Chapter 1

Language is one the most essential qualities of human beings. It is a natural and unconscious
phenomenon. This chapter serves as an introduction to applied linguistics and it also shows
the subcategories of this discipline such as the connection between language and education
(first-language education, additional-language education, language testing, clinical
linguistics), workplace (workplace communication, forensic linguistics, language planning)
and effect (literary stylistics, CDA, translation and interpretation, lexicography).

Text 1:
We can see a distinction between “applied linguistics” and “linguistics applied” explained by
Widdowson. According to him, “linguistics applied” uses the already existing theories of
linguistics, but “applied linguistics” creates and uses its own theories in order to solve real-life
problems. I understand “the dance around in circles with no tune at all” as if applied
linguistics doesn’t have clear theories then it won’t have any coherence and sense at all. Also,
Widdowson mentions the Will-o’-the-wisp-phenomenon, which I’ve never heard of before, so
I looked it up online and I think he’s trying to say that there might be misleading ideas or
trends in applied linguistics that will mislead us, so we should not let them.

Text 2:
This text talks about criminal cases and in one of them, linguistic analysis provided some
important evidence. I would say these situations fall into the realm of applied linguistics since
we use them to solve real-life problems. However, besides linguistics analysis, we definitely
need some context and common sense to solve these kinds of problems so we cannot analyse
these situations only linguistically because they are so much more than that.

Text 3:
Text 3 says that translation, which belongs to the field of applied linguistics, is a relatively
young profession and often not viewed as a profession. If we want to achieve for translation to
be viewed as a profession, we, as translator trainees, should have a deep understanding of our
field and a profound knowledge about languages and we cannot only rely on intuition or
practice. It is also important to say that modern linguistics offers guidance about the function
of languages.

Text 4: In clinical linguistics but also in other subcategories of applied linguistics, theoretical
basis is important for the practice as long as it has a clinical use. Speech therapists need to
understand for example the functioning of the language in the brain for what only linguistic
theories can give an answer to. In the second part, we see a description of a patient with
aphasia and for his therapy, and I think understanding his neurological state and also cognitive
abilities will be relevant that’s why I view clinical linguistics as a rather independent field.

Take-home message: (2024.02.20.): Our group’s topic was clinical linguistics, and we
discussed some interesting questions. The one question that caught my attention was the one
talking about the manifestation of language in our brain. We stated that we actually don’t
know how language is manifested in our brain, we can only see the result of this manifestation
for example we can measure the electromagnetic waves of our brain. We also debated on
whether we need an in-depth knowledge of linguistics or not and I, personally, think that we
need to know linguistics only to a certain extent and rather focus on the clinical and practical
parts in clinical linguistics.
 Chapter 2

This chapter talks about the tension between description (it expresses what does happen) and
prescription (is saying what should happen) and states that Applied Linguistics is trying to
mediate between these two perspectives. We can see that distinction is expressed especially in
education where the two opposing sides are dialects versus the standard form of language.
Some people say that teaching the standard gives a disadvantage to children who speak a
dialect, but some argue that teaching the standard form gives children an equal opportunity. I
agree with the text because in the next part it says that children should know their own dialect
and the standard form, but they must know to distinguish in which context they should use
them.
At home, I also speak a regional dialect, but I also think it's important to know the standard
Hungarian. Back in primary school everybody was speaking using our dialect, but in high
school everybody was using the standard Hungarian, so it was quite a challenge for me to fit
in and not to sound so “regional”, because I think dialect still has a negative connotation to it.
However, I won’t ever want to lose my dialect because it is an emotional charged
phenomenon in my life that connects me to my family, friends, and region.

Text 5: Cameron says two important things about descriptivism: one of them is that it
separates language from the experience of its users and that it is a type of prescriptivism. The
leave your language alone tradition in descriptivism is the same attitude that the whole
perspective is criticizing. Therefore, it makes the whole way of thinking contradictory and
way too complicated. Personally, I just don’t know why experts must complicate things to the
point that they arrive to a contradiction in their own theories. But they rather do it than
acknowledging that there might have been some truth to the opposing party’s theories.

Text 6: Labov argues against the verbal deprivation of African American children of the
ghetto. Verbal deprivation suggests that their language is restricted or deficient, and that they
have a cultural deficit, and a lack of verbal stimulation. William Labov says that all these
suggestions are false because those who created them don't know anything about these
children of the ghetto. He also argues that these concepts might have come to support the
hypothesis of inferiority of black children. He adds that the concept verbal deprivation is a
complete illusion, and it comes from a lack of understanding of the nature of language.

Take-home message:
With our group, we discussed whether Applied Linguistics is relying on experience or
expertise. Our group concluded that the balance between these two depends on specific
situations, but I firmly believe that AL is relying rather on experience than expertise. I accept
the fact that it definitely needs a certain amount of expertise that later gives the foundation for
the experience. For example, we need to know certain linguistic theories to treat speech
impairments. However, mainly experience will lead us to resolving this problem.

Chapter 3

In this chapter, a lot of different topics are discussed but I would like to highlight only a few
of them. The text talks about the growth of English and the fact that it is spoken by more than
a billion people thanks to their previous political, colonial, and economical history. I am
actually glad that there is only one language which is English that is required to be spoken if
we want to get in touch with the world outside our homeland and we don't have to learn
multiple languages to be able to get a piece of information that we need because English is
dominating everything. In addition, we should rather say that there are Englishes because
there are multiple variants of the standard language for example American English or British
English etc. but they are mutually intelligible.And I think the most important part of the text is
the English as lingua franca (ELF), because in this case we use English to communicate with
other people whose first language is not English and also ours is not English either. In this
situation we have a common goal which is to transmit information to communicate with each
other and to solve a problem. In this case we don’t need to choose between the Englishes but
rather focus on our common goal. Therefore, I think, this area will be the dominant are of
research in applied linguistic in the near future.

Text 7:
Rampton talks about the definition of a native speaker and mother tongue in the first place. He
argues that our language can change because we can be part of different social groups in our
life. I think this is true, but I would like to emphasize that different types of even our mother
tongue can and do coexist in us. For instance, I use my dialectal Hungarian with my family
and friends and the standard version with anyone else. It actually depends on the social
context. Rampton also argues that the terms native speaker and mother tongue are political
and economic terms, and a country might use these definitions to overshadow the interest of
minority groups.

Text 8:
Seidlhofer advocates for English as Lingua Franca (ELF) to be recognized separately from
English as a Native Language (ENL) to abolish the distinction between native speaker
teachers and non-native speaker teachers. She argues that this separation would be beneficial
for both native and non-native speaker because it would create mutual respect and
understanding.

Text 9:
Phillipson argues that teaching English is not politically neutral, but it is serving the interest
of the UK and the USA. While in colonial times English was forced onto the colonies, today,
the absolute domination of English is due to the fact that it is used widely in every sector of
the economy and also in politics. I would say that it definitely served the interest of the two
countries at first, but I would suggest that English is today used as a lingua franca and even
though the UK and the USA can enforce their interest, it is not the primary goal of English.

Take-home message:
In our group session we discussed three questions the first one being whether it is necessary to
have a native teacher in English or in any other language. I firmly believe that it is not
necessary for the teacher to be a native speaker but it's more important to be able to explain
for example grammar structures and also be motivating so she/he should push us to speak the
language and not be afraid of speaking it but also we can agree on the fact that a native
teacher can bring her/his culture closer to us because she/he lives in it every day. The next
question was whether we feel offended if someone makes mistakes in our native language.
And for that the answer is simple because I think everybody feels flattered hearing someone
putting effort in and trying to speak their native language. Lastly, we talked about the fact that
a singular English doesn't exist, but rather multiple Englishes and we think that none of them
is better than the other.

Chapter 4
This chapter talks about the methods of English Language Teaching (ELT), namely the
grammar-translation language teaching, the direct method, the natural language learning, and
communicative approach. The most shocking out of these methods was the natural language
learning arguing that an adult learner can learn a foreign language the same way as a native-
speaking baby. To reach that, this method says that the only thing we need is “meaningful
input” with no correction or guidance. I always found these methods horrible. For me, it
doesn’t give a solid foundation for language learning, and I mean basic grammar structures or
a set of simple words with which we could start our journey of creating our own sentences.
Also, this method doesn’t seem to take into consideration the fact that the native-speaking
baby and their brain are completely different from an adult who already has a native language
and is trying to learn another one. I think the brain of a native-speaking baby is like a carte
blanche and it absorbs anything that it encounters but the one of the adult learners is different.

Text 10:
Howatt talks about the communicative language teaching methods and their ideas that appeal
to teachers for a long time. This way of teaching states that language learning is an intuitive
process rather than a rational or step-by-step one. I actually talked about this with my mother
last night and she was telling me how a lot of Hungarian people went to Germany or to any
other European countries and they didn't speak the any foreign language, but still, they could
catch up and reach a conversational level, and I just couldn’t and can’t believe that. I cannot
imagine that someone can learn a language without any textbooks, grammar explanation or
simply without clear guidance. Therefore, for me, this method is completely unacceptable and
unimaginable, and I just don't understand how teachers or people can think that this is an
appropriate way of teaching or learning a specific language.

Text 11:
Skehan emphasizes the importance of meaning over form and the role of cognitive processes
in language acquisition. He says that task-based instruction is more effective for language
learning because it focuses on communication and meaning rather than form focused
instruction. He gives us an example of a task in which people must compare their family trees
and while doing it, they are communicating by using the language that they want to learn.
Skehan also says that in order to have a successful communication, we need lexical modes of
communication rather than constructing every utterance in the moment of the utterance.

Text 12:
Widdowson talks about the limitations of applying pedagogical approaches universally and he
states that something might work in one context and can be ineffective in another. In addition,
he argues that approaches to English teaching can be generalized globally and highlights the
danger of not paying attention to the diversity in language teaching practices.

Take-home message: In class, we received different types of materials for English language
learning and had to decide whether they are useful and effective in teaching or not. In our
group, we had quite a few items, mainly I would like to highlight a book written for teachers
and it contained breakdowns of certain classes which was a little strange to me because I
always thought being a teacher requires creativity, but this book contradicted my belief. I
don’t think that regulating the course of a class to this extent is useful or enjoyable at all.
However, we also got a card game which can easily help memorizing words and expressions
and a dictionary type of book pairing Dutch sentences with their translation in French. I do
believe that a dictionary like this one, can be useful for the simple reason that it consists of
thematically grouped sentences with their phonetic transcription making students’ learning
much easier.

Chapter 5

Knowing a language depends on a lot of different aspects. First of all, grammatical

correctness is needed which we already have at the moment of our birth, and we call it
Universal Grammar (UG) defined by Noah Chomsky. However, besides linguistic
competence, we also need communicative competence described by Dell Hymes. This
competence leads us to a successful communication, and it has four important aspects:
possibility, feasibility, appropriateness and attestedness. Possibility defines what it possible
grammatically in a language. Feasibility is concerned with our brain’s limitations in
connection with what it can process. Appropriateness is connected to using the adequate
forms of language in different contexts. Finally, attestedness concerned with the result of the
communication.

Text 13: We must take into consideration that Chomsky’s definition of competence focuses
on grammatical knowledge in the first place. However, Hymes suggests that the sociocultural
aspects are more important alongside with being able to use proper language in a variety of
contexts.

Text 14: Canale and Swain suggest an alternative model of communicative competence
compared to the one of Hymes. They argue that there are three main competences, namely
grammatical, sociolinguistic, and strategic competence. This new model highlights
grammatical correctness, sociocultural appropriateness and strategies compensating for any
breakdown in the communication.

Take-home message: In our group discussion, we had a talk about the benefits and drawbacks
of having a native English teacher teaching us English as our L2. We agreed on the fact that
they can transfer cultural knowledge easily since they are experiencing it every single day, but
they do not know the problems coming from learning English as a foreign language. In the
end, we said that it is more important to absorb a native-level language content than getting
educated by a native English teacher. Moreover, we agreed on the fact the native speakers of
English are less and less privileged in today’s world, since they cannot successfully master
another or more languages as their L2, so they are only left with their native language.

Chapter 6

This chapter delves into different topics such as language, context, and culture. Firstly, the
text highlights that language is never abstract, but rather embedded in concrete situations to
achieve one’s purpose in a certain culture. However, the chapter examines how linguistics
abstracts language to understand its system and its grammatical phenomena, while applied
linguistics combines context and culture for a comprehensive analysis. Later, the chapter
deals with discourse analysis and says that paralanguage, pragmatics, and genres are its key
aspects. Paralanguage is a communicative behavior, and it contains mainly what we say
without actual words in a situation, but it can happen in written language as well. Pragmatics
mainly deal with how people can understand the meaning of one’s speech beyond their words,
namely the underlying meaning of one’s words. Finally, genres simply mean different types
of communicative events such as e-mails, jokes, operas, or conversations. But each has its
own communicative purposes. In addition, the chapter discusses the importance of
intercultural communication, language rights and the challenges of translation.

Text 15:
Kramsch suggests that culture should occupy a more central place in language teaching. She
firmly states that beside the learner’s and the second language’s culture, there should exist a
third culture connecting the two previous. Usually, culture is perceived as the information
conveyed by the language and is separated from language. Kramsch advise us to treat
language as a social practice therefore culture could become the main focus of language
teaching.

take-home message:
I would say that this topic is the most interesting one for me so far because I am really
interested in how we can express such many things with our language without actually saying
exact words. I think Cato's (if I'm not mistaken) presentation can be connected to this topic,
because she talked about the connections between disabilities and our language use, and also
how specific type of language uses can be hurtful towards people with disabilities or
handicaps or how we can create sentences and words that can include disabled people more in
our society and make them feel NOT different from the rest of us.

Chapter 7

This chapter is trying to unveil the relationship between language and persuasion. Firstly, it
demonstrates how language is used in literature to create brand-new, alternative realities and
how it creates effects that influence our attitudes about anything taking place in that fiction.
Secondly, the text talks about literary stylistics, which describes how linguistic choices are
linked to their effects upon the reader. Later, we can read about how language has a
persuasive power, and it can be easily used to tell the truth, distort facts, manipulate us and so
on. For that reason, we, as receivers of information, have to be conscious about every bit of
information that we get, and we have to think about them critically. In the following
subsection, the critical discourse analysis highlights a similar theory and exemplary attitude I
just described.

Text 16: In this short text, Fowler, who is one of the founders of critical linguistics, analyzes
how language is basically a creating force in one of W.C.William’s poems. The most
important line to mention in this poem is the following: “I saw a girl with one leg over the rail
of a balcony”. We have to mention that people have a tendency of reading words after words,
as we read, we are creating a certain scenario in our head. That is exactly the reason why
readers of this line think at first that the girl in question is a person with a handicap, then
while reading further, we realize that she actually has both her legs and the language, and the
author only tricked us the whole time. This short line shows the creating force of the language
and also our human tendency to absorb written information in a linear way.

text 17:
In this short text, we get a brief introduction about critical discourse analysis (CDA) by two of
its leading figures. This discipline analyzes oral and written language use as a social practice.
Therefore, it implies that there is a relationship between a certain discursive event and the
situation framing it. Shortly, we can say that discourse is socially constitutive because it
constitutes situations and relationships between people but can be as well shaped by all these
participants. In addition, we have to say that language has ideological effects and can create
different power dynamics between people social classes minorities, and CDA can act as a type
of intervention indeed social practices.

take-home message:
During this class we received a little poem from our professor in connection with critical
discourse analysis. We got to know that in Rodesstraat there is a building of an old convent,
and it has a garden where there was a protest, and this poem was recited there. At the same
time there was a slogan which had some persuasive undertone. All in all, we discussed the
relationship between the persuasive quality of this slogan and the garden of this convent, and
we realized that basically everything can be used for a persuasive cause and if we want to
connect something to something then we can easily do that and use it for our advantage. For
that reason, we have to really pay attention to what we see or read and look for some hidden
messages every time.

Chapter 8

This final chapter focuses on reviewing the evolution of applied linguistics and including
numerous subfields as well such as SLA, corpus linguistics, CALx. Besides its history,
changing scopes and subfields, I would like to rather focus on corpus linguistics which is a
subfield of applied linguistics specializing in finding patterns in language use while analyzing
corpora or large bodies of texts. We can easily see how words are used in different contexts,
how frequently they are used, and we can discover collocations as well. On the other hand, the
future of applied linguistics is absolutely challenging since it has to take into consideration a
lot of aspects and somehow will have to balance academic enquiry, practical application, and
political engagement.

text 18
In the text, the authors try to establish some links between the theories of SLA and foreign
language teaching. It highlights that findings of SLA research are not clear enough. On the
other hand, it is said that teaching is an art and a science as well. SLA can also provide
different descriptive methods from which teacher can easily choose to use them in their class
since the classroom environment is always changing.

text 19
This text deals with the topic of corpora which are “a collection of written or spoken material
stored on a computer and used to find out how language is used” and they can be used for
many causes in applied linguistics, including language teaching, translation, and clinical and
forensic linguistics. In language teaching, corpora are mainly used for helping the progress of
students. During translation, translators use a lot of software in which these corpora are
already incorporated, but they also use them as real-life examples of everyday conversation.
On the other hand, in clinical and forensic linguistics, corpora are used for diverse reasons
such as analysis, profiling, deception detection, evidence analysis, authorship attribution or
for the identification of language and mental health disorders.

text 20:
text 20 describes critical applied linguistics in which there two main topics in opposition. One
of them is the fact that C.A.L. mainly engages in political critiques and social relations but
critical distance and objectivity might be possible. The second topic, however, suggests that
this objectivity is not manageable. We can conclude that the main goal of critical applied
linguistics is to find relations between different concepts such as gender, SLA, education,
translations and so on. In addition, critical applied linguistics implies a hybridity including
both research and praxis.

take-home message about class +my presentation

This class, Julia and I presented our presentations about chapter 8 and then we both had group
discussions about our own text. I asked my group these questions:
1.How does corpus linguistics differ from traditional linguistic analysis methods?
2.How can we use corpus linguistics in our everyday life?
3.What are the advantages and limitations of using corpora in language research compared to
other research methods?
We had a short discussion and we concluded that traditional linguistics looks at
communication between people, focuses on theory, while corpus linguistics pays attention to
only texts, and focuses on metadata, which is more practical.
Corpora can be used in our everyday life in the form of grammar and spelling checkers, in
translation for example in the linguee dictionary working with parallel corpora. On top of that,
corpora are useful because they are embedded in a specific context, and they are handy to see
patterns. However, corpora also have its limitations since it can include errors either it is made
by computer, or it is man-made.