Applied linguistics

Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of study that identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, linguistics, psychology, computer science, anthropology, and sociology.

Major branches of applied linguistics focus on bilingualism and multilingualism, computer-mediated communication, conversation analysis, contrastive linguistics, sign linguistics, language assessment, literacies, discourse analysis, language pedagogy, second language acquisition, lexicography, language planning and policies, stylistics, pragmatics, forensic linguistics, and translation.

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.

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. Applied linguistics also included solution of language-related problems in the real world. By the 1990s, applied linguistics has broadened including critical studies and multilingualism. Research of applied linguistics was shifted to " the theoretical and empirical investigation of real world problems in which language is a central issue. "

Psycholinguistics

As the study of the mental processes involved in the comprehension, production, and acquisition of language, much psycholinguistic work has been devoted to the learning of language by children and on speech processing and comprehension by both children and adults. Traditional areas of research include language production, language comprehension, language acquisition, language disorders, language and thought, and neurocognition.

Although psychologists have long been interested in language, and the field of linguistics is an older science than psychology, scientists in the two fields have had little contact until the work of Noam Chomsky was published in the late 1950s. Chomsky's writing had the effect of making psychologists acutely aware of their lack of knowledge about the structure of language, and the futility of focusing attention exclusively upon the surface structure of language. As a result, psycholinguists, who have a background of training in both linguistics and psychology, have been attempting since the early 1960s to gain a better understanding of how the abstract rules which determine human language are acquired and used to communicate appropriately created meaningful messages from one person to another via the vocal-auditory medium. Research has been directed to the evolutionary development of language, the biological bases of language, the nature of the sound system, the rules of syntax, the nature of meaning, and the process of language acquisition.

Sociolinguistics

Defined as the study of language as it affects and is affected by social relations, sociolinguistics encompasses a broad range of concerns, including bilingualism, pidgin and creole languages, and other ways that language use is influenced by contact among people of different language communities (e.g., speakers of German, French, Italian, and Romansh in Switzerland).

Sociolinguists also examine different dialects, accents, and levels of diction in light of social distinctions among people. Although accent refers strictly to pronunciation, in practice a dialect can usually be identified by the accent of its speakers as well as by distinctive words, usages, idiomatic expressions, and grammatical features. Dialects reflect and may reinforce class, ethnic, or regional differences among speakers of the same language. Individuals sometimes deliberately change their dialect as a means of improving their social status. Speakers of any dialect or any language may modulate their vocabulary and level of diction according to social context, speaking differently in church, for example, than on the playground; social activities that tend to shape the language of those engaging in it are sometimes called registers.

Cognitive linguistics

In linguistics, cognitive linguistics refers to the branch of linguistics that interprets language in terms of the concepts, sometimes universal, sometimes specific to a particular tongue, which underlie its forms. It is thus closely associated with semantics but is distinct from psycholinguistics, which draws upon empirical findings from cognitive psychology in order to explain the mental processes that underlie the acquisition, storage, production and understanding of speech and writing.

Cognitive linguistics is characterized by adherence to three central positions. First, it denies that there is an autonomous linguistic faculty in the mind; second, it understands grammar in terms of conceptualization; and third, it claims that knowledge of language arises out of language use. ^[1]

Cognitive linguists deny that the mind has any module for language-acquisition that is unique and autonomous. This stands in contrast to the stance adopted in the field of generative grammar. Although cognitive linguists do not necessarily deny that part of the human linguistic ability is innate, they deny that it is separate from the rest of cognition. They thus reject a body of opinion in cognitive science which suggests that there is evidence for the modularity of language. They argue that knowledge of linguistic phenomena — i.e., phonemes, morphemes, and syntax — is essentially conceptual in nature. However, they assert that the storage and retrieval of linguistic data is not significantly different from the storage and retrieval of other knowledge, and that use of language in understanding employs similar cognitive abilities to those used in other non-linguistic tasks.

Departing from the tradition of truth-conditional semantics, cognitive linguists view meaning in terms of conceptualization. Instead of viewing meaning in terms of models of the world, they view it in terms of mental spaces.

Finally, cognitive linguistics argues that language is both embodied and situated in a specific environment. This can be considered a moderate offshoot of the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, in that language and cognition mutually influence one another, and are both embedded in the experiences and environments of its users.

Cultural Linguistics

Cultural Linguistics refers to a related branch of linguistics that explores the relationship between language, culture, and conceptualization. Cultural Linguistics draws on, but is not limited to, the theoretical notions and analytical tools of cognitive linguistics and cognitive anthropology. Central to the approach of cultural linguistics are notions of 'cultural schema' and 'cultural model'. It examines how various features of language encode cultural schemas and cultural models. In Cultural Linguistics, language is viewed as deeply entrenched in the group-level, cultural cognition of communities of speakers. Thus far, the approach of Cultural Linguistics has been adopted in several areas of applied linguistic research, including intercultural communication, second language learning, and World Englishes.

Educational psychology

As a branch of psychology concerned with the learning processes and psychological issues associated with the teaching and training of students, it studies the cognitive development of students and the various factors involved in learning, including aptitude and learning measurement, the creative process, and the motivational forces that influence student-teacher dynamics. Two early leaders in the field were G. Stanley Hall and Edward L. Thorndike.

Educational psychologists " study what people think and do as they teach and learn a particular curriculum in a particular environment where education and training are intended to take place " (Berliner, p.145). The work of educational psychologists focuses "on the rich and significant everyday problems of education" (Wittrock, pp. 132 - 133). Educational psychologists have studied cognition, instruction, learning, motivation, individual differences, and the measurement of human abilities, to name just a few areas that relate to education and schooling. Of all these, perhaps the study of learning is the most closely associated with education.

The Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle discussed topics still studied by educational psychologists - the role of the teacher, the relationship between teacher and student, methods of teaching, the nature and order of learning, the role of affect in learning. In the 1600s the Czech theologian and educator Johann Amos Comenius introduced visual aids and proclaimed that understanding, not memorizing, was the goal of teaching. Writings of European philosophers and reformers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 - 1778), Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746 - 1827), stressed the value of activity, prior experience, and interest. All these ideas are consistent with current work in educational psychology.

The work of Thorndike, Alfred Binet, Jean Piaget, and Benjamin Bloom illustrate earlier connections between psychology and education.

Thorndike has the reputation for studying teaching, and transfer. He also had a lasting effect on education by demonstrating that learning Greek, Latin, and mathematics did not "exercise the mind" to improve general thinking abilities. Partly because of his research, required study of the classics decreased.

B. F. Skinner's studied operant conditioning,

Binet ’s assessments of intelligence and the Stanford-Binet IQ test which was revised four times as of 2002,

Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development is based on the assumption that people try to make sense of the world and actively create their knowledge through direct experience with objects, people, and ideas. Piaget believed that young people pass through four stages in their cognitive development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete-operational, and formal-operational.

Benjamin Bloom his colleagues developed a taxonomy, or classification system, of educational objectives. Objectives were divided into three domains: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. Teachers, test developers, and curriculum designers use the taxonomies to develop instructional objectives and test questions. It would be difficult to find an educator trained in the past thirty years who had not heard of Bloom's taxonomy in some form. (The cognitive domain taxonomy was revised in 2001 by Lorin W. Anderson and David R. Krathwohl.)

Jerome Bruner's early research on thinking stirred his interest in education. Bruner believed that classroom learning should take place through inductive reasoning, that is, by using specific examples to formulate a general principle.

David Ausubel disagreed. He believed that people acquire knowledge primarily through reception rather than discovery; Ausubel's strategy always began with an advance organizer - a technique still popular in the twenty-first century - which is a kind of conceptual bridge between new material and students' current knowledge.

Approaches TO Learning and Motivation IN Foreign Language EDUCATION

Different theories of learning have had different impacts on education and have supported different practices.

Behavioral views of learning

The behavioral approach to learning developed out of work by Skinner, whose research in operant conditioning showed that voluntary behavior can be altered by changes in the antecedents of the behavior, the consequences, or both. Early work focused on consequences and demonstrated that consequences following an action may serve as reinforcement or punishment. Skinner's theories have been used extensively in education, by applying principles of reinforcement and punishment to change behaviors, often called applied behavior analysis. For much of the 1960s Skinner's ideas and those of behaviorists who followed him shaped teaching in regular and special education, training in the military, coaching, and many other aspects of education. Principles of reinforcement continue to be important for all teachers, particularly in classroom management and in decisions about grades and incentives for learning.

In the 1970s and 1980s a number of educational psychologists turned their attention from research on learning to research on teaching. Their findings shaped educational policy and practice during those years and since. Much of the research that focused on effective teaching during that time period pointed toward a model of teaching that is related to improved student learning called direct instruction or explicit teaching.

Cognitive views of learning.

Behaviorists define learning as a change in behavior brought about by experience with little concern for the mental or internal aspects of learning. The cognitive view, in contrast, sees people as active learners who initiate experiences, seek out information to solve problems, and reorganize what they already know to achieve new insights. In fact, learning within this perspective is seen as "transforming significant understanding we already have, rather than simple acquisitions written on blank slates" (Greeno, Collins, and Resnick, p. 18). Much of the work on behavioral learning principles has been with animals in controlled laboratory settings. The goal is to identify a few general laws of learning that apply to all higher organisms (including humans, regardless of age, intelligence, or other individual differences). Cognitive psychologists, on the other hand, focus on individual and developmental differences in cognition; they have not sought general laws of learning. Cognitive views of learning are consistent with the educational theories of Bruner and Ausubel and with approaches that teach learning strategies, such as summarizing, organizing, planning, and note taking.

Constructivist theories of learning.

Constructivist perspectives on learning and teaching are increasingly influential today. These views are grounded in the research of Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, the Gestalt psychologists, Fredric Bartlett, and Bruner as well as the Progressive educational philosophy of Dewey. There are constructivist approaches in science and mathematics education, in educational psychology and anthropology, and in computer-based education. Some constructivist views emphasize the shared, social construction of knowledge; others see social forces as less important.

Even though there is no single constructivist theory, many constructivist teaching approaches recommend the following:

· Complex, challenging learning environments and authentic tasks

· Social negotiation and shared responsibility as a part of learning

· Multiple representations of content

· Understanding that knowledge is constructed

· Student-centered instruction

Inquiry as an example of constructivist teaching:

Dewey described the basic inquiry learning format in 1910. There have been many adaptations of this strategy, but the teacher usually presents a puzzling event, question, or problem. The students formulate hypotheses to explain the event or solve the problem, collect data to test the hypotheses, draw conclusions, and reflect on the original problem and on the thinking processes needed to solve it. Like discovery learning, inquiry methods require great preparation, organization, and monitoring to be sure everyone is engaged and challenged.

A second example of constructivist teaching influenced by Vygotsky's theories of assisted learning is called cognitive apprenticeships. There are many models, but most share six features:

· Students observe an expert (usually the teacher) model the performance.

· Students get external support through coaching or tutoring (including hints, feedback, models, reminders).

· Conceptual scaffolding (in the form of outlines, explanations, notes, definitions, formulas, procedures, etc.) is provided and then gradually faded as the student becomes more competent and proficient.

· Students continually articulate their knowledge - putting into words their understanding of the processes and content being learned.

· Students reflect on their progress, comparing their problem solving to an expert's performance and to their own earlier performances.

· Students are required to explore new ways to apply what they are learning - ways that they have not practiced at the professional's side.

CONCEPTIONS OF Foreign Language Teaching

As with teaching in general, language teaching can be conceived in many different

ways, for example as a science, a technology, a craft, or an art. Different views of language teaching

lead to different views as to what the essential skills of teaching are, and different approaches to the

preparation of teachers. Zahorik (1986) classifies conceptions of teaching into three main categories:

· Science-Research conceptions,

· Theory-Philosophy conceptions, and

· Art-Craft conceptions.

Science-Research Conceptions

They are derived from research and are supported by experimentation and empirical investigation. Zahorik includes the following as examples of Science-Research conceptions.

· operationalizing learning principles,

· following a tested model,

· doing what effective teachers do,

Operationalizing learning principles

Research on memory, transfer, motivation, and other factors believed to be important in learning.

· Mastery learning and Programmed Learning

· Audiolingualism,

· Task-Based Language Teaching, and

· Learner Strategy Training

Following a tested model of teaching

“A view of good teaching is developed through logical reasoning and previous research;

good teaching is defined in terms of speeific acts” (Zahorik, 1986, 21);

· theories of good teaching across both regular and ESL classrooms is research on teachers’ question patterns and wait time-Teachers’ question use and wait-time before and after training were measured, and “it was found that the training modules affected teaching behaviors, and that the new behaviors affected student participation patterns in ways believed to be significant for these students’ language acquisition” (Long 1984:vi).

Doing what effective teachers do

Effective teachers are typically defined as those whose students perform better on standardized achievement tests.

· In a summary of research of this kind (Blum, 1984: 3-6) 12 characteristics of effective teaching were identified:

1. Instruction is guided by a preplanned curriculum.

2. There are high expectations for student learning.

3. Students are carefully oriented to lessons.

4. Instruction is clear and focused.

5. Learning progress is monitored closely.

6. When students don’t understand, they are retaught.

7. Class time is used for learning.

8. There are smooth and efficient classroom routines.

9. Instructional groups formed in the classroom fit instructional needs.

10. Standards for classroom behavior are high.

11. Personal interactions between teachers and students are positive.

12. Incentives and rewards for students are used to promote excellence.

Theory-Philosophy Conceptions

‘Their truth is not based on a posteriori conditions or on what works. Rather, their truth is based on what ought to work or what is morally right” (Zahorik, 1986,22).

Teaching conceptions which are derived from what ought to work are essentially rationalist in approach, while those which are derived from beliefs about what is viewed as morally right are values-based approaches.

Theory-based approaches

These conceptions of teaching hence tend not to draw support from classroom results as such (e.g. by showing pre and post test gains resulting from the use of a method), but defend themselves through logical argumentation.

· Communicative Language Teaching

· The Silent Way.

Values-based approaches

In some situations this leads to certain approaches to teaching being viewed as politically justifiable (and therefore good) and others seen as not morally, ethically or politically supportable (and therefore bad).

· ‘literature in the language curriculum’,

· ‘the teacher as action researcher’

· ‘team teaching’,

· ‘humanistic approaches’,

· the ‘learner-centred curriculum’ movement,

· ‘reflective-teaching’

Art-Craft Conceptions

Zahorick (1986:22) characterizes this approach to teaching in these items:

The essence of this view of good teaching is invention and personalization. A good teacher is a person who assesses the needs and possibilities of a situation and creates and uses practices that have promise for that situation.

Art-craft approaches to teaching seek to develop teaching as a unique set of personal skills which teachers apply in different ways according to the demands of specific situations. There are no

general methods of teaching, rather, teachers should develop an approach to teaching which allows

them to be themselves and do what they feel is best. Teacher-decision making is an essential

competency in this approach, because a good teacher is seen as one who analyses a situation, realizes that a range of options is available based on the particular class circumstances, and then selects an alternative which is likely to be most effective for the circumstances. This does not deny the value of knowing about different methods of teaching and how to use them, but it suggests that

commitment to a single method of teaching may impede the teacher’s full potential as a teacher.

The Essential Skills of Teaching

The different principles underlying the three conceptions of teaching can thus be summarized in terms of the following statements of what teachers should do according to each conception of

teaching.

Science-research conceptions:

These see the essential skills in teaching as the following:

· Understand the learning principles.

· Develop tasks and activities based on the learning principles.

· Monitor students’ performance on tasks to see that desired performance on tasks is being achieved.

Theory-Philosophy conceptions:

These see the essential skills in teaching as:

· Understand the theory and the principles.

· Select syllabi, materials and tasks based on the theory.

· Monitor your teaching to see that it confirms to the theory.

Values-based approaches:

The essentials kills in teaching are:

· Understand the values behind the approach.

· Select only those educational means which conform to these values.

· Monitor the implementation process to ensure that the value system is being maintained.

Art-Craft Conceptions:

The essential skills of teaching are:

· Treat each teaching situation as unique.

· Identify the particular characteristics of each situation.

· Try out different teaching strategies.

· Develop personal approaches to teaching.

Eclecticism is not an option here, since the different conceptions of teaching represent fundamentally different representations of what teaching is and how teachers should approach their work. However it is possible to view these three conceptions as forming a continuum. Teachers entering the teaching profession need technical competence in teaching, and the confidence to teach

according to proven principles. Science-research conceptions of teaching might well provide a good

starting point for inexperienced teachers. As they gain experience, they can then modify and adapt

these initial theories of teaching, moving towards the more interpretive views of teaching implicit in

theory-philosophy conceptions. Eventually as they develop their own personal theories of teaching,

they can teach more from an art-craft approach, creating teaching approaches according to the

particular constraints and dynamics of the situations in which they work. In this way teacher

development can be seen as a process of on-going self-discovery and self-renewal, as top-down

approaches to teaching become replaced by more bottom-up approaches, or approaches which

blend the two. This moves the teachers’ work beyond the routine, creating both the challenges and

rewards of teaching.

SECTION II- Analyzing Methods of

FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING

Understanding a method of foreign language teaching requires a systematic approach that has levels of analysis and criteria at each level. Method of teaching is about how a theory is put into practice and it tells what skills and content to be taught and in what order content needs to be taught. It comprises three levels: approach, design and procedure.

Approach:

Theories about the nature of language learning that serve as the source of practices and principles in language teaching.

The following questions reveal the background thoughts on the method:

· What is the theory of learning?

· What is the theory of teaching? (conception of the profession)

· What are the roles of teacher / learners?

· How are errors viewed and treated?

· What is the role of L1?

· What language skills are emphasized over others?

Design:

“...[it] specifies the relationship of theories of language and learning to both the form and function of instructional materials and activities in instructional settings.”

The questions include:

· What kind of syllabus is used?

· What are specific learning-teaching materials?

· What is the order of language skills to be taught?

· What is the learning-teaching environment like?

Procedure:

“...[it] comprises the classroom techniques and practices that are consequences of particular approaches and designs.”

The questions include:

· What typical / popular classroom techniques are employed?

· How does the teacher provide feedback? What are error correction techniques?

· What are the interaction types?

An Overview of

Language Learning approaches and Methods

Audio-lingual Method

Overview

The revolution in terms of language teaching methodology coincided with World War II, when America became aware that it needed people to learn foreign languages very quickly as part of its overall military operations. The "Army Method" was suddenly developed to build communicative competence in translators through very intensive language courses focusing on aural/oral skills. This in combination with some new ideas about language learning coming from the disciplines of descriptive linguistics and behavioral psychology went on to become what is known as the Audiolingual Method (ALM).

Objectives

The goal of the Audiolingual Method was to enable students to speak and write in the target language; to make students able to use the target language automatically without stopping to think; to form new habits in the target language; and to create overall communicative competence in learners.

In other words, it was thought that the most effective way to create communicative competence was for students to "overlearn" the language being studied through extensive repetition and a variety of elaborate drills. The idea was to project the linguistic patterns of the language (based on the studies of structural linguists) into the minds of the learners in a way that made responses automatic and "habitual". To this end it was held that the language "habits" of the first language would constantly interfere, and the only way to overcome this problem was to facilitate the learning of a new set of "habits" appropriate linguistically to the language being studied.

Key Features

Here is a summary of the key features of the Audiolingual Method, taken from Brown (1994:57) and adapted from Prator and Celce-Murcia (1979).

· Learning Theory: Learning is based on the principles of Behaviourism. Habit Formation is essential; therefore successful responses are immediately reinforced hoping that they will be repeated to form good habits. There is little or no grammatical explanation. Grammar is taught by inductive analogy rather than deductive explanation. So, rules are induced from examples. Explicit grammar rules are not given. Learning is inductive. Habit formation is actualized by means of repetitions and other mechanical drills.

· Language Theory: Language is based on descriptive linguistics. Every language is seen as its own unique system. The system is comprised of several different levels. (i.e. phonological, morphological, and syntactic). Structures are sequenced by means of contrastive analysis and taught one at a time. Structural patterns are taught using repetitive drills. Language is primarily for Oral Communication. Everyday speech and oral skills are important. Perfect pronunciation is required.

· Culture: Culture consists of everyday behaviour, and lifestyle of the target language community. Culture is presented in dialogues.

· Teacher’s Role: T is like an orchestra leader. S/he directs and controls the language behaviour of the students. T is a good model of the target language, especially for pronunciation and other oral skills. The differences between Sts’ L1 and L2 should be known by the teacher.

· Students’ Role: Sts are imitators of the teacher as perfect model of the target language or the native speakers in the audio recordings.

· Types of Interaction: T-St, ST- ST. Interactions are mostly initiated by the teacher.

· Vocabulary Teaching: Meaning is taught directly. L1 is prohibited because it may cause bad habit formations. Vocabulary is introduced through dialogues. Vocabulary is strictly limited and learned in context. Great importance is attached to pronunciation. There is dependence on mimicry, memorization of set phrases, and overlearning.

· Grammar Teaching: Explicit rules are not provided. Students induce the rules through examples and drills. Students acquire grammar by being exposed to patterns through mechanical drills.

· Materials: New material is presented in dialog form. There is much use of tapes, language labs, and visual aids.

· Syllabus: Grammar points and sentence patterns are given in the order of simplicity in a structural syllabus.

· Role of L1: Very little use of the mother tongue by teachers is permitted or in some variations, L1 is not allowed in the classroom at all. It may cause interference and bad habit formtion in L2.

· Evaluation: Discrete-point tests are used. Each item (question) should focus on only one point of the language at a time. E.g. distinguishing between words in a minimal pair. Appropriate verb form in a sentence.

· Error Correction: There is great effort to get students to produce error-free utterances. Errors are corrected by the teacher since errors may cause bad habit formation.

· Sts’ Feelings: There are no principles related to Sts’ feelings.

· Skills: Listening and speaking are emphasised. There is a natural order of skills. 1. Listening 2. Speaking 3. Reading 4. Writing

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