1 INTRODUCTION
In the last chapter I considered three areas of common interest to both linguists
and applied linguists and attempted to distinguish the purposes and procedures of
the two professions. I proposed that linguists and applied linguists typically look
in opposite directions, with language change as the linguistic agenda driving the
linguist in search of evidence regarding linguistic theory, while the applied linguist is
motivated by the providing of more efficient means of communication in the society
we live in. I turn next to the field of language teaching and learning: this is dominant
in applied linguistics, in the sense that more applied linguists specialise in this field
than in any other. There is a view, held by some linguists and applied linguists, that
language teaching and language-teacher education are the only proper concerns of
applied linguistics.
The chapter begins with a presentation of the arguments for and against confining
applied linguistics to a concern with second-language teaching and learning. Then
I take the examples of two ‘problems’ in the field, first the optimum age problem
(which we have already raised in Chapter 2) and second an investigation into the
validity of a large-scale English language proficiency test, the English Language
Testing Service (ELTS) test, the predecessor of IELTS (see below), and in particular
the construct used in the design of that test, that of English for specific purposes.
These two ‘problems’ are considered from the point of view of a number of relevant
factors, opening up a discussion on what it is that needs to be taken into account
when the applied linguist is faced with a problem in language education. Finally, I
consider the methodology used by the applied linguist in operating on a problem and
to that end I take as examples four areas of importance in language teaching, second
language acquisition, proficiency language testing, the teaching of languages for
specific purposes and curriculum design.
2 CLAIMS
In spite of the widening range of activities undertaken by applied linguistics and
in spite of the general agreement about the reach of its provenance claimed in the
Statutes of the International Association of Applied Linguistics:
L’Association a pour but de promouvoir les recherches dans les domaines de la
linguistique appliquée, comme par exemple l’acquisition, l’enseignement,
l’emploi et le traitement des langues, d’en diffuser les résultats et de promouvoir
la coordination et la coopération interdisciplinaires et internationales dans ces
domaines.
(Article 2 of the AILA Statutes 1964)
(The Association’s purpose is to promote research in the areas of applied linguis -
tics, for example language learning, language teaching, language use and language
planning, to publish the results of this research and to promote international and
interdisciplinary cooperation in these areas.
(Article 2 of the AILA Statutes 1964)
and proudly asserted in Kaplan and Widdowson (1992):
the application of linguistic knowledge to real-world problems … whenever
knowledge about language is used to solve a basic language-related problem, we
may say that applied linguistics is being practiced. Applied is a technology which
makes abstract ideas and research findings accessible and relevant to the real
world; it mediates between theory and practice.
(ibid: 76)
and in Crystal (1992: 24), also opting for the more inclusive approach:
the use of linguistics theories, methods and findings in elucidating and solving
problems to do with language which have arisen in other areas of experience. The
domain of applied linguistics is extremely wide and includes foreign language
learning and teaching, lexicography, style, forensic speech analysis and the theory
of reading.
and in Wilkins (1994):
[T]he study of the uses that man makes of the language endowment and of
the problems that he encounters in doing so is the subject matter of applied
linguistics.
(Wilkins 1994: 162)
and unquestioningly in Cook and Kasper (2005) introducing the Applied Linguistics
special issue ‘Applied Linguistics and Real-World Issues’, in which they ‘took for
granted the gradual move of applied linguistic enquiry in recent years into a variety
of new areas’ and commented that the five contributions in the special issue all:
testify to the widening scope, and exemplify how far both the discipline and the
journal have moved beyond an earlier almost exclusive concern with only one
64 An Introduction to Applied Linguistics
real-world problem, how best to teach and learn languages.
(Cook and Kasper 2005: 479)
There remain the cautionary voices concerned to restrict its scope so that it does
not appear that applied linguistics claims to be a theory of everything! For
example:
[T]he majority of work in applied linguistics has been directly concerned with
language teaching and learning.
(Strevens 1994: 81)
and Wilkins again (1994):
the field which has so far generated the greatest body of research and publication,
namely that of language learning and teaching.
(ibid: 163)
and again:
[I]n practice applied linguistics has developed so far as an enterprise principally
dedicated to creating a better understanding of the processes of language,
especially second language, learning.
(ibid:164)
A position he welcomes on the grounds that otherwise: ‘In its widest sense no
coherent field of applied linguistics exists’ (ibid: 163).
3 A PERSONAL ACCOUNT
Alice Kaplan’s 1993 evocative account of her own love story with learning and
teaching French reminds us that not all language learning is doomed (see also Lee
1995, discussed in Chapter 8). Kaplan is blunt about the difficult task of being a
language teacher: ‘[L]anguage teachers are always in search of the foolproof method
that will work for any living language and will make people perfectly at home in their
acquired tongue’ (ibid: 130).
Kaplan has gone beyond the lure of method having seen its infinite regress:
I was told the story of language teaching when I was learning to become a teacher.
Once upon the time, the story goes, all languages were taught like Greek and
Latin. Learning was based on grammar rules and translation. You talked in your
own language about the dead language you saw written down. Then in the late
nineteenth century came the Direct Method, the ancestor of Berlitz. You spoke in
class in the language you were trying to teach; you worked on pronunciation; you
practiced grammar out loud.
(ibid)
Based on grammar rules and translation: the dead hand of linguistics has long
weighed heavily:
Applied linguistics and language learning/teaching 65
From the forties on, people looked to linguistics to revolutionise language
teaching: language classrooms would be ‘labs’ with scientific data and results; the
emphasis would be on speaking, speaking like natives and learning like native
speakers do. In the late 1950s, Noam Chomsky argued that children acquire
language more or less automatically by the time they are five and whatever makes
it happen can’t be duplicated by adults – it has nothing to do with situation.
Chomsky’s insight did language teachers absolutely no good: they couldn’t
duplicate genetic processes, and they couldn’t hope to reproduce childhood as a
model for second-language learning.
(ibid: 130–1)
Given the ease with which new methods arise and are abandoned one after
another, it is surprising how attracted language teachers are to new methods. The
reason, Kaplan suggests is that: ‘Language teaching methods make for a tale of
enthusiasm and scepticism, hope and hope dashed. Every once in a while someone
comes along and promises a new language method … Whatever the method, only
desire can make a student learn a language, desire and necessity’ (ibid: 131).
In spite of the extent of the activity and the attention given to training in method,
the fact is, as Kaplan points out:
Language teaching is badly paid, little recognised, and much maligned. It is left
up to native speakers for whom it is stupidly thought to be ‘natural’, therefore too
easy to be of much value. PhDs want to move on from language teaching to
the teaching of literature, and theories of literature. Language teaching is too
elemental, too bare. You burn out, generating all that excitement about repetition,
creating trust, listening, always listening. In literature class you can lean back in
the seat and let the book speak for itself. In language class you are constantly
moving, chasing after sound.
(Kaplan 1993: 139)
The history of language teaching is, indeed, the history of method. Like fashion
in dress/clothes, method in language teaching emerges and disappears, and if one
looks far enough it recycles itself after a decent interval. As staleness is to fashion so
is failure to method. Since reliance on method alone must of necessity lead to failure,
it is inevitable that all methods will be challenged by new or revived alternatives. As
Kaplan recognises in the comment already quoted: ‘language teachers are always in
search of the foolproof method’ (ibid: 130).
Language learning and language teaching are ‘problems’ because they are so often
ineffectual. The temptation is always to seek new and therefore ‘better’ methods of
teaching, better methods of learning. Such an unthought-through solution results
from faulty diagnosis, which itself derives from a lack of objectivity. The informal
foreign language learner who is not making progress is all too easily persuaded that
what is needed is to change the methods of learning. And that is also true in formal
instruction where the teacher becomes dispirited because the methods in use are
not working. Again the solution is to change the method. And for a time the new
66 An Introduction to Applied Linguistics
methods such as direct, mim-mem, communicative, cognitive, technological (Stern
1983) work but then the novelty, the very method effect, begins to wear off and the
learning, lacking the halo effect of newness, reverts to its customary lack of progress.
What applied linguistics offers, where its coherence (paceWilkins 1994) lies is in
its recognition that the question to ask is not how to improve the learning, but what
is it that is not being improved, in other words what it is that is supposed to be being
learned. The ‘how to improve’ question comes from a teacher training tradition
where solutions are understandably method directed: what do I do in the classroom
on Monday morning? and the answer so often is: learn a new method.
The how question also derives from an approach via linguistics (as Alice Kaplan
pointedly notes), whereby the diagnosis has to do with the need for the teacher
to understand more about linguistics and then the improvement will come from
attention to methods, better use of the old or adoption of new. The reason for such
naivety in linguistics is that to the linguist knowledge about language will of itself
improve language learning while knowledge about language and skill in teaching and
learning are unrelated. That is not the case with the applied linguist for whom
knowledge about language and skill in teaching and learning are seamlessly linked,
since learning and teaching are themselves aspects of knowing about language in the
context of second-language acquisition and it is through understanding them better
that improvement will come.
That knowledge is partly quite traditional; it is knowledge about language in itself,
dealing here with language systems; then knowledge about a language (usually the
one that will be or is the target of teaching), dealing here with language structure;
and finally knowledge about language in its interactions, dealing here with acqui -
sition, with cognition and with society.
What this means is that some of the content of a course in applied linguistics
which will be of benefit to second language teachers (and by extension to secondlanguage
learners) will offer linguistics. But it will not be the whole course (possibly
30 per cent), it will not be identical with courses given to graduate linguistics
students and it will take into account in the provision of tasks, workshops, examples
and so on, the professional activity of the majority of the students (language
teaching). It is important at this stage that students perceive an applied linguistics
course as vocationally driven and planned and that their own profession, for example
language teaching, is not dismissed or trivialised as uninteresting or not worthwhile.
4 APPLIED LINGUISTICS AND INSTITUTIONAL PROBLEMS
In Chapter 3 we suggested that ‘language problems’ are the key to understanding
applied linguistics. Many of these problems will manifest themselves in individual
interactions (my failure to make myself understood when asking directions in a
foreign language, your hasty judgement about your interlocutor’s social status in the
first few seconds of a telephone conversation, and so on) but the applied linguistics
enterprise engages itself with such problems only when they are considered by society
to be matters of institutional concern. The applied linguist is therefore called on to
Applied linguistics and language learning/teaching 67
intervene, to train, to explain and possibly to solve recurring problems in the school,
the hospital, the workplace, the law court or the television studio.
Applied linguistics as an enterprise is therefore a research and development activity
that sets out to make use of theoretical insights and collect empirical data which can
be of use in dealing with institutional language problems. It is not primarily a form
of social work with immediate access to individuals in the happenstance of their
ongoing social communication, although its findings may of course be helpful to
counsellors and teachers faced with these particular problems.
The starting-point is typically to be presented with an institutional language
problem. The purpose of the activity is to provide relevant information which will
help those involved understand the issues better; in some cases on the basis of the
information it will be possible to offer a solution to the problem. More likely is an
explanation of what is involved, setting out the choices available, along with their
implications. In earlier chapters we have discussed some of these language problems
and indicated certain of the choices that would face those interested in finding a
solution. We have suggested that if they are to contribute to a solution, all choices
must be fully informed by the local context.
We distinguish this problem-based view of applied linguistics from other views
which begin from theory. The applied linguist is deliberately eclectic, drawing on
any source of knowledge that may illuminate the language problem. Proceeding
eclectically is legitimate because for the applied linguist language problems involve
more than language. They involve (some or all of ) these factors:
• the educational (including the psychometric or measurement)
• the social (and its interface with the linguistic, the sociolinguistic)
• the psychological (and its interface, the psycho-linguistic)
• the anthropological (for insights on cultural matters)
• the political
• the religious
• the economic
• the business
• the planning and policy aspect
• and, of course, the linguistic, including the phonetic.
We turn now to a consideration of two ‘problems’, that of the optimum age for
starting to learn a foreign language and that of the validation of a language pro -
ficiency test so as to consider the factors that the applied linguist needs to take into
account when faced with a language-learning problem.
5 OPTIMUM AGE
First the age of starting a foreign language. What is the right age to start language
learning? This is a question often asked by administrators, politicians, parents, as
though there is one right answer. Is there – other things being equal? We can only
attempt an answer when we have asked some preliminary questions, such as what is
68 An Introduction to Applied Linguistics
the language learning for? Which students are to be involved? Is there one through
system or are there several (for example primary, secondary, tertiary)? If there are
several, do they interlock with one another? What method is envisaged, will it be
foreign language instruction, content based, immersion, and if immersion, which
version (see below)? Which language is being studied? Has the choice been made on
the basis of its prestige or its distance from the students’ home language, which may
determine how difficult they find it? What prospects do successful language learners
in this situation have of further study, use of the language(s), jobs and so on. What
possibilities exist for visits to the target language country? How is success measured?
Who are the teachers? Are they well trained, and how proficient are they in the target
language?
One approach to the optimum age question has been the appeal to the sensitive
age or critical period view: this view considers that developments in the brain at
puberty change the way in which we learn. Before puberty we acquire languages (one
or in a bilingual setting two or more) as native speakers. After puberty we learn in a
more intellectual manner as second- or foreign-language speakers. This idea, based
on the sensitive or critical period hypothesis, if true (and it has been difficult to
refute), would support a universal optimum age for starting a second or foreign
language, namely as early as possible, in order to allow for possible acquisition as a
native speaker. (See the discussion in Chapter 2 of research by Bialystok.)
An early start for second- and foreign-language learning at school is not unusual.
Foreign-language teaching in the elementary school in the USA, French in the UK
primary school, languages other than English in the Australian primary school: these
are well-known examples of the willingness among educational planners to (1)
extend the length of explicit language learning and (2) take advantage of the greater
plasticity of young children in automatising new skills and internalising new
knowledge. Such aims are plausible. Why then the doubts and the reversals of policy
such as the on–off programmes found in the UK? Why the doubt, among pro -
fessional language educators as much as among administrators, that spending longer
teaching a language and starting earlier are not necessarily beneficial? How could
they not be?
Research into second-language learning suggests that there may be no optimum
age since adults can learn as efficiently as children and indeed more quickly. What
matters are local conditions. To illustrate the applied linguist’s insistence on the
need to take account of local conditions I refer to three very different contexts: an
Australian private girls’ school; the Nepal government school system; and French
immersion in Canada.
5.1 Presbyterian Ladies’ College (PLC)
This school, in Melbourne, is a large independent girls’ school (N=1200) with both
primary and secondary departments. It offers six languages at secondary (Years
7–12). One foreign language, French, is also offered in the primary school (Hill
et al. 1997).
Applied linguistics and language learning/teaching 69
Observations by the language teachers had indicated that after two years in the
secondary school girls who had studied French in the primary school appeared to be
performing at the same level in all four skills as those who had begun French in the
secondary school. The only observed advantage for early starters was in pronun -
ciation. Differences of course there were, but these appeared to be individual rather
than group related.
The primary campus of PLC offers French from pre-Prep (three-year-olds) to
Grade 6 and the senior campus both Beginners’ French and Continuing French in
Years 7 and 8 and then combines the two streams in Years 9–12.
The usual practice at PLC is to separate beginners from continuing learners in
order to maintain and develop the advanced skills of the more experienced learners.
As has been said, by the end of Year 8, in the view of the teachers, there is no longer
any need to keep the two strands separate. Both use the same textbooks inYears 7–8;
both start at the beginning of new texts in Year 7. It is, however, expected that the
continuing learners will treat the earlier parts of the textbooks as revision and move
faster than the beginners.
If the critical period hypothesis is correct, then we might expect those children
who start French early (in the primary school) to be at an advantage when they reach
the secondary school. They appear not to be. Teachers are sceptical (indeed second -
ary teachers are often sceptical of primary school language learning). They may be
wrong to be sceptical but to the applied linguist their scepticism is one factor in the
situation: it contributes to the ‘language problem’ as do the qualifications of teachers
in the primary and secondary department, the teaching materials used in both, the
measures used to determine progress and the aims of the French teaching programme
in the primary and the secondary schools, whether they are in harmony or not. It is
possible that what counts as doing well at French in the primary school (being
communicative in the spoken language for example) differs from doing well in the
secondary school (accuracy in the grammar of the written language, perhaps).
The situation of a private girls’ school, with its own primary and secondary
departments, where there is keenness to learn French and resources are ample is
on the face of it an ideal setting for the critical period to operate. It appears not to.
For the applied linguist this is a problem that invites explanation and that neatly
combines theoretical interest and practical involvement.
5.2 English teaching in Nepal
Until the early 1960s English was widely available in the Nepal school system; the
basic medium of instruction was Nepali but English was taught everywhere as a
foreign language and there were private schools in which English was the medium of
instruction. In the early 1970s Nepal withdrew from English for purposes of nation
building (it should be noted that Nepali, the national language, is itself a colonising
language, introduced only about 300 years ago). English medium schooling was
forbidden. But English did not go away. In the 1980s the ban was lifted, to avoid the
unfortunate situation whereby middle-class parents were procuring English for their
70 An Introduction to Applied Linguistics
children by sending them to English medium boarding schools in Darjeeling, itself
a Nepali-speaking enclave in India. It was decided by government that to avoid this
embarrassment English should be officially reintroduced. A Survey of English Teach -
ing by three applied linguists was commissioned in 1983. Its findings were disturbing
(Davies et al. 1984, Davies 1987).
No school teacher in the sample studied possessed adequate English proficiency
(by which was meant ability to read at an unsimplified level). For that reason, and
in order to avoid the huge waste of time and resource devoted to English for the
majority of children who drop out before they have gained any usable language skill,
the Survey’s recommendation was that English should begin in government schools
as late as possible, well up in the secondary school.
However, there were, as the Survey team acknowledged, counter-arguments
which were political rather than psychological, that is they were about the perceived
role of English in Nepal rather than about the critical period. The Ministry of
Education had to recognise the powerful local views on the need to entrench English
early: one of the King’s chief advisers stated that in his view English should start in
the first year of primary school. The fact that there were no qualified teachers (and
no prospect of any coming forward) was unimportant. The Ministry was of course
well aware of its own government’s acceptance of the local political imperative. In a
situation where English represents modernity and the key to professional advance -
ment, starting English in the secondary school would be seen as deliberately
penalising the children of the majority, most of whom never reach secondary school
(about 50 per cent of primary school entrants dropped out at the end of the first
year). It was essential, so government officials argued, for English to start as early
as possible, not primarily to teach English but to provide the appearance of equal
opportunity.
Making decisions about English teaching in Nepal is more than a language
problem. What the applied linguist is able to do is to clarify the choices and explain
the parameters of those choices, what the implications are of starting English at
different ages. In this local context (as in any other) there is no one general recipe
(such as the critical period) that can be served up to determine the way forward.
5.3 Immersion language teaching
Over the last twenty years, immersion language teaching in Canada has been widely
celebrated as a success story in bilingual education (Johnson and Swain 1997). What
immersion means is the teaching of the second language as the medium of
instruction. This use of the second language as medium is much older than the
Canadian enterprise, and is still the prac tice in many colonial situations such as
anglophone and francophone ex-colonies.
But it is important to examine carefully just what is claimed for this Canadian
version of bilingual education. Its applied linguistic evaluators are very careful to
make clear just what those claims are and just what constraints must be put on those
claims (Swain and Lapkin 1982). These restrictions remind us that immersion
Applied linguistics and language learning/teaching 71
education cannot easily be transferred to other situations where the same conditions
do not pertain.
Canadian immersion programmes of various types (early total, early partial, late
partial, beginning in Grade 8) have all been shown to be successful in terms of their
objectives. But they require the presence of four factors:
1. The parents of the students need to be involved in establishing and ensuring
the continuation of the immersion programme.
2. The immersion students (and their parents) must be members of the majority
community in the local bilingual setting.
3. Both students and their parents must have a positive attitude towards the
target language and its speakers.
4. The immersion programme must be optional.
In other words, immersion language teaching has worked well in Canada (primarily
in Ontario) not only because it has offered the kind of resource-rich exposure to
French that is not possible for English in Nepal, but also because the learners, like
their parents, are members of the majority community of English speakers who
desire to learn the language of the minority French-Canadian community. Trans -
posing the immersion project to a country like Nepal would be hazardous. Once
again we can observe that the role of applied linguistics is to describe and evaluate
language problems within their own contexts.
5.4 Factors relevant to the optimum-age problem
The range of factors taken into account was hinted at above in our discussion of the
optimum age for starting a second/foreign language in an Australian secondary
school. In relation to that school they include:
1. the educational The project described was school-based, and therefore sub -
ject to the relevant institutional constraints of what can be done in the school
setting, including what kind of measurement was acceptable, tests, interviews
and so on.
2. the social and sociolinguistic It was necessary to consider the status of the
school, girls only, middle class, including a large proportion of migrant
parents, independent and therefore not constrained by State regulations with
regard to textbooks, hours of instruction, teacher qualifications, examinations,
size of class, choice of target language, school resources available; attitudes
of stakeholders to foreign language instruction, and especially to French
which, in the Australian context, is seen as less instrumental than for example
Indonesian or Japanese.
3. the psychological and psycho-linguistic At issue was the relevance of the
sensitive or critical period, as well as the relevance of the age of starting a
foreign language to the mode of learning; at issue also were findings from
studies of second-language acquisition research.
72 An Introduction to Applied Linguistics
4. the anthropological and cultural Two aspects here were particularly
relevant, the issue of the language classrooms in the school under study
as inde pendent cultural communities and the need to investigate these
communities using ethnographic techniques; and the role more generally of
culture, in this case French culture, however interpreted, in supporting and
facilitating the learning of the language.
5. the political Quite apart from its role in Australia as still the most prestigious
foreign language taught in schools and therefore potentially advantaged as
against other foreign languages, even those with large numbers of bilingual or
‘background’ speakers, French in Australia has in the last three years been
under strain because of the French Government’s insistence on carrying out
controlled nuclear explosions on one of its last colonial territories in the
South Pacific. As a result, some Australia-based French restaurants and other
businesses suffered during this period. It was therefore relevant to investigate
whether this negative attitude carried over into school French language
learning.
6. the religious Unlike Italian, which has a largely Catholic client base and
Hebrew, which is studied largely by Jews, French seems to be neutral with
regard to religion.
7. the economic Given the current emphasis in education on marketing
products for customers, it was necessary to investigate whether French was
seen as instrumental, that is vocationally well placed, and what reasons
children and their parents might have in choosing French rather than another
language, since the school offered a choice of six languages in its secondary
department.
8. the business aspect More relevant perhaps in a private language school which
tailors its courses to the fluctuations in student demand and market share.
9. the planning/policy aspect Within the context of a national language policy,
it was necessary to consider the school’s overall curriculum in order to
determine whether there was indeed a plan which incorporated work in the
primary and secondary departments or whether the various components at the
two levels had evolved unplanned. It seemed likely that the teachers who raised
the problem in the first instance were convinced that there was no single plan
which encompassed both primary and secondary departments; the question
that needed addressing therefore was whether this was the case and to consider
whether it was necessary to bring to bear techniques derived from the planning
literature.
10. the linguistic Relevant here were the materials used to teach French in the
primary and secondary departments as well as in the two streams, Beginners
and Continuers in the first two years of the secondary department. It turned
out that both streams used the same textbooks. Relevant also were the models
of French, in particular whether native-speaking teachers (and which kinds of
native speaker) were used at the two levels and in the two streams. It was also
important to examine the judgements made of the children’s spoken French by
Applied linguistics and language learning/teaching 73
their teachers, and whether similar judgements were being made at the primary
and secondary levels.
5.5 Doing applied linguistics: the process
Taking into consideration so many factors, such wide-ranging eclecticism by the
applied linguist is open to criticism on (1) the grounds of superficiality (trying to
look at everything and as a result observing nothing very much), (2) the lack of a
strong theoretical base, and (3) what may be the excessive demands on professional
training. The criticism of its lack of a strong theoretical base was discussed in
Chapter 3 and the issue of the demands on professional training will be considered
in Chapter 6. These are all related matters but it is important to say something here
about the criticism of superficiality.
What the superficiality criticism means is that if the attempt is made to take
account of so much information, appealing to the various factors mentioned above,
then the result must be the collection of too much data for sifting to take place and
for the necessary priority ranking of the various pieces of information to enable a way
forward to be planned.
But this is to ignore the way in which applied linguistics activities actually
proceed. Yes, an analysis is made which takes account of the various factors we have
mentioned; but then the first elimination takes place because not all factors will
be thought to be relevant: as we saw with our example earlier in this chapter on the
optimum age for starting French in a private girls’ school in Australia, where the
religious factor was discounted. Those factors which are seen to be of direct relevance
are then investigated and data collected for analysis.
As in any applied profession (e.g. general medicine) the data are not necessarily
collected or analysed by the same person: applied linguistics has its own specialisms
which provide for professional expertise where necessary. Thus there are within
applied linguistics those who specialise in pedagogic grammar, curriculum planning,
applied sociolinguistics, programme evaluation, language testing, language-teacher
training, second-language acquisition research, applied stylistics, language planning
for education, computer-assisted language learning, language-teaching methodlogy,
language in the workplace, languages for specific purposes, bilingualism, crosscultural
communication, clinical applied linguistics, forensic language studies,
and so on. In addition there are textbook writers, lexicographers, interpreting and
translating specialists, as well as theoretical and descriptive linguists, whose advice
and expertise may be called on.
6 FACTORS RELEVANT TO THE ELTS EVALUATION
In this next section of this chapter, I examine in detail an applied linguistic project
in the field of language testing so as to clarify further the factors taken into account,
the sources of knowledge appealed to, the skills drawn on and the stages followed.
74 An Introduction to Applied Linguistics
Necessarily, this project has its own particular features and will therefore be typical
only in some aspects of projects undertaken by applied linguists. Following this
examination, and to conclude the chapter, I consider the methodology used by the
applied linguist in operating on a problem and to that end I take as examples four
areas of importance in language teaching, second-language acquisition, proficiency
language testing, the teaching of languages for specific purposes and curriculum
design.
6.1 Background
Language testing reaches into many if not most applied linguistic activities. Assess -
ment is central to all institutional language activities where there is frequently appeal
to a language standard or norm.
The language problem to which this testing project belongs is that of the
educability of tertiary students in a non-native language medium. The students in
question were overseas or foreign students aiming to study at British universities. The
problem arose because a number of such students had been found part-way through
their studies to have inadequate English to proceed to a satisfactory conclusion and
so graduate at either the undergraduate or more usually the postgraduate level.
The organisation where this issue became an institutional language problem was
the UK para-statal British Council, a non-governmental body entrusted with the
task of allocating scholarships and so on to selected students in a variety of disciplines
wishing to attend British universities. Subjective judgements by its officers as to
whether a prospective student’s English was adequate had been found to be un -
reliable. English proficiency tests had been commissioned, the first used until the late
1970s (Davies 1965) and the second operational in the early part of the 1980s. This
second test, known as the English Language Testing System (ELTS) test, had been
designed in response to the push from the communicative movement to communi -
cative language teaching and in consequence communicative language testing, and
had based itself on the need for specificity in advanced language assessment.
What in practice that meant was that those students wishing to study a life
science, such as biology, would be tested on materials (in English) drawn in part from
the life sciences area. Similarly, those students wishing to study engineering would be
tested on materials drawn from the technology area. There were six of these specialist
areas, enough it was thought to cover the needs of most prospective students. This
ELTS test was used widely in the early 1980s, administered through the British
Council in some eighty different countries. It was noticeable that the comparable
American test (Test of English as a Foreign Language, or TOEFL), which had been
in use unchanged since the mid-1960s, made no concession to ways in which
different contexts influence language use.
By the mid-1980s it had come to be felt that ELTS was unnecessarily com plicated.
Its very specificity caused more problems than it solved since it was by no means clear
to prospective candidates (or their teachers, British Council officials and so on)
which special module of ELTS they should take since they might well be in the
Applied linguistics and language learning/teaching 75
process of moving from one specialism to another between the undergraduate and
the graduate level: should they seek to be tested in the area of their previous study or
in their future study area?
Again, the promise of specificity was open to complaint since in any one area (e.g.
the life sciences) the range of topic and specialist language was so huge that what was
clear to one biologist might well be opaque to another, making the text under test as
difficult for him/her as for someone from, say, social studies. One consequence was
that in order to avoid overspecialisation within the specialist area, test constructors
aimed at generality, which inevitably made the texts they chose less and less specific.
As a result the chosen texts could become so general as to lose all trace of the very
specificity they were supposed to contain. Perhaps this meant that the whole notion
of a specific test should be abandoned and a return made to the situation in which
TOEFL (and the previous British Council test) had originated, that is a general test
of English proficiency, the same test of ‘academic’ English for everyone (Alderson and
Urquhart 1985, discussed in Chapter 2 above).
The language problem presented by the British Council to its applied linguistics
consultants in the mid-1980s was what to do about the ELTS test. Should it remain
in use as it was, should it be revised, should it be rewritten? An evaluation was
needed, drawing on as wide a range of information as possible.
The detailed investigation of ELTS (Criper and Davies 1988 and see Davies 2006
for a recent overview) then carried out is described below; and in order to clarify its
relevance to our discussion of the enterprise of applied linguistics, I record my
discussion under the various heads or factors we have already noted.
6.1.1 Educational (including the psychometric) factors
ELTS was a proficiency test used in an educational setting, that is at entrance to a
British university. The educational questions that needed investigation were: to what
extent the test was being used at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and for
temporary attachment by senior academics; and whether it was suitable at these
different levels; to what extent it was in use (and found suitable) in different faculties,
and whether it was (as had been intended) being used differentially so that test scores
deemed proficient in one faculty (or university) were rated not sufficiently proficient
in any others. Again, many universities had provision for remedial English tuition for
their foreign students; what was the extent of this provision and what use was made
by those involved of the ELTS results? Both sensitivity to the ways in which tertiary
institutions operated and an understanding of their role and complexity was called
for in the project.
In addition, there were other skills that were required. One of these was the
analysis of the ELTS test in terms of its relevance to the content of the specialist areas
it purported to test. For example, what connection, if any, was there between the test
materials in the life sciences module and the textbooks, lectures and so on in
university departments of biology, bio-chemistry, botany and so on? And how far
were these likely to be constant at the different levels, under- and postgraduate? For
76 An Introduction to Applied Linguistics
analyses of this kind it was necessary to draw on the expertise of those skilled in
teaching life sciences at the different levels. The applied linguist could not be
expected to carry out the content analysis but he/she would expect to interpret the
results.
Another essential skill, which appears to be unique to the testing area but in
practice is relevant everywhere in applied linguistics research, is that of familiarity
with measurement (the psychometric aspect of educational studies) and with
elementary statistics, to which must also be added the skill of data entry and of
statistical analysis by computer. Those applied linguists who are consulted about
testing projects (as with this ELTS project) are likely to have all three skills, the
psychometric, the statistical and computer literacy. If not, then they must call on
colleagues or external consultants.
But for the purposes of understanding the working of any test these skills are all
essential since they provide the necessary evidence about the test’s workings, often
called its validity and reliability. Using these skills it was possible to examine the
extent to which ELTS gave its users the decisions they needed, in particular whether
it enabled them to make the right choices of candidates, those with adequate English
for their studies.
It was also important to investigate whether there was even-handedness across
modules, so that one module (say the life sciences module) was no harder than any
other (say the social studies module). If it was harder, then it was possible it was right
that it should be, but this was a matter for empirical investigation: if the English of
life sciences is truly more difficult than the English of social studies, then it is
appropriate that the tests should mirror this distinction. If not, and one was in fact
more difficult than the other, then we had established a case of irrelevant bias which
should be corrected.
ELTS contained four parts, tests of the four skills: reading, writing, listening
and speaking. The results offered a profile score (skill by skill) and a global score,
combining the four skills. It was important to determine the extent to which the
profile scores provided useful (and usable) information to the test users (university
departments etc.). Here again what was needed was a statistical analysis across a wide
range of candidates of the various scores and a survey (through interview, question -
naire etc.) of the actual use of these different modes of reporting to the institutions.
Since ELTS information was already being used in a large number of tertiary
institutions, it was necessary to check how the information was being used. Were the
so-called profile scores (separate scores for the four skills of reading, writing, listening
and speaking) being used or were institutions interested only in the overall global
score?
By the time of the evaluation teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) were
already beginning to consider the needs of those candidates intending to take the
test. Inevitably, courses in EFL, both the more general and those specifically designed
to provide pre-ELTS tuition, were taking account of what the test involved. The
question for the evaluators was whether such washback from the test was beneficial
in terms of its influence on EFL teaching or whether it was likely to exert a largely
Applied linguistics and language learning/teaching 77
negative influence, for example by overstressing the practice of multiple-choice test
questions.
6.1.2 Social (and its interface with the linguistic and sociolinguistic) factors
ELTS was predicated on a committed view of language variety, itself deriving from
the more theoretical notions in sociology of role and status, and in sociolinguistics
(or sociology of language) of the significance of situation in determining language
use (situation being understood to include all aspects of setting, including the
speakers and their relationships to one another), as well as the more practical com -
muni cative competence view that language learning (and therefore its assessment)
should be communicative, by which was understood being appropriate to its
purpose.
The theoretical and practical reasons for the design of ELTS appeared convincing
at the time of its construction. But when it came to the evaluation it was necessary
to look closely at the rationale for its design, and in particular at the validity of the
notion of discrete language varieties. For this part of the investigation, again it was
necessary to call on subject specialists but also to undertake an empirical investi -
gation which compared performance on the same subject modules by students with
different specialist backgrounds, and the opposite, different subject modules by
students from the same specialist backgrounds.
It was also necessary to examine the claims of communicative competence and
estimate the extent to which a test could ever be truly communicative, given the
requirements of the communicative competence idea, that it be spontaneous and
non-predictable.
Here too it was necessary to look at differential performance on ELTS by various
groups (for example males and females, younger and older students) as well as by
speakers from different language backgrounds. A continuing controversy (which we
come back to under politics below) was whether those who could lay claim to an
education in their own countries in English medium should be excused the test.
A related issue, which has become increasingly important, is whether
international tests such as TOEFL, ELTS or its successor IELTS are biased against
speakers of non-metropolitan varieties of English, such as Indian English (Davies,
Hamp-Lyons and Kemp 2003).
6.1.3 Psychological (and its interface, the psycholinguistic) factors
Levels of proficiency beyond early and intermediate acquisition have not been
prominent in second-language acquisition research as a topic worth pursuing. And
yet studies of advanced writing, of vocabulary acquisition, of pragmatic interference
and of discourse handling, these are all relevant to the study and the assessment
of advanced proficiency. The ELTS evaluators needed to analyse how far the test
designers had looked at these different areas of language studies and had inco r -
porated these ideas in the ELTS test. What became clear during the study was how
78 An Introduction to Applied Linguistics
little is known about levels of proficiency and what it is that distinguishes one level
from another in terms of language function. It was also necessary to take note of how
much English was used in different countries, the question being whether those from
settings with poor resources should be tested separately, on the grounds that more
important than the present proficiency of candidates from those settings was their
aptitude for gaining future proficiency within a resource-rich environment, for
example in a UK university.
6.1.4 Anthropological factors ( for insights on cultural matters)
Since the ELTS test was being used throughout the world and therefore open to
scrutiny across cultures it was important to examine whether any of its content could
be thought offensive.
Medicine, for example, might be regarded as neutral in this regard since the whole
point of overseas students attending medical courses in the UK was (presumably)
to learn Western medicine. But in the West itself there is disagreement as to what
should be studied and what is legitimate medical practice. There are severe differ -
ences of opinion among those involved in medicine about such topics as abortion
and euthanasia. In some countries, mention of contraception is unacceptable and
should probably be avoided in such a widely used test.
The attitude that if these students actually come to the UK to study they will
not be able to escape from discussions about contraception as well as medical
explanations of its uses and patients’ enquiries about its efficacy, these are all true but
not the point. Culture is context bound and what the test must try to achieve is a
judicious balance between a valid sampling of what students in a particular discipline
need to do once started on a UK university course and an avoidance of giving offence
to the students and their home communities. This may be censorship but it is
sensitive self-censorship since it recognises local norms and does not try to change
them. If that is thought to be desirable, then the ELTS test is not its vehicle.
Another use of anthropological skills is in the exercise of ethnographic techniques
in researching how students study in a foreign language medium and the extent to
which they do so in distinct ways. Evidence from this type of study is confirmatory
or not of the test scores and may show that what the test is testing is not exactly
(perhaps not even remotely) what the students themselves know and are capable of.
This is another approach to the issue of test validity.
6.1.5 Political factors
Political insights at the national level meant careful attention to issues such as test
exemptions. It was always accepted that a student from, say, New Zealand would not
be expected to sit the test on the grounds that New Zealand is an English-speaking
country. But whether the same dispensation applied to countries such as the West
Indies or India was an open question. And there were uncertainties too about blanket
exemption for countries such as New Zealand, since it was always possible that a
Applied linguistics and language learning/teaching 79
candidate from New Zealand (with New Zealand citizenship) might have been
educated in, say, Thailand and have used New Zealand only as a base for university
applications.
It was necessary, therefore, to consider the question of exemption carefully and to
recommend offering exemption not on the basis of nationality or provenance but on
the basis of individual educational history. Given the complicated history of English
medium education in the colonies and ex-colonies, this would not avoid all
objections but it was probably fairer than country-wide exemptions. An issue that
clearly needed addressing was whether all exemptions should be completely removed
so that everyone not schooled in the UK should be required to take the test.
Political sensitivity was also necessary on the more local scale, that is in terms of
the extent to which ELTS was in practice being used as a normative instrument.
Those whose applications were processed by the British Council were in two large
categories, British Council scholars whose admission depended on their satisfying
the Council’s own fairly strict guidelines, and other students who had gained
admission to a British university direct and whose English was being tested by the
British Council simply as an agent of the admitting university. The issue here was
whether the admitting university had any serious interest in the level of English of its
incoming students or whether it was ignoring the test results on the grounds that a
student would be able to pick up adequate English once admitted. More crudely in
such cases, it was not so much the English of an overseas student that mattered as the
fees they paid. Fees increasingly dominated UK university activities through the
1980s and 1990s, as market forces became more and more important.
6.1.6 Religious factors
Religious considerations were relevant only in so far as the test raised the kind of
religio-cultural concerns mentioned above in the section on the anthropological
factor. If the test was to be acceptable across all religious settings it was important
that it did not contain any material which might be offensive to one or other
religious group. In addition to the obvious avoidance of references to the deity and
to those closely associated it was also relevant to query any mention of those social
issues which are considered taboo in some religious contexts, matters to do with sex
and the family for example.
6.1.7 Economic factors
A cost-benefit analysis was necessary in order to determine whether the cost of the
test outweighed its usefulness. The test was expected to pay for itself, candidates were
charged a fee. But processing of the test in the receiving institutions was not paid
for and there were administrative costs that needed to be taken into account and
balanced against the costs of remedial English programmes in these institutions. The
fundamental question was whether there was any benefit to institutions in selection
based, in part, on present English proficiency; and this was influenced by the amount
80 An Introduction to Applied Linguistics
of reliability that could be placed on the test results. Even if they were 100 per cent
reliable, there would still be costs. But since no test has complete reliability, it became
necessary to compute, in financial terms as far as possible, what contribution a flawed
instrument made to the output of university overseas students. This is similar to the
questions discussed in medical reports on the proportion of False Positives to False
Negatives acceptable from the use of a new drug.
6.1.8 Business factors
This factor related closely to the previous one of economics. The ELTS test was
developed at a time when government money was still available for the monitoring
of overseas students. As this support was progessively withdrawn, it became clear that
ELTS would have to operate more and more as a business operation which would
sell its services to universities and other receiving institutions, as well as to test
candidates. It was also to be hoped that a future development would expand the test’s
use to universities outside the UK. And indeed that was what did happen: the
successor to ELTS, the International English Language Testing System (known as
IELTS) is a joint British-Australian operation. (The original plan was that Canada
would also participate, but that did not come about.)
6.1.9 Planning/policy (including the ethical) factors
A number of issues to do with planning and policy have already been mentioned and
will not be repeated. But there is an additional aspect which was emphasised in the
evaluation, and that was the need to plan the integration of the proficiency test with
the universities’ remedial programmes, so as to ensure that those false positives who
were admitted would be given proper attention. The evaluation of ELTS made clear
that a one-off proficiency test, often administered months before a student arrived in
the UK, was unsatisfactory and what was necessary was an integrated programme
of assessment and teaching, the assessment becoming increasingly diagnostic so as
to inform the remedial programmes. This type of integrated programme required
resources and these it was difficult to argue for in a climate of reduced resources.
Here there was also the ethical factor to consider in that overseas students who
were increasingly being charged larger and larger direct fees for tuition were not
necessarily being given the kind of English support (including assessment) they could
properly expect to receive. From the point of view of assessment, it has been
interesting to observe how those involved in this field have in recent years become
more and more concerned about the ethics of their activity. We shall come back to
this issue in Chapter 6.
6.1.10 Linguistic and phonetic factors
We have already considered some of the linguistic aspects under educational and the
sociology/sociolinguistic, above. But there is an even more central linguistic aspect
Applied linguistics and language learning/teaching 81
and that is the issue of sampling. Like any proficiency test, ELTS is meant to
represent the language: those whose results indicate satisfactory proficiency are
deemed to possess enough English for their study. This is a very large assumption.
No proficiency test is likely to take up more than, say, three hours of test time and
yet that test is expected to predict whether a student can cope with a year or three
years’ study, including very complex spoken and written material.
It was also assumed in the non-specialist components of the ELTS test that a
proficiency test should target language use in the community, on the reasonable
grounds that a student who coped easily with English communication in life outside
the university, interacting with other students, communicating in the local shops,
solving accommodation problems, seeking medical attention, going to the cinema,
managing an English-speaking daily life, would be more likely to succeed in his/her
studies. These are all large demands from a test. What this means is that the samples
of English use that are put into the test must be very carefully chosen on the basis of
their normality and frequency within the language. Anything odd or idiosyncratic,
or even jokey, is best omitted. Judgements of the samples in the ELTS test required
careful analysis on the basis of linguistic knowledge of the English language, the
kind of analysis that is necessary for selecting the materials contained in a pedagogic
grammar.
In addition, judgements were necessary of the spoken component of the test.
These in part related to the voices used for the listening sections and in part to the
ways in which the students’ own speaking was measured, how far the question of
intelligibility was raised, and of course intelligibility to whom. Just as the touchstone
for the written materials in the test was the standard language, so the question which
raised itself with regard to the spoken components of ELTS was what sort of norms
should be applied to the judgements made of the candidates’ own speech. To this
extent the language problem which led to the evaluation of ELTS was indeed a prob -
lem involving language as much as it involved the other factors to which we have
drawn attention.
7 INVESTIGATING THE PROBLEMS: THE METHODOLOGY
OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Faced with such fundamental problems concerning language learning and teaching,
problems such as how to plan for the optimum starting age for language teaching
in a school or education system, problems such as how to assess language learning
success most validly, and how to know whether or not this is being achieved, applied
linguistics has developed a series of methodological approaches to the collection of
relevant language data. Several of these have been referred to in earlier discussions.
What I propose to do now is to consider four areas of applied linguistics that have
very direct relevance to language learning and language teaching. What ‘relevance’
means here is that for the applied linguist these are areas that in different ways bring
together the language, the learner and the context. The four areas all connect with
what it is that is supposed to be being learned. The four areas are:
82 An Introduction to Applied Linguistics
1. Second-language acquisition research: what are the stages of second-language
learning?
2. Language proficiency testing: what are the markers of successful language
learning?
3. Teaching of LSP: what does the learner need to know?
4. Curriculum design: what does the teacher need to know?
In all four of these areas in which applied linguistics has particular relevance to
language teaching and language learning, the thrust of applied linguistic activity is to
extend our knowledge of what it is that the learner is learning: stages, markers, needs,
or plans. But equally the ambition is to determine not only the linguistic evidence –
if that were the case we would be concerned here with linguistics. Instead, in addition
to the evidence from linguistics, the applied linguist is also and equally interested
in the learning and the context. So it is second-language acquisition in context,
language proficiency testing in context, teaching of language varieties in context,
curriculum design in context.
Let us consider second-language acquisition (SLA) first. Here we are less con -
cerned with the very specialised form of SLA research which has developed in the last
decade and which moves one branch of SLA research towards a parallel study with
Child Language Acquisition and therefore is less interested in context than the more
traditional SLA research.
Similarly with language proficiency testing. Here again the linguistics temptation
is to move the enterprise more and more towards a factorial and/or cognitive study
of the mind and its language faculty (Oller 1998), while the applied linguistics
concern is with the delineation of indicators of successful contextual language
learning.
Again with the teaching of language varieties. Here the distinction is perhaps
easier since where linguistics research is towards the separation of language varieties
into discrete codes and/or texts. That is not what applied linguistics is interested in.
For two reasons: first, because uncontextualised varieties are essentially uninteresting
for a study of language in use; second, because second-language learn ing takes place
in context and therefore it is crucial that for teaching purposes the context of their
use should be highlighted.
Curriculum/syllabus design: such activity should for applied linguistics purposes
be context sensitive. A completely generalised curriculum would be too abstract to
be effective.
In all cases therefore the applied linguist attempts to bring together the language,
the learner and the situation. That is the challenge and that is the value of applied
linguistics to language teaching and language learning. But there is another aspect
too and that is the role of the applied linguist as critic. Here I am not thinking so
much of the critical applied linguistics that we sketched in Chapter 2 and return to
in Chapter 7. Rather I am thinking more traditionally of the proper role of the
academic which is always and everywhere to be sceptical.
Applied linguistics and language learning/teaching 83
7.1 Second-language acquisition research
Research into second-language acquisition began in a very traditional applied
linguistics way by investigating the problem of learners’ errors. All language teachers
(and probably all language learners) are aware of the fact of error: an error is a gap
(filled or unfilled) in a learner’s knowledge of the target language. So much is obvious
and always has been to language teachers who have sought explanations for error: is
it linguistic, to be accounted for by contrastive analysis so that an error is a confusion
of some kind between one or more component of the L1 and the L2 (the target
language); or is it psychological, to be accounted for by learning theory of some kind?
The applied linguistics contribution has been (1) to put these two kinds of
explanation together and (2) to look at the system of error without seeking causes
(note that this is as we suggested in Chapter 3 the normal applied linguistic
approach, looking at states and not at change over time and space). These together
yield a synchronic explanation of second-language learning stages.
Starting then from a problem, what error means, SLA research has developed its
study of the learner’s language (or ‘interlanguage’) into the most abstract of appliedlinguistic
projects (Birdsong 2004). So much so that applied linguists (not just
language teachers) have begun to query what the current paradigm has to offer to the
understanding and improvement of communication, which we have suggested is the
overall aim of applied linguistics.
It may be that indeed SLA research has shifted from being an applied linguistic
activity to being more of a linguistic one and that would explain the increasing
research time given to investigating cognitive models based on L1 universal grammar
theory. If this is the case then SLA research is no longer part of applied linguistics,
and it may be that this is a natural process whereby language problems when studied
can become formalised, a kind of colonisation by linguistics, a widening of its
empire. Similar progression could be attributed to discourse and to stylistics: both
concerned with problems of analysis of texts longer than the sentence and now in
some measure both subsumed within a greater linguistics where they are on the
applied side or at least in the no man’s land between linguistics and applied
linguistics. And more recently corpus linguistics seems to have taken the same route,
since it is in some sense a linguistic formalisation of ideas about genre and different
kinds of language text, as we see below in the discussion of the teaching of LSP.
7.2 Language proficiency testing
Testing is more a normal part of language teaching than of other curriculum subjects
because the language teacher is concerned with skill as well as with knowledge. This
means that there is more need for testing. Testing is further complicated by the
unusual presence of a living criterion, the native speaker. In History, Physics and so
on there is no equivalent, no body of persons who represent ultimate attainment. Of
course there may be an individual, an Einstein or a Gibbon, whose scholarship is
universally recognised as a model for us all; but even that is not really comparable
84 An Introduction to Applied Linguistics
because no course of instruction sets out to emulate such scholarship whereas in
many language-teaching operations the goal is the native speaker, but increasingly
testing comes under criticism as to which native speaker (see Davies, Hamp-Lyons
and Kemp 2003).
What language proficiency testing is about is the setting of appropriate targets for
varying levels and uses of language. Such tests aim to provide the rigours of test
guidelines, while ensuring that the right kinds of language behaviour are included
and in appropriate quantities. The applied linguistic interest in language proficiency
testing is now central but that was not always the case. What has become clear over
the last thirty years is the role of the test in encapsulating both what the learner needs
to know for a particular purpose and what amount of that knowledge counts as
success. This is a major contribution both to the practice of language learning and
teaching, and to the theoretical understanding of language learning and language
need.
Furthermore, language proficiency tests both model the native speaker and at
the same time provide an alternative means of setting goals for learning. They
operationalise language learning precisely by setting explicit goals, which is another
way of stating that language tests make language learning accountable by establishing
what it means to ‘know’ the language. They do this by sampling the relevant areas of
language to be learned and guarantee that their sampling is correct through their
documentation on reliability and validity. And here is the major distinction between
tests of proficiency and tests of achievement (or attainment): tests of proficiency
sample the language that is being learned; tests of achievement sample the teaching
programme (syllabus, course, textbook etc.) that has already been agreed, a sample
then of an existing sample.
We can distinguish six kinds of information that language testing provides. The
first is in research in which language testing is used to provide hypotheses in relation
to our understanding of language and language learning. The status and concept
of language proficiency, the structure of language ability and the natural order of
language acquisition have been much discussed by language testers using language
testing techniques to produce data which furthers discussion. Such issues are
primarily intended to add to our knowledge and understanding of language and
language learning, though no doubt they also have an applied potential in languageteaching
programmes.
The second use of language testing in experiments is a subset of the first use, in
research. But there is an important difference. In the research use we are thinking of
research into language testing; in the experimental use we are thinking of tests as
criteria for language teaching experiments, for example in method comparison.
The third use, which is reflexive, and much discussed as a responsibility of testing,
is used less than it could be, that is the washback effect on the syllabus of language
testing (Clapham et al. 1997). The implications of test results and their meaning are
employed as a critique of the syllabus and the teaching; while the testing structure,
the content and method of the tests themselves influence the teaching. We are
concerned here with teaching to the test, for it is always the pejorative aspect of
Applied linguistics and language learning/teaching 85
washback that is implied, but we stress that there is a positive side to this. The
implications are, first, that teaching is influenced by testing and, second, that testing
has an important responsibility – to ensure that its influence is constructive.
The fourth use of language testing is measuring progress among learners, the most
common type of test being the achievement test.
The fifth use is in selection of students on the basis of either previous learning or
in terms of some more general language-learning ability or aptitude for the next stage
of education or a particular vocation. What is of interest here is the interaction
between use for progress and use for selection, that is to what extent a valid test of
progress is in itself a valid test for selection purposes.
The sixth use is in relation to evaluation of courses, methods and materials. This
is a special use of testing which must cope with the learner variable, distinguishing it
from the evaluation of the materials, programme and so on.
Language assessment provides a triple message:
1. A message about skill, to what extent learners have reached adequate pro -
ficiency, however that is defined and the role of language tests in developing
more specific and detailed indicators of adequate proficiencies.
2. A message about development, which appears at first sight only to be psycho -
linguistic since it seems to suggest a progress along a very clear and obvious
path towards ultimate attainment. That obviousness is not true even of native
speakers, who may have very different endpoints. Attached to this message
about development for all language learners is an indication of the identity
which the learner chooses (usually unconsciously). Information about development
therefore provides an indication – through assessment – as to both the
psycholinguistic and the sociolinguistic provenance of the learner.
3. A message about knowledge. Language users, both native speakers and nonnative
speakers, distinguish themselves in terms of their awareness of language.
This shows itself both in the range of acceptability judgements they are
prepared to make and in the extent of their conscious metalinguistic reflecting
upon language, which in turn demonstrates itself in knowledge about
language and in areas of ludic creativity. Such a reification of language does
seem to discriminate both among native speakers and among non-native
speakers; it does, of course, have some bearing on our first message, that of
skill, since there may well be an element of knowledge within skill which deter -
mines differential proficiency (Davies 1990: 11, Davies 2006).
7.3 The teaching of language for specific purposes (LSP)
Richards et al. (1985) define LSP thus:
second or foreign languages used for particular purposes and restricted types of
communication (e.g. for medical reports, scientific writing, air-traffic control)
and which contain lexical, grammatical and other linguistic features which are
different from ordinary language … In language teaching decisions must be made
86 An Introduction to Applied Linguistics
as to whether a learner or groups of learners require a language for general pur -
poses or for special purposes.
Such definitions are overbland. They take for granted the discreteness of LSPs and of
registers. But except in the most restricted spheres (e.g. knitting patterns) where the
LSP conforms to a kind of ritualised speech, there is no discreteness, there is always
overlap. Here is an excerpt from an encyclopedic article on a branch of cognitive
psychology:
Marr and Poggio (1979) implemented the same two constraints, of smoothness
and uniqueness, in a quite different non-cooperative stereo algorithm that used
multiple spatial frequency tuned channels and a coarse-to-fine matching strategy.
The key idea here was to exploit the fact that only a few edge points, and hence
only modest ambiguity problems, arise in very coarse channels. Matches obtained
in these can then be used to guide matching in more finely tuned channels.
Ambiguities in all channels are reduced almost to zero by suitable coupling of
spatial frequency tuning to the disparity range allowed for matching. This requires
that the high spatial frequency channels have very narrow disparity ranges, and
that they therefore need to be ‘put in the right place to look’ if they are to find the
correct matches. The algorithm does this by generating appropriate vergence eye
movements driven by the coarser channels.
(Frisby 1990: 251)
Now I am an educated native speaker of English. But, like most people, I tend
to read material that is already somewhat familiar. The content of this Cognitive
Psychology topic (the computational theory of perception) is quite new to me and I
find the excerpt above hard to process. Of course, it will be said, this excerpt of some
ten lines is part of a larger whole and if I were to read the whole article with care then
I would be in a stronger position to understand the quoted section. While this is no
doubt true, its very obviousness underlines the problem facing the second-language
learner who wishes to access this article. To propose that he/she read the whole article
is one version of the advice that in order to understand a text in a subject area you
need to understand the subject first, or in order to understand this excerpt you need
first to read not just the article it is taken from but also the whole of the encyclopedia
the article is taken from. This is the submersion version of advice! For of course if
you are not already familiar with cognitive psychology then reading the encyclopedia
will probably also require the understanding you don’t yet have – remember you are
a second-language learner of English. Catch 22 indeed!
In my case it is just possible that if I were to read the whole article and check the
cross-references to other articles I might then be able to understand the quoted
excerpt. And in practice when an excerpt of this kind is given to a second-language
learner it will almost always be the case that the student in question will have already
studied cognitive psychology, either in the L1 or in English and will therefore have
the background knowledge in the subject needed to make sense of the explanation
of the computational theory of perception, even if the actual information is entirely
new. If all or most previous study of cognitive psychology has been in the L1 then
Applied linguistics and language learning/teaching 87
there may be some language problems with the English of this entry that will need
attention. But if the matching of the subject matter to the needs and interests of the
learner has been done well then there will be an advantage in providing a text of this
kind, either as part of the content of the psychology class or as an exercise in the
English support class or possibly in both.
A more theoretical approach to LSP is advocated by Douglas (2000), quoting
Chapelle: ‘What is required is a theory of how the context of a particular situation,
within a broader context of culture, constrains the linguistic choice a user can make’
(Chapelle 1998: 15).
The basic assumption then behind programmes dedicated to teaching languages
for specific purposes (LSP) is that language function, purpose, area and so on require
the use of a special variety of the language; this was the argument we referred to in
the discussion on language and gender in Chapter 3. Different domains of social life
can be equated to different language varieties. The growth of LSP (ESP for English)
over the last thirty years has been considerable but it is of course not new. German
for Scientists/Chemists/Engineers was in vogue long before for non-Germanspeaking
scientists who needed access to scientific materials written in German.
What has changed is that English has taken over the former role of German in
science and of just about every other language everywhere else. That is the first
reason, the continuing of a tradition in a new medium. The second reason targets
English: it represents a reaction against the literary materials widely used for the
teaching of English as a foreign/second language.
The applied linguistics contribution to this activity has been two edged (Douglas
2004). On the one hand it provided the necessary skills in textual analysis, the
writing or practice materials and of tests in LSP; it experimented with the evaluation
of courses using LSP as against those which used non-specific language materials (e.g.
general English). On the other hand it offered a sceptical commentary, criticising the
lack of a clear model of variety which showed the differences between one variety and
another. Furthermore it showed that the differences between one variety and another
are likely to be in terms of frequency of the use of different features rather than in
completely differential use. Of course there would always be certain vocabulary items
that would be specific. But those who had background knowledge in the area would
already be familiar with these terms or at least would acquire them very quickly.
A major contribution of applied linguistics to language learning and teaching
studies has been to develop materials purposely written for the language teacher. This
is the case of LSP, as we saw in Chapter 2, with pedagogical grammar. The role of
applied linguistics is to mould a relevant content area for the needs of its target
audience, in this case experienced language teachers (Howard and Brown 1997). It
is a form of simplification, as all language-teaching materials are.
7.4 Curriculum design
Language teaching is not confined to the classroom: if it were then the idea that
teaching is and should really be about method would have more force. But language
88 An Introduction to Applied Linguistics
teaching in reality also takes in the necessary education of the teacher, the prep -
aration for the teaching, the follow-up from the teaching, the whole professional
activity of the teacher, which means also the continuing education that keeps the
teacher in touch with developments in the field (Richards and Rodgers 1986).
Language-teaching responsibilities also take in the support systems to the teacher, the
training of new teachers, the in-service education of teachers, the textbook writing,
the assessment systems, the evaluation projects, the curriculum design and planning,
and the research into language teaching. All of these are part of the wider under -
standing of language teaching and may of course be carried out by those who are
also engaged in class teaching or may have been so in the past. What a curriculum
provides for the language teacher is a plan, based on a view or philosophy of language
and of learning (Ferguson 2006).
According to Richards, Platt and Platt (1985), curriculum design (also curricu -
lum development) refers to: the study and development of the goals, content, imple -
mentation, and evaluation of an education system. In language teaching, curriculum
development (also called syllabus design) includes:
1. the study of the purposes for which a learner needs a language (needs analysis);
2. the setting of objectives, and the development of a syllabus, teaching methods
and materials; and
3. the evaluation of the effects of these procedures on the learner’s language
ability.
Nunan quotes Stenhouse with approval (Nunan 1990: 76):
The uniqueness of each classroom setting implies that any proposal – even at
school level – needs to be tested and verified and adapted by each teacher in his
own classroom. The ideal is that the curricular specification should feed a teacher’s
personal research and development programme through which he is increasing his
understanding of his own work and hence bettering his teaching … It is not
enough that teachers’ work should be studied: they need to study it themselves.
(Stenhouse 1975: 143)
What Richards and Rodgers (1986) suggest is that while a curriculum often is
the plan and the philosophy, a syllabus contains the details of the content to be
taught and the methods to be used. Curriculum may of course encompass syllabus:
‘Traditionally the term syllabus has been used to refer to the form in which linguistic
content is specified in a course or method. Inevitably the term has been more closely
associated with methods that are product centered rather than those that are process’
(Richards and Rodgers 1986: 21).
At its most basic the applied linguistic contribution to curriculum design is to
provide a plan which encompasses a sequenced series of teaching stages and goals,
ensuring that the basic grammar, vocabulary and pragmatics are included in the time
available. A useful (but not essential) addition would be to provide lesson materials
that are both interesting and challenging, but this is not primarily the applied
linguist’s responsibility, unless he/she is also engaged as a textbook writer (McGrath
Applied linguistics and language learning/teaching 89
2002). This aspect of the applied linguist’s work matches the older formulation of
methodics, which made central to the work of the language-teaching methodologist,
the three-pronged task of selection, grading and sequencing. While it may be the case
that all language features are equally difficult, it is the applied linguist’s professional
job to sequence them in such a way that progression (and inclusion of what has
preceded) seems appropriate. And while scorn has been heaped on the proposal that
such teaching materials should be ‘teacher-proof ’, the underlying intention is
laudable, given the very broad range of professional teaching ability and skills
available in an educational system; given also the range of proficiency in the target
language among those teachers.
8 EDUCATIONAL LINGUISTICS
Spolsky writes in his editor’s Introduction to the 1999 Pergamon Concise Encyclo -
pedia of Educational Linguistics that educational linguistics was:
a term modelled on educational psychology and educational sociology. It
describes the commingling of an academic discipline (linguistics) with a practical
academic profession (education). While it maintains the higher status for the
academic field through using it as the head of the noun clause, it rejects the notion
that linguistics is just waiting to be applied, as a hammer is waiting for a nail to
drive it in. Rather, the use of the term asserts the need for a careful consideration
of the educational side as well, producing a responsible new field. [Its task] is to
define the set of knowledge from the many and varied branches of the scientific
study of language that may be relevant to formal or informal education … [T]he
term also includes those branches of formal or informal education that have direct
concern with the language and linguistic proficiency of learners.
(Spolsky 1999: 1)
If educational linguistics was modelled on educational psychology and
educational sociology, applied linguistics, again according to Spolsky, was modelled
on applied mathematics ‘winning out in competition with the equally logical term
“Language engineering” to cover a wide range of interests in practical applications of
the knowledge that is being developed through the growth of the modern discipline
of linguistics’ (ibid).
The distinction Spolsky intends is between a discipline-in-waiting (the hammer,
which is his view of applied linguistics) and the development of ‘a responsible new
field’, that is educational linguistics. And yet when I examine the nearly 200 articles
in his Concise Encyclopedia it is difficult to justify omitting them from an encyclo -
pedia of applied linguistics. Educational linguistics, accordingly, appears to limit
both the source (anything linguistic) and the target (various branches of language
education).
Definitions of applied mathematics, (see Chapter 1) tend to the theory (pure
maths)–practice (applied maths) distinction. It is difficult to understand Spolsky’s
view that applied linguistics is a hammer in waiting unless he means that educational
90 An Introduction to Applied Linguistics
linguistics has taken up the earlier definition of applied linguistics, that it is wholly
about language teaching, largely in terms of source, entirely in terms of target.
This is the position of Wilkins (1999) whose article on applied linguistics in the
encyclopedia follows Spolsky on educational linguistics. That way, Wilkins tells
us, lies coherence, although he accepts that just as coherence may be achieved by
restricting the field to language teaching, a similar coherence could be achieved by
examination of any other domain of applied linguistics enquiry (Wilkins 1999: 17).
This seems to be the multiple variety view of applied linguistics which does not
assume or expect an umbrella coherence. Which suggests that Spolsky and Wilkins
are in agreement: educational linguistics is a reduced form of applied linguistics, held
together as a discrete discipline ‘by the type of language use that the study is directed
to’ (Wilkins 1999: 17).
The term educational linguistics was also used by Stubbs as the title of his 1986
book which, he tells us, ‘has been influenced by Halliday’s work on language in
education’ (Stubbs 1986: 2). While this approach has something in common with
Spolsky’s, they do not seem to be singing from the same hymn sheet. Educational
linguistics to Stubbs appears to be a way of providing teachers with the education
about language that will inform their practice, a very Hallidayan project.
9 CONCLUSION
In this chapter I first considered the arguments for confining applied linguistics to
a concern with second-language teaching and learning. Then I discussed two ‘prob -
lems’ in the language-teaching field: first, the optimum-age problem and, second, an
investigation into the validity of a large-scale English-language proficiency test, the
English Language Testing Service (ELTS) test. These two ‘problems’ were considered
from the point of view of a number of relevant factors, opening up a discussion on
what it is that needs to be taken into account when the applied linguist is faced with
a language problem. I then considered the methodology used by the applied linguist
in working with a problem, and to that end I took as examples four areas of
importance in language teaching: second-language acquisition, proficiency language
testing, the teaching of languages for specific purposes and curriculum design. The
chief role of applied linguistics in the field of language teaching and learning is, as
elsewhere, to ask the right questions about the enterprise under discussion in its own
context and at the same time to ensure that in spite of its particularities, the
enterprise is approached as an example of the general system of language teaching to
which it belongs. Finally, I suggested that the term educational linguistics is best seen
as a reduced version of applied linguistics.
1 PENDAHULUAN
Dalam bab terakhir saya menganggap tiga bidang kepentingan bersama untuk kedua ahli bahasa
dan diterapkan ahli bahasa dan berusaha untuk membedakan tujuan dan prosedur
dua profesi . Saya mengusulkan agar ahli bahasa dan ahli bahasa yang diterapkan biasanya melihat
dalam arah yang berlawanan , dengan perubahan bahasa sebagai agenda linguistik mengemudi
linguis mencari bukti tentang teori linguistik , sedangkan ahli bahasa yang digunakan adalah
termotivasi oleh menyediakan sarana yang lebih efisien komunikasi dalam masyarakat
kita tinggal masuk aku beranjak ke bidang pengajaran bahasa dan pembelajaran : ini adalah dominan
dalam linguistik terapan , dalam arti bahwa linguis lebih diterapkan mengkhususkan diri dalam bidang ini
daripada di lain . Ada pandangan , yang diselenggarakan oleh beberapa ahli bahasa dan ahli bahasa terapan , yang
pengajaran bahasa dan pendidikan bahasa - guru adalah satu-satunya kekhawatiran tepat
diterapkan linguistik .
Bab ini dimulai dengan presentasi dari argumen untuk dan terhadap membatasi
diterapkan linguistik untuk perhatian dengan pengajaran bahasa kedua dan pembelajaran . kemudian
Saya mengambil contoh dari dua ' masalah ' di lapangan , pertama masalah umur optimum
( yang telah kita dibesarkan di Bab 2 ) dan kedua penyelidikan atas
validitas bahasa Inggris tes kemampuan skala besar , Bahasa Inggris
Testing Service ( elts ) tes, pendahulu IELTS ( lihat di bawah ) , dan khususnya
konstruk digunakan dalam desain tes itu , yaitu bahasa Inggris untuk tujuan tertentu .
Kedua ' masalah ' dianggap dari sudut pandang sejumlah relevan
faktor , membuka diskusi tentang apa yang perlu diperhitungkan
ketika ahli linguistik diterapkan dihadapkan dengan masalah dalam pendidikan bahasa . Akhirnya , saya
mempertimbangkan metodologi yang digunakan oleh linguis diterapkan dalam operasi pada masalah dan
untuk itu saya ambil sebagai contoh empat area penting dalam pengajaran bahasa , kedua
pemerolehan bahasa , uji kemahiran bahasa , pengajaran bahasa untuk
tujuan tertentu, dan desain kurikulum .
2 KLAIM
Terlepas dari berbagai pelebaran kegiatan yang dilakukan oleh linguistik terapan dan
terlepas dari kesepakatan umum tentang jangkauan sumbernya diklaim dalam
Statuta Asosiasi Internasional Linguistik Terapan :
L' Association tuangkan tapi de promouvoir les Recherches dans les domaines de la
linguistique appliquée , comme par exemple l' akuisisi , l' enseignement ,
l' emploi et le Traitement des langues , d' en diffuser les Résultats et de promouvoir
la koordinasi et la kerjasama interdisciplinaires et internationales dans ces
domaines .
( Pasal 2 Anggaran Dasar Aila 1964)
( Tujuan Asosiasi adalah untuk mempromosikan penelitian di bidang Linguis diterapkan -
tics , misalnya belajar bahasa , pengajaran bahasa , penggunaan bahasa dan bahasa
perencanaan , untuk mempublikasikan hasil penelitian ini dan untuk mempromosikan internasional dan
kerjasama interdisipliner di daerah-daerah .
( Pasal 2 Anggaran Dasar Aila 1964)
dan dengan bangga menegaskan dalam Kaplan dan Widdowson ( 1992) :
penerapan pengetahuan linguistik untuk masalah dunia nyata ... setiap kali
pengetahuan tentang bahasa digunakan untuk memecahkan masalah dasar terkait bahasa , kami
mungkin mengatakan bahwa linguistik terapan sedang dipraktekkan . Terapan adalah teknologi yang
membuat ide-ide abstrak dan temuan penelitian dapat diakses dan relevan dengan nyata
dunia , melainkan menengahi antara teori dan praktek .
( ibid : 76 )
dan di Crystal (1992 : 24 ) , juga memilih untuk pendekatan yang lebih inklusif :
penggunaan linguistik teori , metode dan temuan dalam menjelaskan dan memecahkan
masalah harus dilakukan dengan bahasa yang muncul di daerah lain pengalaman . itu
domain linguistik terapan sangat luas dan mencakup bahasa asing
belajar dan mengajar , leksikografi , gaya , pidato analisa forensik dan teori
membaca.
dan Wilkins ( 1994) :
[ T ] ia studi penggunaan manusia yang membuat dari endowmen bahasa dan
masalah yang dia temui dalam hal ini adalah materi pelajaran terapan
linguistik .
( Wilkins 1994: 162 )
dan tanpa bertanya di Cook dan Kasper ( 2005 ) memperkenalkan Linguistik Terapan
edisi khusus ' Linguistik Terapan dan Isu Dunia Nyata ' , di mana mereka ' dibutuhkan untuk
diberikan langkah bertahap diterapkan penyelidikan linguistik dalam beberapa tahun terakhir menjadi varietas
daerah baru ' dan berkomentar bahwa lima kontribusi dalam edisi khusus semua :
bersaksi lingkup pelebaran , dan memberikan contoh seberapa jauh baik disiplin dan
jurnal telah melampaui keprihatinan sebelumnya hampir eksklusif dengan hanya satu
64 Sebuah Pengantar Linguistik Terapan
masalah dunia nyata , cara terbaik untuk mengajar dan belajar bahasa .
( Cook dan Kasper 2005 : 479 )
Masih ada suara peringatan yang bersangkutan untuk membatasi ruang lingkup sehingga tidak
tidak muncul bahwa linguistik terapan klaim menjadi teori segalanya ! untuk
contoh:
[ T ] dia sebagian besar pekerjaan dalam linguistik terapan telah secara langsung berkaitan dengan
pengajaran bahasa dan pembelajaran .
( Strevens 1994 : 81 )
dan Wilkins lagi ( 1994) :
bidang yang selama ini dihasilkan tubuh terbesar penelitian dan publikasi ,
yaitu bahwa pembelajaran bahasa dan pengajaran .
( ibid : 163 )
dan lagi :
[ I] n praktik linguistik terapan telah dikembangkan sejauh sebagai suatu perusahaan terutama
didedikasikan untuk menciptakan pemahaman yang lebih baik tentang proses bahasa ,
terutama bahasa kedua , belajar .
( ibid : 164 )
Sebuah posisi ia menyambut dengan alasan yang lain : " Dalam arti luas tidak
bidang koheren linguistik terapan ada ' ( ibid : 163 ) .
3 REKENING PRIBADI
1.993 akun menggugah alice Kaplan kisah cintanya sendiri dengan belajar dan
mengajar Perancis mengingatkan kita bahwa tidak semua pembelajaran bahasa ditakdirkan ( lihat juga Lee
1995 , dibahas dalam Bab 8 ) . Kaplan adalah tumpul tentang tugas sulit menjadi
guru bahasa : ' [ L ] anguage guru selalu mencari metode yang sangat mudah
yang akan bekerja untuk setiap bahasa yang hidup dan akan membuat orang sempurna di rumah dalam
diakuisisi lidah ' ( ibid : 130 ) .
Kaplan telah melampaui godaan metode setelah melihat kemunduran yang tak terbatas nya :
Saya menceritakan kisah pengajaran bahasa ketika saya belajar untuk menjadi seorang guru .
Sekali waktu , ceritanya, semua bahasa yang diajarkan seperti Yunani dan
Latin. Belajar didasarkan pada aturan tata bahasa dan terjemahan . Anda berbicara di Anda
bahasanya sendiri tentang bahasa mati Anda melihat tertulis ke bawah. Kemudian pada akhir
abad kesembilan belas datang Metode Langsung , nenek moyang Berlitz . Anda berbicara di
kelas dalam bahasa yang Anda mencoba untuk mengajar , Anda bekerja pada pengucapan ; Anda
dipraktekkan tata bahasa keras .
( ibid )
Berdasarkan aturan tata bahasa dan terjemahan : tangan mati linguistik telah lama
ditimbang berat :
Linguistik terapan dan belajar bahasa / mengajar 65
Dari empat puluhan , orang-orang tampak linguistik untuk merevolusi bahasa
pengajaran : kelas bahasa akan menjadi ' laboratorium ' dengan data ilmiah dan hasil , yang
penekanan akan pada berbicara , berbicara seperti pribumi dan belajar seperti yang asli
speaker lakukan . Pada akhir 1950-an , Noam Chomsky berpendapat bahwa anak-anak memperoleh
bahasa yang lebih atau kurang secara otomatis pada saat mereka lima dan apa pun yang membuat
itu terjadi tidak dapat diduplikasi oleh orang dewasa - itu tidak ada hubungannya dengan situasi .
Wawasan Chomsky melakukan guru bahasa benar-benar tidak baik : mereka tidak bisa
menduplikasi proses genetik , dan mereka tidak bisa berharap untuk mereproduksi masa kanak-kanak sebagai
model pembelajaran bahasa kedua .
( ibid : 130-1 )
Mengingat kemudahan yang metode baru muncul dan ditinggalkan satu demi
lain , cukup mengejutkan bahwa guru bahasa menarik adalah metode baru . itu
Alasannya , Kaplan menyarankan bahwa : metode pengajaran Bahasa ' membuat untuk kisah
antusiasme dan skeptisisme , berharap dan berharap putus-putus . Setiap sesekali seseorang
datang dan menjanjikan metode bahasa baru ... Apa pun metode , hanya
keinginan dapat membuat siswa belajar bahasa , keinginan dan kebutuhan ' ( ibid : 131 ) .
Terlepas dari tingkat aktivitas dan perhatian yang diberikan kepada pelatihan dalam metode ,
faktanya adalah , sebagai Kaplan menunjukkan :
Pengajaran bahasa buruk dibayar , sedikit diakui , dan banyak difitnah . Hal yang tersisa
sampai dengan penutur asli untuk siapa bodoh dianggap ' alami' , karena itu terlalu
mudah untuk menjadi nilai . PhD ingin pindah dari pengajaran bahasa
pengajaran sastra , dan teori-teori sastra . Pengajaran bahasa terlalu
elemental , terlalu telanjang . Anda terbakar , menghasilkan semua kegembiraan tentang pengulangan ,
menciptakan kepercayaan , mendengarkan , selalu mendengarkan . Di kelas sastra Anda dapat bersandar kembali
kursi dan membiarkan buku berbicara sendiri . Di kelas bahasa Anda terus-menerus
bergerak , mengejar suara .
( Kaplan 1993: 139 )
Sejarah pengajaran bahasa adalah, memang , sejarah metode . seperti busana
dalam pakaian / baju , metode dalam pengajaran bahasa muncul dan menghilang , dan jika salah satu
terlihat cukup jauh mendaur ulang sendiri setelah interval yang layak . Sebagai staleness adalah untuk fashion sehingga
adalah kegagalan untuk metode . Karena ketergantungan pada metode saja mesti menyebabkan kegagalan ,
tidak dapat dihindari bahwa semua metode akan ditantang oleh alternatif baru atau dihidupkan kembali . sebagai
Kaplan mengakui dalam komentar yang telah dikutip : ' guru bahasa selalu
mencari metode sangat mudah ' ( ibid : 130 ) .
Pembelajaran bahasa dan pengajaran bahasa adalah ' masalah ' karena mereka begitu sering
tidak efektif . Godaan selalu mencari 'lebih baik' baru dan karena itu metode
pengajaran , metode yang lebih baik dari pembelajaran . Seperti hasil solusi yg tak terpikir melalui
dari diagnosis yang salah , yang itu sendiri berasal dari kurangnya objektivitas . informal
pembelajar bahasa asing yang tidak membuat kemajuan adalah terlalu mudah diyakinkan bahwa
apa yang dibutuhkan adalah mengubah metode pembelajaran . Dan itu juga berlaku dalam resmi
instruksi dimana guru menjadi putus asa karena metode yang digunakan adalah
tidak bekerja . Sekali lagi solusinya adalah mengubah metode . Dan untuk waktu yang baru
66 Sebuah Pengantar Linguistik Terapan
metode seperti langsung, mim - mem , komunikatif , kognitif , teknologi ( Stern
1983 ) bekerja tetapi kemudian kebaruan , efek metode yang sangat , mulai luntur dan
belajar , kurang efek halo kebaruan , beralih kurangnya lazim kemajuan .
Apa yang diterapkan linguistik penawaran , di mana koherensinya ( paceWilkins 1994 ) terletak dalam
pengakuan bahwa pertanyaan untuk bertanya bukan bagaimana meningkatkan pembelajaran , tapi apa
adalah bahwa tidak sedang diperbaiki , dengan kata lain apa yang seharusnya menjadi
belajar . Pertanyaan ' bagaimana meningkatkan ' berasal dari tradisi pelatihan guru
mana solusi dimengerti Cara diarahkan : apa yang harus saya lakukan di kelas
Senin pagi ? dan jawabannya begitu sering adalah : belajar metode baru.
Pertanyaan bagaimana pula berasal dari pendekatan melalui linguistik ( sebagai Alice Kaplan
tajam catatan ) , dimana diagnosis harus dilakukan dengan kebutuhan guru
untuk memahami lebih lanjut tentang linguistik dan kemudian perbaikan akan datang dari
memperhatikan metode , lebih baik menggunakan adopsi lama atau baru . Alasan seperti
naif dalam linguistik adalah bahwa untuk pengetahuan linguistik tentang bahasa kehendak sendiri
meningkatkan pembelajaran bahasa sedangkan pengetahuan tentang bahasa dan keterampilan dalam mengajar dan
belajar tidak berhubungan. Itu tidak terjadi dengan linguis diterapkan untuk siapa
pengetahuan tentang bahasa dan keterampilan dalam proses belajar mengajar akan secara langsung terhubung ,
karena belajar dan mengajar sendiri adalah aspek mengetahui tentang bahasa dalam
konteks akuisisi bahasa kedua dan itu adalah melalui pemahaman mereka lebih baik
perbaikan yang akan datang .
Pengetahuan yang sebagian cukup tradisional , melainkan pengetahuan tentang bahasa itu sendiri ,
berurusan di sini dengan sistem bahasa , kemudian pengetahuan tentang bahasa ( biasanya
salah satu yang akan atau target mengajar) , berurusan di sini dengan struktur bahasa ;
dan akhirnya pengetahuan tentang bahasa dalam interaksinya , berurusan di sini dengan acqui -
sition , dengan kognisi dan dengan masyarakat .
Apa ini berarti bahwa beberapa konten dari kursus dalam linguistik terapan
yang akan bermanfaat bagi guru bahasa kedua ( dan dengan ekstensi untuk secondlanguage
peserta didik ) akan menawarkan linguistik . Tapi itu tidak akan menjadi seluruh program (mungkin
30 persen ) , tidak akan sama dengan program yang diberikan kepada linguistik pascasarjana
siswa dan akan memperhitungkan dalam penyediaan tugas , lokakarya , contoh
dan seterusnya , aktivitas profesional sebagian besar siswa ( bahasa
mengajar ) . Hal ini penting pada tahap ini bahwa siswa mencerap linguistik terapan
Tentu saja seperti kejuruan didorong dan direncanakan dan bahwa profesi mereka sendiri , misalnya
pengajaran bahasa , tidak diberhentikan atau disepelekan tidak menarik atau tidak berharga .
4 Linguistik Terapan DAN MASALAH KELEMBAGAAN
Pada Bab 3 kita menyarankan bahwa ' masalah bahasa ' adalah kunci untuk memahami
diterapkan linguistik . Banyak masalah ini akan menampakkan diri dalam individu
interaksi ( kegagalan saya untuk membuat diriku mengerti ketika menanyakan arah dalam
bahasa asing , penilaian terburu-buru Anda tentang status sosial bicara Anda dalam
pertama beberapa detik dari percakapan telepon , dan sebagainya) tetapi linguistik terapan
perusahaan menyibukkan diri dengan masalah tersebut hanya ketika mereka dianggap oleh masyarakat
menjadi masalah yang menjadi perhatian kelembagaan . Para ahli linguistik diterapkan karena itu dipanggil untuk
Linguistik terapan dan belajar bahasa / mengajar 67
campur tangan, untuk melatih , untuk menjelaskan dan mungkin untuk memecahkan masalah berulang dalam sekolah ,
rumah sakit , tempat kerja , pengadilan hukum atau studio televisi .
Oleh karena itu linguistik terapan sebagai suatu perusahaan adalah kegiatan penelitian dan pengembangan
yang menetapkan untuk memanfaatkan wawasan teoritis dan mengumpulkan data empiris yang dapat
bisa berguna dalam menangani masalah bahasa institusional . Hal ini tidak terutama bentuk
pekerjaan sosial dengan akses langsung ke individu dalam kebetulan mereka
komunikasi sosial yang sedang berlangsung , meskipun temuan-temuannya mungkin saja akan membantu
konselor dan guru dihadapkan dengan masalah-masalah tertentu .
Titik awal biasanya akan disajikan dengan bahasa institusional
masalah . Tujuan dari kegiatan ini adalah untuk memberikan informasi yang relevan yang akan
membantu mereka yang terlibat memahami isu-isu yang lebih baik , dalam beberapa kasus pada dasar
Informasi akan mungkin untuk menawarkan solusi untuk masalah ini . Lebih mungkin adalah
penjelasan tentang apa yang terlibat , menetapkan pilihan yang tersedia , bersama dengan mereka
implikasi . Dalam bab-bab sebelumnya kita telah membahas beberapa masalah bahasa
dan menunjukkan beberapa pilihan yang akan menghadapi mereka yang tertarik dalam mencari
solusi . Kami telah menyarankan bahwa jika mereka memberikan kontribusi untuk solusi , semua pilihan
harus diinformasikan secara penuh oleh konteks lokal .
Kami membedakan ini pandangan berbasis masalah linguistik terapan dari tampilan lain
yang dimulai dari teori . Para linguis yang digunakan adalah sengaja eklektik , menggambar pada
setiap sumber pengetahuan yang dapat menerangi masalah bahasa . Prosiding
eklektik adalah sah karena untuk masalah bahasa linguistik diterapkan melibatkan
lebih dari bahasa . Mereka melibatkan ( beberapa atau semua ) faktor ini :
• pendidikan ( termasuk psikometri atau pengukuran )
• sosial (dan antarmuka dengan linguistik , yang sosiolinguistik )
• psikologis (dan interface-nya , psiko - linguistik )
• antropologi ( untuk wawasan tentang hal-hal budaya )
• politik
• agama
• ekonomi
• bisnis
• perencanaan dan aspek kebijakan
• dan , tentu saja, linguistik , termasuk fonetik .
Kita sekarang beralih ke pertimbangan dua ' masalah ' , yaitu usia yang optimal untuk
mulai belajar bahasa asing dan bahwa validasi pro bahasa -
Uji ficiency sehingga untuk mempertimbangkan faktor-faktor yang ahli linguistik terapan perlu memperhitungkan
rekening ketika dihadapkan dengan masalah belajar bahasa .
5 UMUR OPTIMAL
Pertama usia mulai bahasa asing . Apa usia yang tepat untuk memulai bahasa
belajar ? Ini adalah pertanyaan yang sering ditanyakan oleh administrator , politisi , orang tua,
meskipun ada satu jawaban yang benar . Apakah ada - hal lain dianggap sama ? Kami hanya bisa
berusaha menjawab ketika kita telah mengajukan beberapa pertanyaan awal , seperti apa yang
68 Sebuah Pengantar Linguistik Terapan
bahasa belajar bagi ? Dimana siswa harus terlibat? Apakah ada satu sampai
sistem atau ada beberapa ( misalnya primer, sekunder , tersier ) ? Jika ada
beberapa , apakah mereka interlock dengan satu sama lain ? Metode Yang terbayangkan , ia akan
instruksi bahasa asing , konten berbasis , perendaman , dan jika perendaman , yang
versi ( lihat di bawah ) ? Bahasa yang sedang dipelajari ? Apakah pilihan telah dibuat pada
dasar prestise atau jarak dari bahasa rumah siswa , yang mungkin
menentukan seberapa sulit mereka menemukannya? Prospek Apa pembelajar bahasa yang sukses
dalam situasi ini telah studi lanjut , penggunaan bahasa ( s ) , pekerjaan dan sebagainya . Apa
kemungkinan ada untuk kunjungan ke negara bahasa target ? Bagaimana kesuksesan diukur ?
Siapa guru ? Apakah mereka terlatih , dan bagaimana mereka mahir dalam target
bahasa?
Salah satu pendekatan untuk pertanyaan umur optimum telah banding ke sensitif
usia atau pandangan periode kritis : pandangan ini menganggap bahwa perkembangan otak pada
pubertas mengubah cara di mana kita belajar . Sebelum pubertas kita peroleh bahasa (satu
atau dalam pengaturan bilingual dua atau lebih ) sebagai penutur asli . Setelah pubertas kita belajar dalam
cara yang lebih intelektual sebagai pembicara kedua atau bahasa asing . Ide ini , berdasarkan
pada hipotesis periode sensitif atau kritis , jika benar ( dan telah sulit untuk
membantah ) , akan mendukung usia optimal universal untuk memulai kedua atau asing
bahasa , yaitu sedini mungkin , untuk memungkinkan untuk akuisisi mungkin sebagai
penutur asli . ( Lihat pembahasan di Bab 2 penelitian oleh Bialystok . )
Awal untuk pembelajaran kedua dan bahasa asing di sekolah tidak biasa .
Pengajaran bahasa asing di sekolah dasar di Amerika Serikat , Perancis di Inggris
sekolah dasar , bahasa lain selain bahasa Inggris di sekolah dasar Australia : ini
terkenal contoh kemauan dari para perencana pendidikan untuk ( 1 )
memperpanjang panjang pembelajaran bahasa eksplisit dan ( 2 ) mengambil keuntungan dari besar
plastisitas anak-anak muda di automatising keterampilan baru dan internalisasi baru
pengetahuan. Tujuan tersebut masuk akal . Mengapa maka keraguan dan pembalikan kebijakan
seperti program on-off yang ditemukan di Inggris ? Mengapa ragu, antara pro -
fessional pendidik bahasa sebanyak kalangan administrator , pengeluaran yang lebih lama
mengajar bahasa dan memulai awal yang belum tentu bermanfaat ? bagaimana bisa
mereka tidak ?
Penelitian pembelajaran bahasa kedua menunjukkan bahwa mungkin tidak ada optimal
usia dewasa karena dapat belajar seefisien anak-anak dan memang lebih cepat . Apa
hal kondisi setempat. Untuk menggambarkan desakan linguis yang diterapkan pada
perlu mempertimbangkan kondisi lokal saya lihat tiga konteks yang sangat berbeda:
Gadis sekolah swasta Australia ; sistem sekolah pemerintah Nepal , dan Perancis
perendaman di Kanada .
5.1 Presbyterian Ladies ' College ( PLC )
Sekolah ini , di Melbourne , merupakan sekolah putri independen besar ' ( N = 1200) dengan kedua
departemen primer dan sekunder . Layanan ini menawarkan enam bahasa di sekunder ( Tahun
7-12 ) . Salah satu bahasa asing , Perancis , juga ditawarkan di sekolah dasar (Hill
et al . 1997) .
Linguistik terapan dan belajar bahasa / mengajar 69
Pengamatan oleh guru bahasa telah menunjukkan bahwa setelah dua tahun di
gadis sekolah menengah yang pernah belajar bahasa Prancis di sekolah dasar tampaknya
tampil di tingkat yang sama di keempat keterampilan seperti mereka yang telah dimulai di Perancis
sekolah menengah . Keuntungan hanya mengamati untuk pemula awal berada di pronun -
ciation . Perbedaan tentu saja ada , tetapi ini tampaknya perorangan, bukan
dibandingkan dengan kelompok yang terkait .
Kampus utama PLC menawarkan Perancis dari pra - Prep ( tiga tahun) untuk
Kelas 6 dan kampus senior baik Pemula ' Perancis dan Melanjutkan Perancis di
Kelas 7 dan 8 dan kemudian menggabungkan dua aliran di tahun 9-12 .
Praktek yang biasa di PLC adalah memisahkan pemula dari melanjutkan peserta didik dalam
memesan untuk mempertahankan dan mengembangkan keterampilan lanjutan dari peserta didik yang lebih berpengalaman .
Seperti yang telah dikatakan , pada akhir Tahun 8 , dalam pandangan para guru , tidak ada lagi
setiap perlu menjaga dua untaian yang terpisah . Keduanya menggunakan buku teks inYears sama 7-8 ;
baik mulai dari awal teks baru Tahun 7 . Hal ini , bagaimanapun , diharapkan bahwa
terus peserta didik akan memperlakukan bagian-bagian awal dari buku sebagai revisi dan bergerak
lebih cepat dari pemula .
Jika hipotesis periode kritis benar, maka kita mungkin mengharapkan anak-anak
yang mulai awal Perancis ( di sekolah dasar ) berada di keuntungan ketika mereka mencapai
sekolah menengah . Mereka tampaknya tidak menjadi . Guru skeptis (memang kedua -
ary guru sering skeptis terhadap pembelajaran bahasa SD ) . Mereka mungkin
salah untuk menjadi skeptis tetapi untuk ahli linguistik terapan skeptisisme mereka adalah salah satu faktor dalam
Situasi : itu berdampak pada ' masalah bahasa ' seperti melakukan kualifikasi guru
di departemen primer dan sekunder , bahan ajar yang digunakan dalam keduanya,
langkah-langkah yang digunakan untuk menentukan kemajuan dan tujuan dari program pengajaran Perancis
di primer dan sekolah menengah , apakah mereka berada dalam harmoni atau tidak . sekarang
kemungkinan bahwa apa yang dianggap sebagai melakukan dengan baik di Perancis di sekolah dasar (menjadi
komunikatif dalam bahasa lisan misalnya) berbeda dari melakukan dengan baik di
sekolah menengah ( akurasi dalam tata bahasa tertulis , mungkin ) .
Situasi sekolah putri swasta , dengan primary sendiri dan sekunder
departemen , di mana ada kemauan untuk belajar bahasa Perancis dan sumber daya yang cukup adalah
pada wajah itu pengaturan yang ideal untuk masa kritis untuk beroperasi . Tampaknya tidak .
Untuk linguis diterapkan ini merupakan masalah yang mengundang penjelasan dan rapi
menggabungkan kepentingan teoretis dan keterlibatan praktis.
5.2 pengajaran bahasa Inggris di Nepal
Sampai awal 1960-an Inggris tersedia secara luas dalam sistem sekolah Nepal , yang
media dasar pengantar adalah Nepal tetapi bahasa Inggris diajarkan di mana-mana sebagai
bahasa asing dan ada sekolah swasta di mana bahasa Inggris adalah media
instruksi . Pada awal 1970-an Nepal mundur dari bahasa Inggris untuk tujuan bangsa
bangunan ( perlu dicatat bahwa Nepal, bahasa nasional , itu sendiri sebuah koloni
bahasa , diperkenalkan hanya sekitar 300 tahun yang lalu ) . English menengah sekolah adalah
dilarang . Tetapi bahasa Inggris tidak pergi . Pada 1980-an larangan tersebut dicabut , untuk menghindari
situasi yang tidak menguntungkan di mana orang tua kelas menengah yang pengadaan bahasa Inggris untuk mereka
70 Sebuah Pengantar Linguistik Terapan
anak dengan mengirimkan mereka ke Inggris pesantren menengah di Darjeeling , sendiri
sebuah enklave Nepal berbahasa di India . Hal itu diputuskan oleh pemerintah bahwa untuk menghindari hal ini
malu Inggris harus secara resmi diperkenalkan kembali . Sebuah Survei English Teach -
ing oleh tiga ahli bahasa diterapkan ditugaskan pada tahun 1983 . Temuannya yang mengganggu
( Davies et al . Tahun 1984, Davies 1987) .
Tidak ada guru sekolah dalam sampel yang diteliti memiliki kemampuan bahasa Inggris yang memadai
( oleh yang berarti kemampuan untuk membaca pada tingkat unsimplified ) . Untuk alasan itu , dan
untuk menghindari pemborosan besar waktu dan sumber daya yang dikhususkan untuk bahasa Inggris untuk
Mayoritas anak-anak yang putus sekolah sebelum mereka telah mendapatkan keterampilan bahasa yang dapat digunakan ,
Rekomendasi Survei adalah bahwa bahasa Inggris harus dimulai di sekolah negeri
selambat mungkin , baik di sekolah menengah .
Namun, ada , sebagai tim Survey mengakui , kontra - argumen
yang politik ketimbang psikologis , yaitu mereka tentang dirasakan
peran bahasa Inggris di Nepal bukan tentang masa kritis . Kementerian
Pendidikan harus mengenali pandangan lokal yang kuat pada kebutuhan untuk berkubu Inggris
awal : salah satu penasihat utama Raja menyatakan bahwa dalam pandangannya Inggris harus dimulai dalam
tahun pertama sekolah dasar . Fakta bahwa tidak ada guru yang memenuhi syarat ( dan
ada prospek ke depan setiap datang ) tidak penting . Kementerian itu tentu saja
menyadari penerimaan pemerintah sendiri terhadap imperatif politik lokal . dalam
situasi di mana bahasa Inggris merupakan modernitas dan kunci untuk kemajuan profesional -
pemerintah , mulai bahasa Inggris di sekolah menengah akan dilihat sebagai sengaja
menghukum anak-anak mayoritas , kebanyakan dari mereka tidak pernah mencapai sekolah menengah
( sekitar 50 persen dari pendatang SD putus pada akhir pertama
tahun) . Itu penting , sehingga pejabat pemerintah berpendapat , untuk bahasa Inggris untuk memulai sedini
mungkin, bukan terutama untuk mengajar bahasa Inggris tetapi untuk memberikan penampilan yang sama
peluang .
Membuat keputusan tentang pengajaran bahasa Inggris di Nepal lebih dari bahasa
masalah . Apa linguis diterapkan mampu lakukan adalah untuk memperjelas pilihan dan menjelaskan
parameter dari pilihan-pilihan , apa implikasinya memulai bahasa Inggris di
usia yang berbeda . Dalam konteks lokal ( seperti di lainnya ) tidak ada satu resep umum
( seperti periode kritis ) yang dapat disajikan untuk menentukan jalan ke depan .
5.3 Perendaman pengajaran bahasa
Selama dua puluh tahun terakhir , bahasa perendaman mengajar di Kanada telah banyak
dirayakan sebagai kisah sukses dalam pendidikan bilingual ( Johnson dan Swain 1997) . Apa
perendaman berarti pengajaran bahasa kedua sebagai media
instruksi . Ini menggunakan bahasa kedua sebagai media jauh lebih tua daripada
Perusahaan Kanada, dan masih praktek Praktisnya dalam situasi kolonial banyak seperti
anglophone dan francophone mantan koloni .
Tetapi penting untuk memeriksa dengan seksama apa yang diklaim untuk Kanada ini
versi pendidikan bilingual . Evaluator linguistik yang diterapkan sangat berhati-hati untuk
membuat jelas apa yang klaim dan hanya apa kendala harus diletakkan pada orang-orang
klaim ( Swain dan Lapkin 1982) . Pembatasan ini mengingatkan kita bahwa perendaman
Linguistik terapan dan belajar bahasa / mengajar 71
pendidikan tidak dapat dengan mudah ditransfer ke situasi lain di mana kondisi yang sama
tidak berhubungan .
Program perendaman Kanada dari berbagai jenis ( jumlah awal , awal parsial , akhir
parsial , dimulai pada kelas 8 ) semuanya telah terbukti berhasil dalam hal mereka
tujuan . Tapi mereka memerlukan kehadiran empat faktor :
1 . Para orang tua siswa perlu dilibatkan dalam membangun dan memastikan
kelanjutan dari program imersi .
2 . Para siswa perendaman ( dan orang tua mereka ) harus menjadi anggota mayoritas
masyarakat dalam pengaturan bilingual lokal.
3 . Kedua siswa dan orang tua mereka harus memiliki sikap positif terhadap
bahasa target dan speaker .
4 . Program perendaman harus opsional .
Dengan kata lain , pengajaran bahasa perendaman telah bekerja dengan baik di Kanada ( terutama
di Ontario ) tidak hanya karena telah menawarkan jenis sumber daya yang kaya paparan
Perancis yang tidak mungkin untuk bahasa Inggris di Nepal , tetapi juga karena peserta didik , seperti
orang tua, anggota komunitas mayoritas penutur bahasa Inggris yang
keinginan untuk mempelajari bahasa minoritas masyarakat Prancis-Kanada . Trans -
berpose proyek perendaman ke negara seperti Nepal akan berbahaya . sekali
lagi kita dapat mengamati bahwa peran linguistik terapan adalah untuk menggambarkan dan mengevaluasi
masalah bahasa dalam konteks mereka sendiri .
5.4 Faktor-faktor yang relevan dengan masalah yang optimal usia
Berbagai faktor yang diperhitungkan sudah disinggung di atas dalam diskusi kita tentang
Usia optimal untuk memulai bahasa kedua / asing dalam menengah Australia
sekolah . Sehubungan dengan sekolah bahwa mereka termasuk :
1 . yang pendidikan Proyek dijelaskan adalah berbasis sekolah , dan karena itu sub -
proyek untuk kendala kelembagaan yang relevan dari apa yang bisa dilakukan di sekolah
pengaturan , termasuk apa jenis pengukuran diterima , tes , wawancara
dan sebagainya.
2 . sosial dan sosiolinguistik Itu perlu untuk mempertimbangkan status
sekolah , anak perempuan saja, kelas menengah , termasuk sebagian besar migran
orang tua , independen dan karena itu tidak dibatasi oleh peraturan negara dengan
menganggap buku pelajaran, jam instruksi , kualifikasi guru , ujian ,
ukuran kelas , pilihan bahasa target , sumber daya sekolah yang tersedia; sikap
pemangku kepentingan untuk pengajaran bahasa asing , dan terutama untuk Perancis
yang , dalam konteks Australia , dipandang kurang penting daripada misalnya
Indonesia atau Jepang.
3 . psikologis dan psiko - linguistik Pada masalah adalah relevansi
sensitif atau kritis periode , serta relevansi dari usia memulai
bahasa asing dengan modus belajar , pada masalah juga adalah temuan dari
Studi penelitian akuisisi bahasa kedua .
72 Sebuah Pengantar Linguistik Terapan
4 . antropologi dan budaya Dua aspek sini secara khusus
relevan , masalah ruang kelas bahasa di sekolah yang diteliti
sebagai komunitas budaya inde independen dan kebutuhan untuk menyelidiki ini
masyarakat menggunakan teknik etnografi , dan peran yang lebih umum dari
budaya , dalam hal ini budaya Prancis , namun ditafsirkan , dalam mendukung dan
memfasilitasi pembelajaran bahasa .
5 . politik Terpisah dari perannya di Australia sebagai masih yang paling bergengsi
bahasa asing yang diajarkan di sekolah dan karena itu berpotensi diuntungkan sebagai
terhadap bahasa asing lainnya , bahkan mereka dengan sejumlah besar bilingual atau
'latar belakang' speaker , Perancis di Australia dalam tiga tahun terakhir telah
di bawah tekanan karena desakan Pemerintah Perancis pada melaksanakan
ledakan nuklir terkendali di salah satu wilayah kolonial yang terakhir dalam
Pasifik Selatan . Akibatnya , beberapa restoran Perancis yang berbasis di Australia dan lainnya
usaha menderita selama periode ini . Itu karena itu relevan untuk menyelidiki
apakah sikap negatif ini terbawa ke sekolah bahasa Perancis
belajar .
6 . agama seperti Italia, yang memiliki basis klien yang mayoritas beragama Katolik dan
Ibrani, yang sebagian besar dipelajari oleh orang-orang Yahudi , Perancis tampaknya menjadi netral dengan
menganggap agama .
7 . ekonomi Mengingat penekanan saat ini dalam pendidikan pada pemasaran
produk bagi pelanggan , itu perlu untuk menyelidiki apakah Perancis
dilihat sebagai instrumental, yaitu kejuruan baik ditempatkan , dan apa alasan
anak-anak dan orang tua mereka mungkin memiliki dalam memilih Perancis daripada yang lain
bahasa, karena sekolah menawarkan pilihan enam bahasa di sekunder
departemen .
8 . aspek bisnis lebih relevan mungkin di sekolah bahasa swasta yang
penjahit kursus kepada fluktuasi permintaan siswa dan pangsa pasar .
9 . perencanaan / aspek kebijakan Dalam konteks kebijakan bahasa nasional ,
itu perlu untuk mempertimbangkan kurikulum keseluruhan sekolah untuk
menentukan apakah memang ada rencana yang tergabung bekerja di
primer dan sekunder departemen atau apakah berbagai komponen di
dua tingkat telah berevolusi tidak direncanakan . Tampaknya kemungkinan bahwa guru yang diangkat
masalah dalam contoh pertama yakin bahwa tidak ada rencana tunggal
yang meliputi departemen primer maupun sekunder , pertanyaannya
yang perlu menangani karena itu apakah ini adalah kasus dan untuk mempertimbangkan
apakah perlu untuk membawa untuk menanggung teknik yang berasal dari perencanaan
sastra.
10 . yang relevan linguistik di sini adalah bahan yang digunakan untuk mengajar bahasa Prancis di
departemen primer dan sekunder serta dalam dua aliran , Pemula
dan penerus dalam dua tahun pertama departemen sekunder . ternyata
bahwa kedua aliran menggunakan buku yang sama . Relevan juga adalah model
Perancis , khususnya apakah guru penutur asli (dan jenis-jenis
native speaker ) yang digunakan pada dua tingkat dan dalam dua aliran . Itu juga
penting untuk menguji penilaian terbuat dari anak-anak berbicara bahasa Prancis oleh
pelatihan .
lanjutkan .
dan sebagainya.
setelah ini
desain .
Para siswa di
itu
ini
ini
untuk
hasil .
tes .
itu
pertanyaan .
tujuan .
dan
mereka.
negara .
aplikasi .
Sebuah isu yang
faktor .
itu
Hal ini mirip dengan
studi .
untuk ini
Keempat bidang tersebut adalah:
1 .
belajar ?
2 .
belajar ?
3 .
4 .
belajar .
dalam Bab 7 .
teori .
kerajaan .
linguistik .
ini
dari
sukses.
butuhkan.
mereka
itu
program .
penelitian.
Kami
itu
ini
1 .
2 .
3 .
register .
tumpang tindih .
Hal ini memerlukan
baru .
perhatian.
Jerman
2004) .
lain.
ini
Peran
itu
1 .
2 .
3 .
kemampuan .
tersedia.
2002) .
itu
itu
mana ia berasal .