the same way a pre-test is done. The
trainer checks whether a particular student has improved from a level to a
higher level or hasn’t learned anything at all. The teacher is going to use the
same materials and questions as an ESP teacher to know the level of their
learner. In a situation whereby a learner doesn’t achieve anything, the learner
is asked to retake the class, whereby new methods and techniques of
teaching are employed for better understanding for the learner (since a
refund cannot be done).

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CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS
Contrastive analysis is the study and comparison of two languages. For example, this
can be comparing English with your first language. This is done by looking at the
structural similarities and differences of the studied languages.

There are two central goals to contrastive analysis; the first is to designate the inter-
relationships of languages to create a linguistic family tree. The second purpose is to
care for second language acquisition.

Research studies into contrastive analysis began with Robert Lado’s 1957 book,
“Linguistics Across Culture.” Its central doctrines and other observations on second
language acquisition became increasingly influential in the 1960s and 70s. It built
upon ideas set out in linguistic relativity, also known as the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis,
which believed that language structures affect cognitive thinking. This led to the
automatic transfer of one language’s ordinances to another.

The idea of contrastive analysis grew out of observing students learning a second
language. Each student or group of students cultivated to repeat the same linguistic
mistakes as previous groups. This turned into an assumption that the mistakes were
caused by the student’s first language interfering with the second. This interference
happened because the student applied the first language’s rules to the second
language, much in the same way children apply the rules of regular words to
irregular ones.

Contrastive Analysis arose from structural linguistics and, though largely focusing on
phonological, lexical and structural features, was used to predict error - error being

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seen as a matter of first language (L1) interference. Later work on error analysis by
linguists such as Pit Corder (1981) showed that this view was too simplistic. There
were other reasons for error, for example overgeneralisation, which were
unconnected to the L1, and transfer between languages could be positive as well as
negative.

C.A. determines the areas of difficulty a particular foreign language will present for
native speakers of another language by systematically comparing the two languages
and cultures. Where the two languages and cultures are similar, learning difficulties
will not be predicted, where they are different, then learning difficulties are to be
expected, and the greater the difference, the greater the degree of expected
problems. This has noticeable significances for course design and lesson planning. If
we know where important differences between our learners' L1 and the target
language lie, then we can plan our courses so that more time is spent on these and
less on those that the learners will find easier.

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Computer-Assisted Language Learning

Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is a method of teaching and learning

foreign or second languages in which computer-based resources and information
technology are used to explain, reinforce and evaluate the material to be learned.

Using CALL language teachers can help their students enclose more vocabulary and
grammar by having them watch videos, play computer games, or even navigate the
internet using only their target language. It also enables students to use that target
language in a more active way, which helps them learn it more naturally than just
rote memorization. The words and rules of the language become something more
useful to the learners.

Stages Involved in CALL

1. Behavioristic CALL
This is regarded as a sub-component of the broader domain of computer-
assisted teaching. Informed by the behaviourist learning model, this mode of
CALL featured repetitive language drills, referred to as drill-and-practice (or,
pejoratively, as "drill-and-kill"). In this paradigm, especially popular in the
United States, the computer was viewed as a mechanical tutor which never
grew tired or judgmental and allowed students to work at an individual speed.
Though behaviourist CALL eventually gravitated to the personal computer, it
was first designed and implemented in the era of the mainframe. The best-
known tutorial system, PLATO, ran on its special hardware consisting of a
central computer and terminals and featured extensive drills, grammatical
explanations, and translation tests at various intervals (Ahmad, Corbett,
Rogers, & Sussex, 1985).

2. Communicative Approach to Language Teaching

The next stage is the communicative CALL which materialized in the late
1970s and early 1980s, when the behaviouristic approaches were being

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 rejected at both the theoretical and pedagogical level, and when new
personal computers were creating greater possibilities for individual work. At
this point proponents of communicative CALL stressed that computer-
based activities should focus more on using forms than on the forms
themselves, teach grammar implicitly allow, and motivate students to
generate original utterances rather than just manipulate prefabricated
language, and use the target language predominantly or even exclusively
(Jones & Fortescue, 1987; Phillips, 1987; Underwood, 1984).

Communicative CALL corresponded to cognitive theories which emphasized

that learning is a cycle of discovery, manifestation, and expansion. Popular
CALL software developed in this period included: text reconstruction programs
(which allowed students working alone or in groups to rearrange words and
texts to discover patterns of language and meaning) and simulations (which
stimulated discussion and discovery among students working in pairs or
groups). For many proponents of communicative CALL, the focus was not so
much on what students did with the machine, but rather what they with each
other while working at the computer.

3. Integrative CALL
As teachers moved away from a cognitive view of communicative teaching to
a more social or socio-cognitive view, they positioned more priority on
language use in an authentic social context. Integrate all the language skills:
listening, speaking, reading and writing.

If the mainframe was the technology of behaviouristic CALL, and the PC the
technology of communicative CALL, the multimedia networked computer is
the technology of integrative CALL. The multimedia networked computer--
with a range of informational, communicative, and publishing tools is now
potentially at the fingertips of every student--provides not only the
possibilities for much more integrated uses of technology, but also the
imperative for such use, as learning to read, write, and communicate via
computer or mobile phone has become an integral attribute of modern life in
the world.

ERROR ANALYSIS
According to Basambo (2019), “Error Analysis, used in second language analysis,
investigates the errors that learners produce in their spoken and written language.”
It also studies the various classifications of errors and why they were made. Error
analysis was developed in the 1960´s as an alternative and preferred method to
contrastive analysis, which examines the differences between the learner´s first
language and the target language, as well as a prognosis of errors that would
happen (Ellis & Barkhuizen 2005: 52).

To conduct an error analysis, the examiner has to make a clear definition of error,
like the one defined by Lennon (1991: 182): “A linguistic form or combination of
forms which, in the same context and under similar conditions of production, would
in all likelihood, not be produced by speakers’ native counterparts”.

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Types of Error
i. Omission
ii. Addition
iii. Misinformation, and
iv. Misordering.

i. Omission: This is usually the case of withdrawing the necessary linguistic

elements such as functional words or morphemes.
ii. Addition: It is the case that redundant items/elements are added to the
sentence.
iii. Substitution: It is the use of the wrong element instead of the correct
element (Basambo, 2019).

Stages of Error Analysis

According to Corder (1974), five stages of error analysis were identified: collection of
data containing errors, classification of errors, identification of errors, disclosure of
errors and evaluation of errors.

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