On the Scope of Applied Linguistics

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On the Scope of Applied Linguistics Hossein Farhady

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On the Scope of Applied Linguistics*

Hossein Farhady

Iran University of Science and Technology

Abstract

Applied Linguistics (AL), a field emerging as an interface of many disciplines, has

been growing in the last few decades. As an area emerged to deal with practical

applications of linguistics to foreign language teaching, AL has moved beyond this

simplistic perspective. AL began as a practical field, moved into a theoretical area,

and is ending up with a philosophical and epistemological framework to explore the

mysteries of human language and its multifaceted implications and applications to

human knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to shed some light on ever-changing

treatment of the concept of AL from different perspectives and offer some guidelines

for language students and researchers.

Introduction

In recent decades, applied linguistics has been a polemic field. Many scholars have

helped clarify the issue. In some cases, clarifications have led to simplifications while

in some other cases intended clarifications have led to complications and sometimes

to confusions. For example, a group of scholars has advocated the idea that AL is

simply the application of the findings of linguistics to practical issues such as

language teaching. Although clear in explanation, this sort of treatment makes the

issue seem simple-minded. Another group, on the other hand, has tried to move well

beyond the simple application of the findings of linguists and to establish a theoretical

framework for the field of applied linguistics. While Corder might be considered the

pioneer for the first school of thinking, Widdowson can be taken as the leader of the

second movement. There is still the third group the followers of which believe that

AL has a philosophical as well as an epistemological underlying.

This paper is intended to address the issues related to all three perspectives, albeit

quite briefly. That is, it will hopefully clarify some of the vague impressions that the

students of language have about AL, and, at the same time, it will present some

unresolved issues in the field. More specifically, the purpose of this paper is twofold.

First, the concept of AL, its past, and its present status will be discussed, and second,

some theoretically farfetched but practically relevant areas of investigation in the field

of AL will be offered.

Historical Background

In order to understand the present status of a concept, a historical review is often

helpful and illuminating. The origin of AL, then, should logically be sought in the

origin of linguistics. Linguistics, as a scientific study of language, is claimed to be a

branch of science. Thus, the root of linguistics should be sought within the framework

of the general development of the science itself.


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What science is and how it started is an intriguing question. Probably, the point of

inception of knowledge and eventually science goes back to the very first problem

that man encountered and tried to solve, no matter how simple or trivial it might have

been. As the problems might have been simple, so might the solutions. However,

simple solutions were accumulated and gradually organized into the complex system

of present science.

But what is science? Of course, explaining the concept of science is not an easy task.

Nor is it necessary in the limited space here. Nevertheless, since an overview of the

history of science would encompass the history and the development of linguistics as

a branch of science, which in turn might lead to a clear picture of the developments in

the field of AL, a brief review seems warranted.

It is fairly certain that Eastern countries such as old China, Iran, and Egypt have made

significant contributions to the development of science at early ages (Foroughi, 1952).

Most of the branches of science today such as astronomy, mathematics, medicine,

architecture, engineering, and even metallurgy and mining are rooted in the scientific

thinking of the people in old Eastern countries. Technological developments such as

the emergence of the alphabet and the printing industry are also rooted in the Eastern

countries. In its broad sense, one could assume that the origin of civilization would go

back to China and the area of Upherats.

There are three distinguishable eras in the history of the development of science and

technology prior to the flourishing era of science in the western countries.

Documents are available from the first era of civilization in Babolonia. Around 2500

BC, people in Babolonia conducted the measures of physical concepts such as length,

time, etc. The conception of mathematics and engineering also goes back to

Babylonians and Summerians. Among different branches of science, geometry and

astronomy developed in that period of time, but due to the mystic nature of

astronomy, it progressed faster than the other branches of science.

The second era of civilization is attributed to Egypt. The discovery of wheels, boats,

and the calendar is also attributed to this era. The field of medicine progressed in

Egypt very fast around 2000 BC as the first recorded medical doctor in the world is

registered in this country.

The third era of civilization started in India. Since Buda and his thinking had

inclinations toward medical sciences, medicine, especially surgery and pathology had

considerable advancements in this era.

After a flourishing period of science in the early ages, there was a period of silence.

During this period, scientific thinking moved, quite secretively and collectively at thesame time, from the Eastern and the far Eastern countries to Greece. In other words,

all channels of civilization and scientific thinking, regardless of their origin, ended up

in Greece. Most of the thoughts, originated in the East, were revitalized in Greece and

this country became the center of the new era in sciences and arts. In fact, the Greek

thinkers inherited many branches of science, albeit in their primitive form. Some of

them were kept as they had been received, some others were improved, and still

others were modified.


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In Greece, most of the previously established areas of science flourished. However,

mythology became very popular which led to the emergence of two religions

orientations called Orphic and Ellusivian mysteries. The first signified the good will

and the second the ill will. From these two beliefs, two major philosophical thoughts

were later developed: the philosophy of naturalism and logicalism in Greece and

Fisagourian mystic philosophy in Italy.

It was around 50 BC that a group of the so-called scientists convened in the city of

MALTIEL and named themselves physiologues. They attempted to establish a kind

of scolastique with the intention of the then unknown principles of philosophy.

From among the participants, those who developed genuine interest in unfolding the

new facts and mysteries were called philosophers. Probably this was the first time

that the term philosophywas coined and philosophers found a disciplinary identity.

The most influential of all philosophers was TALES. Although, he is famous for his

theories in geometry, he did not have much interest in geometry. Rather, he was a

politician as well as a businessman. However, he made a great contribution to the

development of science by rejecting metaphysical beliefs in scientific endeavors.

Philosophers then were supposed to have a comprehensive knowledge of all the

sciences of their times. In fact some of them made significant contributions to the

development of scientific inquiry and gradually gained control over scientific

thinking. For instance, Desecrate started "observations" as a logical method for

science, and Bacon founded methodology. Others tried to establish some other

branches of science and science started to grow in its modern form. Other branches of

science including biology, botany, modern mathematics, and medicine developed very

fast. This rapid expansion of science made it impossible for a single philosopher to

obtain the knowledge about all branches of science in his lifetime. That is, science

was growing too fast for individuals to cope with. Therefore, the philosophers tried to

reduce the responsibility of the philosophy itself and to make philosophy manageablefor a single person by giving chances to other branches of science to grow

independently. Probably, this was the point of conception for different branches of

science at their present forms. One by one, sciences branched out from philosophy

and gradually established themselves as independent fields.

The emergence of different branches of sciences forced scientist to formulate a

framework in which they would follow common principles for the communication of

the ideas among themselves. In other words, the diversity of scientific branches

necessitated commonly accepted definitions for science and scientific concepts.

Among many definitions of science given by different scholars, and in spite of the

differences in opinions, there are some principles upon which most scientists agree.

Some of these principles include:

a) Science is the collection of systematic information.

b) Science is the way of knowing facts.

c) Science is about provable events.

d) Science talks about is not should be.


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These principles are incorporated into a working definition of science given by

August Conte who states that science is a systematic knowledge which is obtained

through a systematic approach about the stable laws.

In order to systematize the growing branches of science, many scholars have

attempted to classify scientific areas. For example, Bacon divided sciences into areas

dealing with memory, thinking and mind. August Conte, on the other hand, dividedsciences into mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, and sociology.

Ampere divided sciences into two major areas. Mathematics area that included

mathematics, physics, natural sciences and life sciences, and spiritual area that dealt

with anthropology and politics. Later, Spencer divided sciences into (a) abstract

sciences including logic and mathematics, (b) semi-abstract sciences, including

mechanic, physics and chemistry, and(c) objective science including astronomy,

geology, biology, psychology and sociology.

However, it was not until Dewey's time around 1850 that the field of linguistics

manifested itself as an independent area of science along with nine other branches.

Regardless of the type of classification, different branches of science is, by nature,

additive. That is, when certain advancements are made in a particular area of science,

people want to benefit from such developments. Therefore, scholars tried to apply the

findings of different sciences to solving everyday problems. Just as sciences were

divers and the findings quite remarkable, so were their applications. After some time,

the applications multiplied and certain groups of scholars devoted their time to

investigate the optimal ways of applying scientific findings to real world activities.

This group of people was later called applied scientists.

Of course, some scholars believe that the applied form of sciences precedes their pure

forms and that science started in its applied form. When centuries Before Christ early

arithmetic was born by Sumerians, geometry and algebra by Babylonians and

Egyptians, medicine in its primitive form by Babylonians and Sumerians, they werenot concerned with the pure form of these sciences. Rather, these sciences were

utilized in the real life and applied for the practical purposes. They needed these

sciences to carry on their daily activities. That is science originated in its applied

form. Sarton (1966) contends that all branches of knowledge may be and are applied

to human needs of various kinds, and this introduces various applications such as

medicine, education, etc. It seems quite natural that in practice the applications have

often preceded their own principles. For instance, early people were obliged to

practice obstetrics and surgery before they paid attention to anatomy or embryology.

In the case of AL, it may also precede linguistics itself because many centuries before

the formulation of linguistics as a branch of scientific inquiry, language existed as a

means of communication among people. Transferring language knowledge from thespeakers of one language to those of another is probably as old as the language itself,

though only 25 centuries of such activities are documented systematically (Kelley,

1969). Back (1970) provides examples from the nineteenth and early twentieth

century which indicate that applications of linguistics were thought of before the term

AL came to be used. For it is a fairly recent term, and at first used specially in

connection with foreign language teaching, at least in the Western Europe and the US.


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Such a cyclic movement, i.e., from applied to pure and then from pure to applied,

exists for other scientific disciplines as well. That is, at first, the scientific principles

are applied to the real world activities intuitively without peoples having much

theoretical knowledge on the area. Then, the processes of application, observation of

the outcomes, and drawing the conclusions thereupon have led to the evolution of a

scientific area. When a discipline is established, the scientific application with

theoretical foundation has started under the name of the applied science of thatdiscipline.

The pioneer in applied sciences, which originated from the application of the findings

of certain branches of science to real world activities, was the emergence of

technology. Technology, defined as a systematic application of knowledge to practical

tasks in industry, dominated the 20th century. Further, with the expansion of the

domain of sciences, the application of various branches of knowledge to practical

problems gave birth to a new counterpart for almost every discipline, i.e., the applied

part of every science. So, applied mathematics, applied physics, applied chemistry,

etc. which shared a similar definition as a systematic application of knowledge in a

particular area to practical tasks in the real world were developed. And so it began.

Applied sciences developed along with the so-called pure sciences. AL was not an

exception. Basically, applied sciences aim at achieving objectives that are outside the

realm of sciences themselves. That is, an applied science is not the science itself.

Nor is it a subsection of that science.

The reason for this discrepancy lies in the fact that the concept of application has

different interpretations. In principle, three types of application can be imagined for

all applied sciences including AL (Back, 1970). The first reason is the application of

the methods, techniques, and results from one branch of science to another in order to

broaden the scope of the field. For example, the findings of linguistics can be used to

improve stylistics, which by itself is neither linguistics nor a branch of linguistics.

The second reason is the application of the findings in one area of science to anotherin order to solve some of the practical problems in that field. As an example, the

application of the findings of second language acquisition research to language

teaching can be mentioned where neither one is linguistics nor branches of linguistics.

And the third reason is the mere application of the findings of a particular area of

science by itself and in itself. For instance, a teacher applies the findings of

linguistics about language to the teaching of language.

Applied Linguistics

As mentioned before, linguistics itself as a scientific area emerged in late 1800s.

Ignoring the unprincipled application of linguistics to real life problems, the

theoretically oriented AL should logically appear after the emergence of linguistics

itself. Unfortunately, from among the three types of applications mentioned above,

only the third type became known as applied linguistics. That is, the application of

the findings of linguistics to language teaching. As Corder (1973) claims,

Applied linguistics is the utilization of the knowledge about the nature of language achieved

by linguistic research for the improvement of the efficiency of some practical tasks in which

language is a central component (p. 4).


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One of the major applications of linguistics to the real world activities has been its

application to the teaching of languages. As with other applied sciences, the history of

language teaching clearly shows the precedence of AL to linguistics, because

linguistics is hardly one hundred years old. In the early days, language teaching was

considered the only area where linguistics could be applied. Of course, the most

salient, observable, and accessible situation in real life setting in which the findings of

linguistics could be readily applied was the teaching of languages in general, and theteaching of foreign languages in particular. That is probably why Corder (1973)

stated some thirty years ago that AL is the relevance of those studies that are broadly

called linguistic to a number of practical tasks connected with language teaching. Of

course, this approach might have been well justified then. However, Corder himself

believed that while the relevance of linguistics to language teaching cannot be

disputed, the approach might be criticized in the grounds that linguistics cannot be

restricted to language teaching alone. However, due to some social and educational

factors, the term AL had been restricted to language teaching.

The idea that AL is, or almost is, interchangeable with language teaching misdirected

the field of AL for some years. The reason is that the scope of AL cannot be limited

to language teaching, because linguistics was one of the fields of which the findings

were applicable to language teaching. There were some other areas of science that

contributed to language teaching as well. Furthermore, there were other areas of

science, which had little or no connections to language teaching, to which linguistics

contributed. That is why even Corder who used the two terms almost

interchangeably, later admitted that these two terms should not be taken as equal. He

stated that

theories about the human language are, of course, of use to other people besides the

language teacher. It would be a mistake to associate AL exclusively with language teaching.

There are other people who are engaged in practical activities which involve language in a

central role for whom a knowledge of its nature could be of use in dealing with problems

which arise in their work: the speech therapist, the literary critic, the communication engineer,for example. We do not associate AL with any single of these activities. Whilst AL and

language teaching may be closely associated, they are not one and the same activity (p. 10).

Although this was a great contribution to the development and expansion of the scope

of AL, it was not comprehensive enough to elaborate on the yet to come multiple

aspects of AL. When AL established itself as an area of inquiry in relation to

linguistics on the one hand, and independent of linguistics, on the other, an interesting

issue evolved. To some scholars, AL was simply the application of linguistics to

practical issues. That is, AL is practical not theoretical. As Corder (1973) states:

The application of linguistic knowledge to some object, or applied linguistics, is an activity. It

is not a theoretical study. It makes use of the findings of theoretical studies. The appliedlinguist is a consumer, or user, not a producer, of theories. If we use the term " theory " as is

used in science, then there is no "theory of language teaching" (p. 10).

This treatment of AL can be called the first generation, in which AL is considered a

practical field. In contrast to the followers of this approach to AL, some scholars led

by Widdowson believe that AL involves more than just mere application of the

findings of linguistics to practical issues. To this group of scholars, AL has its own

theoretical as well as practical principles.


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Buckinghum (1980) complains that AL in the sense of application of linguistics to

practical activities is misleading and inadequate, both too narrow and too broad. On

the one hand it is too narrow since it is limited to the applications of linguistics to

language teaching without regard to the multitude of other disciplines such as

sociology, psychology, speech therapy, speech communication, pedagogy, speech

pathology, and son. On the other hand, it is too broad if all related fields wereincluded in the term of AL because AL will then be everything and nothing at the

same time.

To bridge the gap between the too broad and the too narrow definitions of AL,

Campbell (1980) claims that the term applied suggests an activity rather than a state

or an attribute. The implied activity is usually a problem solving rather than one that

requires the practitioner to demonstrate some skill or some shared knowledge.

Campbell further argues that most of the problems applied linguists face center

around the definition of the relationships or the connections between theories and the

nature of language and the establishment of the optimal conditions for teaching or

learning languages. Thus, AL stands as a mediator between descriptions, grammars,

analyses, explications of linguistic phenomena on the one hand, and syllabuses,

textbooks, and curriculum, on the other. The following diagram shows this

relationship.

Linguistics Applied Linguistics Pedagogy

Theoretician Mediator Practitioner

Such shifts in the definition of AL led to the second generation of AL in which AL

was considered an area between theories and practices. This trend was strongly

supported in the 80s by many scholars. Most of them believed that AL acts as amediator between theory and practice. That is, AL is neither purely theoretical nor

purely practical. Buckingham and Eskey (1980) believe that AL performs a

mediatory function between theoretical disciplines and various kinds of practical

issues. Corder also claims that AL is a set of related activities or techniques mediating

between theoretical accounts for human language on the one hand and the practical

activities of language teaching on the other.

Oller (1980) improves the mediatory function of AL and suggests an interactional role

for it. He claims that AL needs theoretical linguistics, and conversely the theorists

need to test their theories by application. Both require empirical research techniques

in order to accomplish their objectives. He further argues that areas such as

information processing, artificial intelligence, computer simulation of linguisticprocesses, voice typewriters, automatic readers, sophisticated editing and printing

devices as components of AL. That is AL cannot and should not be limited to only

linguistics.

Along the same lines, Strevens sets certain principles for AL. He claims that AL has

multiple bases in theory; it is not restricted to an interest in the teaching of languages;

and it redefines itself afresh for each task. He claims that AL is at present the only


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discipline that fulfills this multi-bases, interdisciplinary, language related function.

All and all, most scholars agree that AL is more than and beyond the simplistic view

of applying the findings of linguistics to practical issues. Such a view is stated by

Kaplan (1980, p. 5) who states, AL is the point at which all the branches of

linguistics come together. Further, AL is the point at which all the branches of

linguistics intersect with other disciplines. Such a perspective on AL is best

visualized through the following diagram.

It should be noted that as the scope of AL widens, so does the responsibilities of the

applied linguists. Applied linguists can no more rely on the mere application of the

findings of linguistics to solve language related problems. Nor can they depend on the

mere speculations and theoretical principles laid by linguists, or any other single field

of study for that matter. Of course, AL was never, is never, and will never be

independent of linguistics, just as it cannot be independent of many other fields. In

fact, an applied linguist acts as a refinery fed by raw materials obtained from

theoretical principles outlined by many disciplines. The applied linguist then

combines, analyzes, and refines all the pieces of information imparted from different

fields and provides the consumers of any discipline with applicable principles.

Through this process of receiving, refining, and providing modified and new

principles, applied linguists may develop their own principles to be utilized. That is

probably why Widdowson argues strongly and of course convincingly, that AL, As I

conceive of it, is a spectrum of inquiry which extends from theoretical studies of

language to classroom practice.

An Illustration of the Scope of Applied Linguistics

taken from Kaplan (1980)


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In this sense then, theories of first language acquisition including mechanistic,

mentalistic, nativistic, and cognitive, and theories of second language acquisition such

as the monitor, acculturation, discourse, neurofunctional, and interactional, which

cannot be accounted for by linguistics, would be considered as theoretical

advancements in AL. Furthermore, theories of language teaching from audio-lingual

to cognitive to communicative and strategic approaches cannot be classified under

linguistics but applied linguistics theories. To avoid numerous examples of theorybuilding capacity of AL, it would suffice to state that AL is a multidisciplinary as well

as a multifunctional field. The following table, taken from Brown (1987) clearly

depicts the multitude of factors and disciplines involved in AL. AL has been

considered a sub area of linguistics for several decades, and has generally been

interpreted to mean the application of linguistic principles or theories to certain more

or less practical matters. Second language teaching and the teaching of reading,

composition, and language arts in the native language are typical areas of practical

application. In the British tradition, AL is quite often even synonymous with language

teaching. However, the applications of linguistics certainly extend beyond such

pedagogical concerns. But the term remains disturbingly vague.

One of the difficulties in understanding the limits and scope of AL lies in the

deliberate distinction between theoretical or pure linguistics on the one hand, and

applied linguistics on the other. A consolidation of the definitions of language

yields the following composite definition taken form Brown (1987):

1. Language is systematic __ 1. Explicit and formal account

possibly a generative system. of the system of language on

several levels (phonological,

syntactic, and semantics)

2. Language is a set of arbitrary 2. The symbolic nature of language;

symbols. the relationship between

language and reality; thephilosophy of language; the history

of language.

3. Those symbols are primarily 3. Phonetics; phonology; writing

vocal, but may also be visual. systems; kinetics; proxemics; and

other paralinguistic features of

language.

4. The symbols have conventionalized 4. Semantics; language cognition;

to which they refer. Psycholinguistics.

5. Language is use for communication 5. Communication systems; speaker-

hearer interaction; sentence-

processing.

6. Language operates in speech 6. Dialectology; sociolinguistics;community or culture. language and culture; bilingualism;

second language acquisition.

7. Language is essentially human, 7. Human language; non-human

although possibly not limited language; the physiology of

to human language.

8. Language is acquired by all people 8. Language universals; first

in much the same way language language acquisition.


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and language leaning both have

universal characteristics.

A glance at the characteristics of language thus suggests many issues and concerns

within linguistics, all of which relate directly to central goal of linguistic study, i.e.,

discussing what language is. However, among the concerns listed are a number of

issues that are typically grouped into applied rather than theoretical linguistics. Is itpossible to draw a line of demarcation which separates the applied from theoretical.

To elaborate on the above table, certain factors that are prominent in language

education need to be elaborated on. From among many questions, the following ones

may be more illuminating: What is taught? Who is taught? What is the purpose of the

learner? Under what conditions does teaching take place? Answers to these and

similar questions, sometimes referred to as the WH-questions of language education,

would demonstrate the scope of AL.

WH Questions of Language Education

The answer to the first question, i.e., what is taught, is simply language. In order to

teach language, one should know what language is. Describing language is the

responsibility of the linguists. And the outcome of linguistic description is commonly

called grammar. Linguistics, as the scientific study of language, lives, grows, and

advances independently of the language teaching profession. That is why there have

been a good number of theories, and thus grammars, to describe and explain what

language is. Some of these theories are Saussurian, structural, functional, daughter

dependency, case, transformational, and universal, to name a few. Although the

substance of investigation for all these theories is language, each and every theory has

looked at the phenomenon of language from a slightly different perspective. Thus,

the knowledge of the teachers on what to teach comes from linguistics.

The second question deals with who is taught. The answer to this question is more

complex than that of the first one because this question entails multidimensional

aspects of learning, teaching, learner and teacher. Learning is one of the important

issues the field of psychology which is an independent field with its own principles,

theories, and advancements. However, while linguistics deals with language itself,

psychologists concern many issues related to human mental activities. One of these

mental activities is human learning, a branch of which is learning a language. Thus,

psychology contributes to language learning not directly, but by proposing theories

for human learning. That is why there have been many theories of learning such as

behaviorism, cognitivism, functionalism, etc. So, the teachers understanding of how

language is learned comes from the developments in psychology. The connection

between how language is learned, investigated in psychology, and what language is,studied in linguistics has even led to the development of a new area of inquiry called

psycholinguistics.

Furthermore, learning takes place in the mind and brain. The structure of brain is

studied within the field of neurology. Although much is not known about the

structure, physiology, and the functioning of the brain regarding language, the limited

amount of knowledge has given useful insights to those involved in the study of


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language. At present, studying the structure of brain, which is the main concern in

neurology in connection with the structure and functioning of language has brought

up a new field referred to as neurolinguistics that specifically addresses the issues

related to brain and language.

Another part of the questions deals with the leaner who is a human being. Human

beings are social beings. They learn language, no matter what it is and how it islearned, in order to communicate with the members of a community. A community

lives under certain social rules and regulations that influence the use of language. The

field that inquires about such rules is sociology. Again, sociology is an independent

field of study. However, its findings are important regarding what Widdoson calls the

use of language. The interrelationship of language use and sociology has led to the

emergence of a new field called sociolinguistics. The group of scholars studying the

use of language has to get involved in discourse analysis, pragmatics, and stylistics.

The fourth point in the question relates to the person who is supposed to help the

learner learn the languages, i.e., the teacher. Teachers, too, live in societies with all

sorts of variables influencing their personal, social, psychological, and academic

lives. All these variables influence the teacher, and thus the teaching process. A

motivated, dedicated, knowledgeable, and creative teacher would definitely help

learners more than a teacher without such characteristics.

It should be noted that the factors mentioned under the question of who is taught, are

not, by any means, unrelated to each other. Nor do they operate independently of one

another. They all function interactively within a macro network of learner/teacher

variables. A motivated teacher will certainly be more successful with a motivated

learner than with an unmotivated one. Similarly, a motivated learner will benefit more

from a committed teacher than from an indifferent one. Thus, discussing these

variables in isolation is just for the sake of clarity and not for demonstrating their

independent functioning within the process of language learning and languageteaching.

The third question deals with the purpose of learning. Undoubtedly, within the era of

communicative teaching, one of the most important factors has been the significance

of the learner needs, along with the ways of identifying, determining, and categorizing

these needs. When learner needs are determined, implementing a program that would

fulfill the needs of the learners requires considerations of materials development,

syllabus design, and teacher education. In fact, needs analysis, materials development,

syllabus design, and teacher education, each of which has established itself as an

interesting and an almost independent field of inquiry, have collectively led to the

development of a new trend in language teaching called teaching English for specific

purposes (ESP). ESP has been the focus of research in many scientific andtechnological disciplines within the last quarter of a century in order to meet, as much

as possible, the learners purpose for learning a language.

The fourth question addresses the issue of the conditions of teaching. Conditions

refer to so many variables including the physical environment of the class, the time of

the teaching, the facilities available for teaching, the country in which the language is

taught, to name a few. All these factors influence, directly or indirectly, the teacher,


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the learner, and the outcome of teaching learning process. For instance, the number of

students in a class is an important factor in most public educational systems. In

crowded classes, the teacher does not find ample time or an acceptable environment to

have students repeat or practice the materials. The number of students is related to

the space available in the classroom. In most classrooms students do not have enough

space to sit comfortably, let alone to get involved in some class activities. So,

conditions of teaching influence conditions of learning and thus the effectiveness ofinstruction.

Technological and technical facilities available in class are also important. Computer

assisted language learning (CALL) has recently established itself as a major area of

interest for language educators. The utilization of electronic devices in translation, the

so-called machine translation, has also intrigued language educators for a long time

now.

Taking into account all the WH questions of language education, along with related

issues, indicate that AL cannot be equated with language teaching. AL involves so

many variables in so many seemingly unrelated areas. Therefore, the notion that AL

equals language teaching did not hold true for two reasons. On the one hand, theories

of language, language learning, language teaching, etc., formulated through different

disciplines, were not exclusively used in classroom situations. There were many other

occasions in which the findings of these fields played a central role. On the other

hand, none of the mentioned fields alone was capable of accounting for the multitude

of variables involved in the complex process of language related activities.

The extension of theoretical perspectives has recently led to a philosophical thinking

on AL. Rampton (1995) claims that research in AL has shifted from focusing on

products, linguistics, and psychology to focusing on processes, psycholinguistics,

sociology, anthropology, and media studies, respectively. He claims that the situation

in AL is moving from autonomous to ideological thinking. According to this newtrend, AL has a sociopolitical, cultural, and ecological interpretation. In this sense,

AL research can occupy a position that deals with political orders characterized by

cultural authoritarianism, service to the governments, competition on the market,

independent analysis and critique, and new social movements.

For instance, much AL research serves the principles and policies of the government.

Whether the language education curriculum should be centralized or localized is an

AL domain of research. Whether educational system is localized or centralized, each

entails many other areas such as materials development, teacher education, teaching

methodology and so forth. In addition, many research projects dealing with ESP,

lexicography, and communication skills training are sponsored by manufacturing and

educational organizations. This indicates that part of research in AL deals withcompetition in the market. Only independent critical studies conducted by individual

academicians serve the liberal aspects of AL research. Last but not least is the direct

or indirect effect of the new social movements in different parts of the world on the

social systems and the way the members of the societies behave, which in turn

influences the educational policy and language education.


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Along the same lines, Corson (1997) claims that AL goes beyond ideal matters of

linguistic meaning and moves into the real world of human interaction. The influential

philosophy of human sciences, critical realism, begins with questions of being and

views the nonhuman properties of the social world as real entities especially the

reasons and accounts that people offer to interpret the material and immaterial aspects

of their world. He claims that if AL were to take these accounts more seriously, it

might contribute more directly to improving human condition.

Phillipson (1992) sees the following two rather incompatible epistemologies that now

underpin the work in AL,

In one, applied linguistics takes over theories and methods from other areas of scientific study,

which then have the status of feeder disciplines, in the other, it is an autonomous scientific

activity requiring the elaboration of its own theoretical base in relation to its intended

applications. When all these ambiguities in the term exist, it is not surprising that there is

uncertainty about what applied linguistics stands for (p. 167).

Clearly on logical grounds, the first of these theories of knowledge is more relevant

and appropriate for the academic study of language teaching. However, it is thesecond epistemology that governs their work. For much of the work in AL does on

independent of other disciplinary influences. This recent generation of AL assumes

much more into AL. As Corson states,

The task of theorizing the point of intersection between applied linguistics and the real world

of human social interaction, is an ontological matter: what is the status of human reasons and

accounts, offered up in natural language exchanges, that in turn become the data and domain of

inquiry of applied linguistics, and provide the system of discourses that support that domain?

Are these reasons and accounts ontological elements? And if they are, what follows from this?

An answer to these questions can be found in the philosophy of human sciences, notably in the

critical realism recently advanced by Roy Bhasker, a British philosopher of science who

extends his ideas directly and compellingly from the sciences, so that they have comparable

impact in the human sciences as well (p. 168).

And so it grows. AL has moved from Corders conceptualization of apprenticeship to

Bhaskars critical realism in the philosophy of science covering the totality of human

interaction.

Conclusions

Certain conclusions can be drawn from the discussion presented in this paper. The

first set of conclusions as was hoped at the beginning, comprises the following

clarifications:

1. The idea that AL is a mere application of the findings of linguistics to practical

activities is clearly wrong.

2. The idea that AL can be used interchangeably with foreign language teaching is

clearly wrong.

3. The idea that AL is only a practical field and it does not deal with theoretical issues

is clearly wrong.

4. Applied linguistics is neither a subordinate nor a superordinate to linguistics. That

is, it is neither a subsection of linguistics nor linguistics itself.


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5. AL is a multidimensional, multifaceted, and multidiciplinary field which utilizes

the findings of all theoretical and practical fields related to human life and

analyzes, modifies, and then creates new ways of approaching language related

topics.

The second set of conclusions relates to the unclear points in AL that requires more

research to be conducted by the students of language studies. These points can besummarized as follows.

1. The extent to which AL can benefit from the other seemingly unrelated areas.

2. Techniques and procedures used in AL research should follow traditions in the

fields or should they develop its own research strategies.

3. Expansion of AL entails a systematic procedure to handle the interconnections and

interrelations of different fields with one another and all with AL. This is a major

problem with the organization and nature of a scientific area.

4. The domain of specialty for the students of AL is another problem because if an

applied linguist is supposed to study all related fields, they could not get deeply

into

the problems and prospects of these fields. Thus, it may be suggested that applied

linguists have a comprehensive knowledge of one of the areas related to AL and

develop an ability to utilize the findings of the other fields.

Summary

In this paper an attempt was made to clarify the scope of AL. Through a historical

review, the emergence of sciences and applied sciences was presented. Then the

concept of AL was discussed and its different meanings were explained. It wasmentioned that AL started as a mere application of the findings of linguistics to

practical problems of foreign language teaching, moved into a theory building area,

and eventually to a philosophical thinking. Finally certain clarifications and

suggestions were made for research in AL.

* Paper presented at the 4th international conference on Linguistics and Applied Linguistics (1998).

Allame Tabatabaee University, Tehran.

Bibliography

Wardaugh, R. & Brown, H. D. (eds.) (1977). A survey of applied linguistics. An

Arbor, The University of Michigan Press.

On the Scope of Applied Linguistics

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