History of applied linguistics

Canterbury tales
Applied linguistics first concerned itself with
principles and practices on the basis of
linguistics. In the early days, applied linguistics
was thought as “linguistics-applied” at least from
the outside of the field. In the 1960s, however,
applied linguistics was expanded to include
language assessment, language policy, and
second language acquisition.
The tradition of applied linguistics established
itself in part as a response to the narrowing of
focus in linguistics with the advent in the late
1950s of generative linguistics, and has
always maintained a socially-accountable role,
demonstrated by its central interest in
language problems.
Although the field of applied linguistics
started from Europe and the United States, the
field rapidly flourished in the international
context.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3ckHlMnAF0
DEFINITION OF DICTIONARY ENTRIES RELATED TO APPLIED
LINGUISTICS by Jack C. Richards
Bilingualism (n)
the use of at least two languages either by an individual or by a
group of speakers, such as the inhabitants of a particular
region or nation. The use of two languages by an individual is
known as individual bilingualism, and the knowledge of two
languages by members of a whole community or the presence
of two languages within a society is called societal
bilingualism. Bilingualism is common in, for example, the
Province of Quebec in Canada where both English and French
are spoken, and parts of Wales, where both Welsh and English
are spoken.
Multilingualism (n)
the use of three or more languages by an individual or by a
group of speakers such as the inhabitants of a particular
region or a nation. Multilingualism is common in, for example,
some countries of West Africa (e.g. Nigeria, Ghana), Malaysia,
Singapore, and Israel.
Language assessment (n)
The assessment objectives, are usually taken into account:
a) Linguistic skills: • Pronunciation • Vocabulary • Grammar •
Spelling • Rules of discourse.
b) Communicative skills: • Listening • Speaking • Reading •
Writing
Also to assess implies not only the degree of accuracy shown
in these aspects of language, but also the efficiency of
performance.
This includes:
Fluency: facility of task performance.
Appropiacy: the right language for each particular
situation.
Coherence: logical development of content.
Rang: a wide choice of structures and lexis available.
Another important decision we have to take is what
the value of each area is, that is to say, how much
emphasis we are going to place on speaking grammar,
or reading comprehension.
Language policy (n)
Decisions made about languages and their uses in
society. Sometimes the term is used only in the narrow
sense of what governments do – through laws,
regulations, court decisions, or other means – to
encourage or discourage the use of particular languages
or to establish the rights of individuals or groups to use
and maintain languages. For example, the US State of
Hawaii has two official languages, Hawaiian and English,
according to its constitution. However, covert policy
favors English in all domains.
Second language (n)
In a broad sense, any language learned after one has learnt
one’s native language. However, when contrasted with
foreign language, the term refers more narrowly to a
language that plays a major role in a particular country or
region though it may not be the first language of many people
who use it. For example, the learning of English by
immigrants in the US or the learning of Catalan by speakers
of Spanish in Catalonia (an autonomous region of Spain) are
cases of second (not foreign) language learning, because
those languages are necessary for survival in those societies.