Topic outline

  • General description

    The course aims to enable students to understand the basic concepts and development of applied linguistics. The student reads about aspects of applied linguistics from language acquisition to semantics, phonetics, and historical linguistics. All of this forms the knowledge base for other linguistic materials. In general, it is the application of the concepts of general linguistics, and what derives from it in some practical aspects related to language. It is noticeable that the trend in English-speaking countries is often focused on teaching English to non-native speakers. This agreement between specialists in teaching languages and specialists in applied linguistics about points of convergence and points of difference in the two fields is almost missing. The role of applied linguistics as one of the branches of science or knowledge dates back to the publication of Learning Languages: A Journal of Applied Linguistics in 1948 at the University of Michigan. With time, the examination of languages was added to its activities. As indicated by Gharabi (2002), the field of applied linguistics lies in the solution of practical linguistic dilemmas. McCarthy (2001) described it as the branch of knowledge concerned with solving linguistic problems rather than with the theoretical side. It is worth noting that most of the applied linguists had their dissertation areas in literature and culture, applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, pedagogy of languages, and language acquisition.