Applied Linguistics, Kees De Bot and Margaret Thomas

Definition 1. AL is about second or foreigh language learning and teaching.
Definition 2. AL is the employment of linguistic knowledge and tools to solve language problems outside the academy.
Definition 3. AL is everything related to language apart from theoretical linguistics.
This chapter focuses on Definition 1, focuses on a second language (L2).

Classical tradition of L2 teaching: memorizing lists of Latin words.
Counter tradition of L2 developed in 1500s, when traders and travelers learned L2 to communicate -- learned more naturally.
School curriculums in 1800s moved back to classical tradition.
Late 1800s scholars reconceptualized language teaching.

Reform movement of L2: prioritize spoken over written language, champion memorization over reasoning, allow beginners to silently observe L2 before actively participating, limit L2 vocabularly initially
Bloomfield's descriptivism was a structuralism and behaviorist approach emphasizing pattern practice, mimicry, memorization, and downplaying metalinguistic analysis.
(mimicry: the art of imitation, metalinguistic: the ability to think about language and how it's used)
Constrastive analysis proposed teachers closely compare the native language and L2.
Chomsky (1959) rejected behaviorism, descriptivism, and constractivism.

Chomskyan generative grammar proposed that cognitive language faculty defines the limit of linguistic variation. Learning a language entails selecting options from a limited inventory of grammatical features.
Research in 1980s and 1990s became increasingly ambitious and technical.

Bifurcation in late 20th century similar to 19th century (reform movement and generative inspired research).
Humanistic language-teaching methodologies promoted learners autonomy and individuality.

"Lexical decision task" - do bilinguals access one language and then the other, or in parallel
Three states of activation of language proposed by David Green (1993).
"Selected" state - controlling speach output
"Active" state - engaged in processing, similar to selected but without outgoing speech channel
"Dormant" state - stored in memory, not participating in ongoing processes
Francois Grosjean used continuum of low to high activation -- not fixed statuses
Activation depends on speaker's proficiency, contact with other speakers, method of instruction, age of acquisition, etc.
Raising one level of activation necessarily lowers another.
Question of AL: does intention to use a weaker language eventually raise its activiation above the stronger language, or is the stronger language simply suppresed below the weaker language?

"The Social Turn" - the trend that linguistic models did not adaquately address the social contexts in which people learn and use language
"Communicative Language Teaching" - language is not words and rules, instead language is social practice
corpus linguistics - discipline using computer resources to analyze patterns and variations in language
discourse analysis - research method that examines how language shapes social structures and power dynamics
"Sociocultural context of language development" - learning takes place through interpersonal interaction and through mediation by tools instead of by accumulating L2 facts (Lev Vygotsky)

S. Laurie: Bilingual child's intellectual and spiritual growth not doubled but halved. (1899)
Controlling variable of class, Peal and Lambert found middle class bilingual children outperformed monolingual students. (1962)
Biastock: Bilingual students had enhanced metalingual awareness and thus higher reading scores. (2001)
Metalingual - language used to discuss or describe itself
Biastock: Bilingual children has enhanced executive functions, including updating (ability to hold and refresh information in memory), inhibitory control (ability to ignore irrelevant information), and task switching (ability to shift quickly between tasks).
Bilinguals constantly manage more than one language leading to executive functions being strengthened.

CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference) established levels of language competence in fields (speaking, listening, writing, reading, and interaction) for more than 30 languages.
ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) also defined proficiency levels.

Inner circle consisting of 380 million English speakers: UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada.
Outer circle where English is not the official language but plays an important role with 150-300 million speakers: India, Nigeria, Phillipines, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malaysia, Tanzania, Kenya, and South Africa.
Expanding outer circle where English is widely used as a foreign language: most of the rest of the world.
One reason for spread of English - the growing number of academic programs taught in English worldwide.
Lingua franca - foreign language

Partial immersion vs. full immersion vs. traditional L2 class
FLES (foreign langauge education in primary schools) was a major interest in many countries, but was ineffective and discontinued.
CLIL (content and language integrated learning) is the most important innovation in L2 pedagogy in the last forty years.
CLIL teaches separate content through the target language, for example courses taught in L2 English.

Recent approach focused how people react to policies affecting their language status.
One trend: a move from mechanistic, modernist perspective on language policy to a more embedded, social, and activist perspective.
Another trend: a move away from centralized LPP (language policy and planning) with a global plan to more localized language policy.

Example from Book of Judges: Gileadites defeated Ephraimites in battle, so fugitive Ephraimites tried to pas as Ephraimites. They were tested with language on their pronunciation of "shibbotleth" (ear of corn).
Testing in prescientific period (until 1950s) testing was on grammar translation methods, privileged reading and analytic skills. Main test was dictation, so perhaps no speaking.
Testing during psychometric-structuralist period (50s and 60s) focused on reliability and validity. Reliability would produce the same results when graded by different teachers and validity would only test the desired skill and not some additional skill.
"Washback effect" - teaching to the test
After the 1960s, testing prioritized authenticity of test materials.
Communicative competence had 4 components: grammatical, discourse, sociolinguistic and strategic competence.
With 4 components, this was a shift away from grammatical competence required changing teaching methodologies. It also created more demands on the teseter to accurately observe the testee on the other 3 components.