An Introduction to Applied Linguistics

11 ETAL 1 OVERVIEW
In this volume I have introduced the ETAL Series and attempted a definition of
applied linguistics. That led to a discussion of the kinds of language problems that
applied linguistics addresses which highlight the marriage of practical experience and
theoretical understanding. I then examined research areas that are of interest both to
general/theoretical linguistics and to applied linguistics in order to compare their
approaches. Next I described a wide range of projects and areas that engage applied
linguists, both in language learning and teaching and in other areas. The maturing
of the discipline and its increasing professionalism is considered in addition to the
influence on applied linguistics of philosophical developments in the humanities and
social sciences (especially the various ‘critical’ stances). Finally, I brought together
what I consider to be current and upcoming issues that absorb and will absorb
applied linguistics over the next period. There are certain central issues that are
always there. They may appear under different names and they may change their
contexts but issues such as the native speaker (and ways of describing the native
speaker through SLA and approximating through proficiency measures), text
analysis (CDA) and variation (now including World Englishes, formerly perhaps
Register) endure.
12 THE APPLIED LINGUISTICS DILEMMA
What is the professional or scholarly duty of applied linguists? Surely it is to
investigate, analyse, offer recommendations for amelioration and then report on the
language problems they engage with. That seems undisputed. The argument to
which I referred earlier in this chapter (the fault-line) is whether their responsibility
continues into taking remedial/political action themselves as applied linguists rather
than as individuals. Again there is little dispute that in their reporting they should,
where appropriate, indicate remedies and interventions. But should they go further?
As individuals, surely yes if they so wish. But as professionals, as scholars? To do so is
to agree with one interpretation of the Marx quote with which I began this chapter:
‘Philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways, but now it is a matter
of changing it.’
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The weak interpretation of this doctrine is that applied linguists should suggest
ways of changing so as to overcome the language problem they have investigated; the
strong interpretation is that applied linguists should themselves be directly involved
in the changes they recommend. The weak view is that of advice, the strong view’s
that of action. The question for applied linguistics is whether the role of adviser is
commensurate with the role of activist. Should we agree with the poet W. H. Auden,
who wrote in ‘Spain, 1937’:
Yesterday the classic lecture
On the origin of Mankind. But to-day the struggle.
(Auden 1940: 103)
And if we agree, then does that mean we stop being applied linguists?
The applied linguistics challenge 159
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Glossary
1
a posteriori:
an artificial language based on elements from one or more natural
language.
a priori:
an artifical language composed entirely of invented elements.
aboriginal: one indigenous to a country, whose ancestors have lived there during
recorded history.
accent: features of pronunciation that identify where a person is from, regionally or
socially. Technically distinct from dialect since a standard dialect may be pro -
nounced with a regional accent.
acceptance: acknowledgement by an educated native speaker of a language that a
sentence or other linguistic unit conforms to the norms of the language.
achievement test: instrument designed to measure what a person has learned within
a given period of time of a known syllabus or course of instruction.
aphasia: loss of speech or of understanding of language, owing to brain damage.
appropriacy: acknowledgement by an educated native speaker of a language that a
sentence or other linguistic unit is suitable or possible in a given social situation. 
aptitude: innate language learning ability.
artificial language: a language which has been invented to serve some particular
purpose.
authentic reading materials: genuine texts rather than those invented solely for
language teaching purposes.
background speakers: home-users of a language that is not the official medium of the
speech community.
1. The author is indebted to a number of reference works for the definitions in this glossary, in particular
to the following:
Crystal, David (1997),
A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics
, 4th edn, Oxford: Blackwell.
Davies, Alan (2005), 
A Glossary of Applied Linguistics
, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, and
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Davies, Alan, Annie Brown, Cathie Elder, Kathryn Hill, Tom Lumley and Tim McNamara (1999),
Dictionary of Language Testing
, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Johnson, Keith and Helen Johnson (eds) (1998), 
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Applied Linguistics
,
Oxford: Blackwell.
Richards, Jack C., John Platt and Heidi Platt (1992), 
Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and
Applied Linguistics
, London: Longman.
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Basic English: a modified natural language (rather than an artificial language) pro -
moted by C. K. Ogden in the early 1930s (BASIC being an acronym for British
American Scientific International Commercial).
Berlitz: the name associated with many language schools world-wide employing a