Semester 2 of Year 4 AN OVERVIEW OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS

Definition of Applied Linguistics in a broad Sense

In a broad sense, applied linguistics is concerned with increasing understanding of the

role of language in human affairs and thereby providing the knowledge necessary for
those who are responsible for making language-related decisions whether the needs arise
in the classroom, workplace, the law court, or the laboratory.

The development of Applied Linguistics

Plato and Aristotle contributed to the design of the curriculum beginning with good
writing (grammar) and then moving on to effective discourse ( text-type-
related)(rhetoric) and culminating in the development of dialectic to promote a
philosophical approach to life.
In 1755, Samuel Johnson published his Dictionary of the English Language, which quickly
became the unquestioned authority on the meanings of English words.
About the same time, Robert Lowth published an influential grammar, Short Introduction
to English Grammar (1762)
Whereas Johnson sought to describe English and vocabulary by collecting thousands of
examples of how English words are actually used, Lowth prescribed what “correct”
grammar should be
The result was that English, which is a Germanic Language, was prescribed by a linguistics
system ( parts of speech) that was borrowed from Latin, which had previously borrowed
the system from Greek.

English grammar rules which are much too rigid to describe actual language usage

No multiple negatives ( I don’t need no help from nobody)

No split infinitives ( so we need to really think about all this from scratch)
No ending a sentence with a preposition ( I don’t know what it is made of)the

The concept of communicative competence

Ideational ( telling people facts and experiences): word choices

Interpersonal ( maintaining personal relationships with people)
Textual ( expressing the connections and organization within a text, for example,
clarifying, summarizing, and signaling the beginning and end of the argument. ( to begin
with, in conclusion,…….)

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The revised 1998 version (Van Ek and Trim: 27) lists six broad categories of language function

Imparting and seeking factual information: year, name, age….

Expressing and finding out attitudes: personally speaking, in general……
Getting things done (suasion): convince
Structuring discourse: text-type
Communication repair: use language to fix ( archedè curve)

Lexico-grammar and formulaic language

the realization that vocabulary and grammar are not necessarily separate things, but may
be viewed as two elements of a single language system referred to as “lexico-grammar”
(Halliday, 1978)
ü Formulaic sequence: ready to go
ü Multi-word unit: Chunk, idioms, and collocation of language

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Unit 2 Grammar
Introduction to grammar and grammars

ü Grammar: Whatever learners use

ü Grammars: correct and incorrect grammatical rules/structures(book)
Ø Descriptive grammar: grammatical rules/structures used for
speaking/communication
Ø Prescriptive grammar: grammatical rules/structures used for writing in a
grammar book

Issues when describing grammar

What rule to describe

ü Rules: A set of explicit principles in a language. (he goes to school regularly)
ü Variation: Alternative language uses
Form and function
ü Form: language elements that are expressed in writing or speaking. ( bus/bAs)
ü Function: purposes of language uses ( you are required to…..)
Type versus token
ü Types: larger unit in a language
ü Token: smaller unit in a language. (to be or not to be, type:6 words, token:4words)
Discourse grammar: grammatical rules/structure used in different text types. ( she loves
me, but….)
Spoken and written grammar
ü Spoken grammar: grammar used in speaking/communication
ü Written grammar: grammar used in writing/proper/correct language use.

Limitation of Grammatical Description

The independence of grammar and lexis: interrelation between grammatical

rule/structure and words
Lexico grammar: function/ purpose of grammatical rule/structure

Learning grammar: grammar for learning in school and most commonly used

Teaching grammar: grammar that we use in teaching at school/pedagogical grammar.

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Unit3: Vocabulary
What is vocabulary?: a set of words, phrases, idioms, etc.

Token: smaller unit in the language

Types: larger unit in the language
Stem: the base-from word after the removal of the infected form.
Approach/approaches/approaching/approached è infected form
Approach/approaches/approaching/approached è stem
Lemma: a set of related words that consist of stem forms and infected forms with the
same part of speech.

Multi-word unit (MWU)

Preformulated language: multiple-word units stored as a single word/unit (and cannot be

separate), for example: ready to go, excuse me……
Formulas: multiple-word units used repeatedly rather than generating new words.
(father-to-be, to-from journey, must-watch)
Lexical phrase: phrase with a particular function. For example: how old are you? How
much do you weigh? è cannot be separated
Formulaic sequence: individual formulaic item. For example: without further ado,………… No
doubt,………….. first and formost,……………..)

What vocabulary should be learned?

Frequency word: frequently-used word

Family word: category words ( clothing, sport….)
Low-frequency word: rarely-used word ( words in TOEFL/IELTS)

How should vocabulary be learned?

Learning vocabulary from meaning-focused input ( reading and listening): receptive

learning ( offspring,…………)
Learning vocabulary from the meaning-focused output ( speaking and writing): productive
learning ( generous Vs kind) è use these two in different contexts.
Deliberate vocabulary learning:

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 ü Retrieve rather than recognize: Words with their translation on cards ( For
example: English on one side and Khmer on the other size)
ü Use appropriately sized groups of cards: proper number of cards (15-20 cards)
ü Space the repetitions: Interval learning time.
ü Repeat the words aloud or to yourself.
ü Process the words thoughtfully: learning the word part. ( pessimistic, ism, ion)
ü Avoid interference: avoid learning words with similar spelling and meaning (
melt/dissolve)
ü Avoid a serial learning effect: learning words by changing word order.
ü Use context where this helps: learning with context ( intercourse has different
meanings in different contexts)
Developing fluency with vocabulary across four skill: learning through speaking, writing,
listening and reading.

Strategy Development

Guessing from context:

Learning from word cards and using word parts
Dictionary use

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Unit 4: Discourse Analyse
§ What is discourse analysis?: Discourse analysis is the analysis of different text types.
§ Spoken discourse: formless and ungrammatical
§ Written discourse: highly structured and organized ( I have learned English for ten
years; however, I can’t speak well)

Approaches to Discourse Analysis

Sociology: conversation analysis

ü Turn-taking: turn occasion on an interlocutor takes/speaks
ü Pattern in turn in turn-taking: adjacency pairs, statement, and response, sequence
of related responses
Sociolinguistic: Ethnography and variation theory
ü Ethnography: situation and uses/language patterns and functions leader in
different meanings ( after marriage; where is your boss== wife or husband)
ü Variation theory: structure of spoken narrative. (past tense, past perfect, tense,
linking words or structure)
Linguistic approach
ü Systemic functional linguistics: language use, text, and its functions ( word use in
different contexts)
Critical discourse analysis: relation between language, power, and ideology ( I want all of
you to win)

Grammar and Discourse: spoken and written differences

Lexical pattern in spoken language
Corpus linguistic and variation in discourse

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Unit 5: Pragmatics
Definition

Pragmatic: the language used and the speaker’s meaning

Encoding: refers to the process of transferring/conveying messages or information.
Decoding: the process of receiving messages ( exam: what will happen if encoding and
decoding don’t match)
Sematic: the study of meaning
Utterance: Speech
Interlocutor: the conversation partner
Reference: people, place, thing, being talk about.
Context: circumstance ( I hate you in a relationship)
Decontextualizataion: the isolation of one’s original or contextual meaning ( out of the
topic)
Inference: anticipation of what is being talked about.

==paradox: any kind of statement that is not reasonable at first but later ( if you want peace,
prepare for war human being is useless)

Pragmatic Perspectives on Language Use

Pragmatic meaning
ü Assigning Reference: what is being referred to.
Assigning Reference involves the interpretation of deictic expressions
Ø Person deictics: pronoun ( I, you, we…)
Ø Place deictics: location of participants- here/there/ on the board
Ø Time deictics: time expressions/tenses.
ü Figuring out what is communicated directly: speaker’s expression/utterance
(conveying the message clearly without any hidden information)
ü Figuring out what is communicated indirectly: assumption toward the speaker’s
expression/utterance
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 Unit6: Second Language Acquisition

- Learning: the process of getting knowledge, skills, and experience

consciously
- Acquisition: the process of getting knowledge, skills, and experience
unconsciously
- Language Barrier: the difficulties in learning language, language
system, and sound
- Facility: natural abilities to learn a language
- Innateness: belief/assumption that kids have knowledge of language
structure
- Universal Grammar:
- Hypothesis: prediction/assumption/anticipation with little evidence
- Behaviorism: the assumption that kids learn language through their
behavior
- Puberty: Period when people become mature
- Critical Period: the period that people learn best(age 11-16)
1. Second Language Learning: - Communicative to acquire language knowledge
- Learning a language that is spoken in the surrounding community
- Second language learning is used more generally to describe both SL
and FL
2. Acquisition: - Unconsciousness
- Constant interaction with the native speaker
- Language fluency is demonstrated in social interaction
3. Learning: - specific activities to accumulate specific language items
- Institutional Setting
- Conscious Process
- Language is taught at school and has a tendency
- Language learning abilities are associated with the test result
- Some individuals can produce prolific writing but not the spoken
language

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4. Acquisition Barrier: - Learning a language that isn’t generally spoken in the
surrounding communities.
- Few adults seem to reach native-like proficiency in using L2
- Insufficient time few hours a day for learning
Universal Grammar: Child language ( S + V/ V+S)
Behaviorism: Lang can be learned through
behavior
Imitation: The repetition of the whole system of
language
Reinforcement: Positive and Negative
Compliment
Habit formation: Practice of repeated patterns
in learning
Cognitive psychology: learning through
memorizing, thinking, and reasoning
Connectionism: learning through word/structure
connection
Processability Theory: learning with predictable
stages
Interactionist perspective: learning through
social interaction
Sociocultural Perspective: Social-cultural&
Biological element in learning a lang