On the Scope of Applied Linguistics

Hossein Farhady

On the Scope of Applied Linguistics*

Hossein Farhady Iran University of Science and Technology

Abstract
Applied Linguistics (AL), a field emerging as an interface of many disciplines, has been growing in the last few decades. As an area emerged to deal with practical applications of linguistics to foreign language teaching, AL has moved beyond this simplistic perspective. AL began as a practical field, moved into a theoretical area, and is ending up with a philosophical and epistemological framework to explore the mysteries of human language and its multifaceted implications and applications to human knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to shed some light on ever-changing treatment of the concept of AL from different perspectives and offer some guidelines for language students and researchers.

Introduction
In recent decades, applied linguistics has been a polemic field. Many scholars have helped clarify the issue. In some cases, clarifications have led to simplifications while in some other cases intended clarifications have led to complications and sometimes to confusions. For example, a group of scholars has advocated the idea that AL is simply the application of the findings of linguistics to practical issues such as language teaching. Although clear in explanation, this sort of treatment makes the issue seem simple-minded. Another group, on the other hand, has tried to move well beyond the simple application of the findings of linguists and to establish a theoretical framework for the field of applied linguistics. While Corder might be considered the pioneer for the first school of thinking, Widdowson can be taken as the leader of the second movement. There is still the third group the followers of which believe that AL has a philosophical as well as an epistemological underlying. This paper is intended to address the issues related to all three perspectives, albeit quite briefly. That is, it will hopefully clarify some of the vague impressions that the students of language have about AL, and, at the same time, it will present some unresolved issues in the field. More specifically, the purpose of this paper is twofold. First, the concept of AL, its past, and its present status will be discussed, and second, some theoretically farfetched but practically relevant areas of investigation in the field of AL will be offered.

Historical Background
In order to understand the present status of a concept, a historical review is often helpful and illuminating. The origin of AL, then, should logically be sought in the origin of linguistics. Linguistics, as a scientific study of language, is claimed to be a branch of science. Thus, the root of linguistics should be sought within the framework of the general development of the science itself.

433

On the Scope of Applied Linguistics

Hossein Farhady

What science is and how it started is an intriguing question. Probably, the point of inception of knowledge and eventually science goes back to the very first problem that man encountered and tried to solve, no matter how simple or trivial it might have been. As the problems might have been simple, so might the solutions. However, simple solutions were accumulated and gradually organized into the complex system of present science. But what is science? Of course, explaining the concept of science is not an easy task. Nor is it necessary in the limited space here. Nevertheless, since an overview of the history of science would encompass the history and the development of linguistics as a branch of science, which in turn might lead to a clear picture of the developments in the field of AL, a brief review seems warranted. It is fairly certain that Eastern countries such as old China, Iran, and Egypt have made significant contributions to the development of science at early ages (Foroughi, 1952). Most of the branches of science today such as astronomy, mathematics, medicine, architecture, engineering, and even metallurgy and mining are rooted in the scientific thinking of the people in old Eastern countries. Technological developments such as the emergence of the alphabet and the printing industry are also rooted in the Eastern countries. In its broad sense, one could assume that the origin of civilization would go back to China and the area of Upherats. There are three distinguishable eras in the history of the development of science and technology prior to the flourishing era of science in the western countries. Documents are available from the first era of civilization in Babolonia. Around 2500 BC, people in Babolonia conducted the measures of physical concepts such as length, time, etc. The conception of mathematics and engineering also goes back to Babylonians and Summerians. Among different branches of science, geometry and astronomy developed in that period of time, but due to the mystic nature of astronomy, it progressed faster than the other branches of science. The second era of civilization is attributed to Egypt. The discovery of wheels, boats, and the calendar is also attributed to this era. The field of medicine progressed in Egypt very fast around 2000 BC as the first recorded medical doctor in the world is registered in this country. The third era of civilization started in India. Since Buda and his thinking had inclinations toward medical sciences, medicine, especially surgery and pathology had considerable advancements in this era. After a flourishing period of science in the early ages, there was a period of silence. During this period, scientific thinking moved, quite secretively and collectively at the same time, from the Eastern and the far Eastern countries to Greece. In other words, all channels of civilization and scientific thinking, regardless of their origin, ended up in Greece. Most of the thoughts, originated in the East, were revitalized in Greece and this country became the center of the new era in sciences and arts. In fact, the Greek thinkers inherited many branches of science, albeit in their primitive form. Some of them were kept as they had been received, some others were improved, and still others were modified.
434

On the Scope of Applied Linguistics

Hossein Farhady

In Greece, most of the previously established areas of science flourished. However, mythology became very popular which led to the emergence of two religions orientations called Orphic and Ellusivian mysteries. The first signified the good will and the second the ill will. From these two beliefs, two major philosophical thoughts were later developed: the philosophy of naturalism and logicalism in Greece and Fisagourian mystic philosophy in Italy. It was around 50 BC that a group of the so-called scientists convened in the city of MALTIEL and named themselves physiologues. They attempted to establish a kind of scolastique with the intention of the then unknown principles of philosophy. From among the participants, those who developed genuine interest in unfolding the new facts and mysteries were called philosophers. Probably this was the first time that the term philosophy was coined and philosophers found a disciplinary identity. The most influential of all philosophers was TALES. Although, he is famous for his theories in geometry, he did not have much interest in geometry. Rather, he was a politician as well as a businessman. However, he made a great contribution to the development of science by rejecting metaphysical beliefs in scientific endeavors. Philosophers then were supposed to have a comprehensive knowledge of all the sciences of their times. In fact some of them made significant contributions to the development of scientific inquiry and gradually gained control over scientific thinking. For instance, Desecrate started "observations" as a logical method for science, and Bacon founded methodology. Others tried to establish some other branches of science and science started to grow in its modern form. Other branches of science including biology, botany, modern mathematics, and medicine developed very fast. This rapid expansion of science made it impossible for a single philosopher to obtain the knowledge about all branches of science in his lifetime. That is, science was growing too fast for individuals to cope with. Therefore, the philosophers tried to reduce the responsibility of the philosophy itself and to make philosophy manageable for a single person by giving chances to other branches of science to grow independently. Probably, this was the point of conception for different branches of science at their present forms. One by one, sciences branched out from philosophy and gradually established themselves as independent fields. The emergence of different branches of sciences forced scientist to formulate a framework in which they would follow common principles for the communication of the ideas among themselves. In other words, the diversity of scientific branches necessitated commonly accepted definitions for science and scientific concepts. Among many definitions of science given by different scholars, and in spite of the differences in opinions, there are some principles upon which most scientists agree. Some of these principles include: a) Science is the collection of systematic information. b) Science is the way of knowing facts. c) Science is about provable events. d) Science talks about is not should be.

435

On the Scope of Applied Linguistics

Hossein Farhady

These principles are incorporated into a working definition of science given by August Conte who states that science is a systematic knowledge which is obtained through a systematic approach about the stable laws. In order to systematize the growing branches of science, many scholars have attempted to classify scientific areas. For example, Bacon divided sciences into areas dealing with memory, thinking and mind. August Conte, on the other hand, divided sciences into mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, and sociology. Ampere divided sciences into two major areas. Mathematics area that included mathematics, physics, natural sciences and life sciences, and spiritual area that dealt with anthropology and politics. Later, Spencer divided sciences into (a) abstract sciences including logic and mathematics, (b) semi-abstract sciences, including mechanic, physics and chemistry, and(c) objective science including astronomy, geology, biology, psychology and sociology. However, it was not until Dewey's time around 1850 that the field of linguistics manifested itself as an independent area of science along with nine other branches. Regardless of the type of classification, different branches of science is, by nature, additive. That is, when certain advancements are made in a particular area of science, people want to benefit from such developments. Therefore, scholars tried to apply the findings of different sciences to solving everyday problems. Just as sciences were divers and the findings quite remarkable, so were their applications. After some time, the applications multiplied and certain groups of scholars devoted their time to investigate the optimal ways of applying scientific findings to real world activities. This group of people was later called applied scientists. Of course, some scholars believe that the applied form of sciences precedes their pure forms and that science started in its applied form. When centuries Before Christ early arithmetic was born by Sumerians, geometry and algebra by Babylonians and Egyptians, medicine in its primitive form by Babylonians and Sumerians, they were not concerned with the pure form of these sciences. Rather, these sciences were utilized in the real life and applied for the practical purposes. They needed these sciences to carry on their daily activities. That is science originated in its applied form. Sarton (1966) contends that all branches of knowledge may be and are applied to human needs of various kinds, and this introduces various applications such as medicine, education, etc. It seems quite natural that in practice the applications have often preceded their own principles. For instance, early people were obliged to practice obstetrics and surgery before they paid attention to anatomy or embryology. In the case of AL, it may also precede linguistics itself because many centuries before the formulation of linguistics as a branch of scientific inquiry, language existed as a means of communication among people. Transferring language knowledge from the speakers of one language to those of another is probably as old as the language itself, though only 25 centuries of such activities are documented systematically (Kelley, 1969). Back (1970) provides examples from the nineteenth and early twentieth century which indicate that applications of linguistics were thought of before the term AL came to be used. For it is a fairly recent term, and at first used specially in connection with foreign language teaching, at least in the Western Europe and the US.

436

On the Scope of Applied Linguistics

Hossein Farhady

Such a cyclic movement, i.e., from applied to pure and then from pure to applied, exists for other scientific disciplines as well. That is, at first, the scientific principles are applied to the real world activities intuitively without peoples having much theoretical knowledge on the area. Then, the processes of application, observation of the outcomes, and drawing the conclusions thereupon have led to the evolution of a scientific area. When a discipline is established, the scientific application with theoretical foundation has started under the name of the applied science of that discipline. The pioneer in applied sciences, which originated from the application of the findings of certain branches of science to real world activities, was the emergence of technology. Technology, defined as a systematic application of knowledge to practical tasks in industry, dominated the 20th century. Further, with the expansion of the domain of sciences, the application of various branches of knowledge to practical problems gave birth to a new counterpart for almost every discipline, i.e., the applied part of every science. So, applied mathematics, applied physics, applied chemistry, etc. which shared a similar definition as a systematic application of knowledge in a particular area to practical tasks in the real world were developed. And so it began. Applied sciences developed along with the so-called pure sciences. AL was not an exception. Basically, applied sciences aim at achieving objectives that are outside the realm of sciences themselves. That is, an applied science is not the science itself. Nor is it a subsection of that science. The reason for this discrepancy lies in the fact that the concept of application has different interpretations. In principle, three types of application can be imagined for all applied sciences including AL (Back, 1970). The first reason is the application of the methods, techniques, and results from one branch of science to another in order to broaden the scope of the field. For example, the findings of linguistics can be used to improve stylistics, which by itself is neither linguistics nor a branch of linguistics. The second reason is the application of the findings in one area of science to another in order to solve some of the practical problems in that field. As an example, the application of the findings of second language acquisition research to language teaching can be mentioned where neither one is linguistics nor branches of linguistics. And the third reason is the mere application of the findings of a particular area of science by itself and in itself. For instance, a teacher applies the findings of linguistics about language to the teaching of language.

Applied Linguistics
As mentioned before, linguistics itself as a scientific area emerged in late 1800s. Ignoring the unprincipled application of linguistics to real life problems, the theoretically oriented AL should logically appear after the emergence of linguistics itself. Unfortunately, from among the three types of applications mentioned above, only the third type became known as applied linguistics. That is, the application of the findings of linguistics to language teaching. As Corder (1973) claims,
Applied linguistics is the utilization of the knowledge about the nature of language achieved by linguistic research for the improvement of the efficiency of some practical tasks in which language is a central component (p. 4).

437

On the Scope of Applied Linguistics

Hossein Farhady

One of the major applications of linguistics to the real world activities has been its application to the teaching of languages. As with other applied sciences, the history of language teaching clearly shows the precedence of AL to linguistics, because linguistics is hardly one hundred years old. In the early days, language teaching was considered the only area where linguistics could be applied. Of course, the most salient, observable, and accessible situation in real life setting in which the findings of linguistics could be readily applied was the teaching of languages in general, and the teaching of foreign languages in particular. That is probably why Corder (1973) stated some thirty years ago that AL is the relevance of those studies that are broadly called linguistic to a number of practical tasks connected with language teaching. Of course, this approach might have been well justified then. However, Corder himself believed that while the relevance of linguistics to language teaching cannot be disputed, the approach might be criticized in the grounds that linguistics cannot be restricted to language teaching alone. However, due to some social and educational factors, the term AL had been restricted to language teaching. The idea that AL is, or almost is, interchangeable with language teaching misdirected the field of AL for some years. The reason is that the scope of AL cannot be limited to language teaching, because linguistics was one of the fields of which the findings were applicable to language teaching. There were some other areas of science that contributed to language teaching as well. Furthermore, there were other areas of science, which had little or no connections to language teaching, to which linguistics contributed. That is why even Corder who used the two terms almost interchangeably, later admitted that these two terms should not be taken as equal. He stated that
theories about the human language are, of course, of use to other people besides the language teacher. It would be a mistake to associate AL exclusively with language teaching. There are other people who are engaged in practical activities which involve language in a central role for whom a knowledge of its nature could be of use in dealing with problems which arise in their work: the speech therapist, the literary critic, the communication engineer, for example. We do not associate AL with any single of these activities. Whilst AL and language teaching may be closely associated, they are not one and the same activity (p. 10).

Although this was a great contribution to the development and expansion of the scope of AL, it was not comprehensive enough to elaborate on the yet to come multiple aspects of AL. When AL established itself as an area of inquiry in relation to linguistics on the one hand, and independent of linguistics, on the other, an interesting issue evolved. To some scholars, AL was simply the application of linguistics to practical issues. That is, AL is practical not theoretical. As Corder (1973) states:
The application of linguistic knowledge to some object, or applied linguistics, is an activity. It is not a theoretical study. It makes use of the findings of theoretical studies. The applied linguist is a consumer, or user, not a producer, of theories. If we use the term " theory " as is used in science, then there is no "theory of language teaching" (p. 10).

This treatment of AL can be called the first generation, in which AL is considered a practical field. In contrast to the followers of this approach to AL, some scholars led by Widdowson believe that AL involves more than just mere application of the findings of linguistics to practical issues. To this group of scholars, AL has its own theoretical as well as practical principles.
438

On the Scope of Applied Linguistics

Hossein Farhady

Buckinghum (1980) complains that AL in the sense of application of linguistics to practical activities is misleading and inadequate, both too narrow and too broad. On the one hand it is too narrow since it is limited to the applications of linguistics to language teaching without regard to the multitude of other disciplines such as sociology, psychology, speech therapy, speech communication, pedagogy, speech pathology, and son. On the other hand, it is too broad if all related fields were included in the term of AL because AL will then be everything and nothing at the same time. To bridge the gap between the too broad and the too narrow definitions of AL, Campbell (1980) claims that the term applied suggests an activity rather than a state or an attribute. The implied activity is usually a problem solving rather than one that requires the practitioner to demonstrate some skill or some shared knowledge. Campbell further argues that most of the problems applied linguists face center around the definition of the relationships or the connections between theories and the nature of language and the establishment of the optimal conditions for teaching or learning languages. Thus, AL stands as a mediator between descriptions, grammars, analyses, explications of linguistic phenomena on the one hand, and syllabuses, textbooks, and curriculum, on the other. The following diagram shows this relationship.

Linguistics Theoretician

Applied Linguistics Mediator

Pedagogy Practitioner

Such shifts in the definition of AL led to the second generation of AL in which AL was considered an area between theories and practices. This trend was strongly supported in the 80s by many scholars. Most of them believed that AL acts as a mediator between theory and practice. That is, AL is neither purely theoretical nor purely practical. Buckingham and Eskey (1980) believe that AL performs a mediatory function between theoretical disciplines and various kinds of practical issues. Corder also claims that AL is a set of related activities or techniques mediating between theoretical accounts for human language on the one hand and the practical activities of language teaching on the other. Oller (1980) improves the mediatory function of AL and suggests an interactional role for it. He claims that AL needs theoretical linguistics, and conversely the theorists need to test their theories by application. Both require empirical research techniques in order to accomplish their objectives. He further argues that areas such as information processing, artificial intelligence, computer simulation of linguistic processes, voice typewriters, automatic readers, sophisticated editing and printing devices as components of AL. That is AL cannot and should not be limited to only linguistics. Along the same lines, Strevens sets certain principles for AL. He claims that AL has multiple bases in theory; it is not restricted to an interest in the teaching of languages; and it redefines itself afresh for each task. He claims that AL is at present the only
439

On the Scope of Applied Linguistics

Hossein Farhady

discipline that fulfills this multi-bases, interdisciplinary, language related function. All and all, most scholars agree that AL is more than and beyond the simplistic view of applying the findings of linguistics to practical issues. Such a view is stated by Kaplan (1980, p. 5) who states, AL is the point at which all the branches of linguistics come together. Further, AL is the point at which all the branches of linguistics intersect with other disciplines. Such a perspective on AL is best visualized through the following diagram. It should be noted that as the scope of AL widens, so does the responsibilities of the applied linguists. Applied linguists can no more rely on the mere application of the findings of linguistics to solve language related problems. Nor can they depend on the mere speculations and theoretical principles laid by linguists, or any other single field of study for that matter. Of course, AL was never, is never, and will never be independent of linguistics, just as it cannot be independent of many other fields. In fact, an applied linguist acts as a refinery fed by raw materials obtained from theoretical principles outlined by many disciplines. The applied linguist then combines, analyzes, and refines all the pieces of information imparted from different fields and provides the consumers of any discipline with applicable principles. Through this process of receiving, refining, and providing modified and new principles, applied linguists may develop their own principles to be utilized. That is probably why Widdowson argues strongly and of course convincingly, that AL, As I conceive of it, is a spectrum of inquiry which extends from theoretical studies of language to classroom practice.
An Illustration of the Scope of Applied Linguistics taken from Kaplan (1980)

440

On the Scope of Applied Linguistics

Hossein Farhady

In this sense then, theories of first language acquisition including mechanistic, mentalistic, nativistic, and cognitive, and theories of second language acquisition such as the monitor, acculturation, discourse, neurofunctional, and interactional, which cannot be accounted for by linguistics, would be considered as theoretical advancements in AL. Furthermore, theories of language teaching from audio-lingual to cognitive to communicative and strategic approaches cannot be classified under linguistics but applied linguistics theories. To avoid numerous examples of theory building capacity of AL, it would suffice to state that AL is a multidisciplinary as well as a multifunctional field. The following table, taken from Brown (1987) clearly depicts the multitude of factors and disciplines involved in AL. AL has been considered a sub area of linguistics for several decades, and has generally been interpreted to mean the application of linguistic principles or theories to certain more or less practical matters. Second language teaching and the teaching of reading, composition, and language arts in the native language are typical areas of practical application. In the British tradition, AL is quite often even synonymous with language teaching. However, the applications of linguistics certainly extend beyond such pedagogical concerns. But the term remains disturbingly vague. One of the difficulties in understanding the limits and scope of AL lies in the deliberate distinction between theoretical or pure linguistics on the one hand, and applied linguistics on the other. A consolidation of the definitions of language yields the following composite definition taken form Brown (1987): 1. Language is systematic __ possibly a generative system. 1. Explicit and formal account of the system of language on several levels (phonological, syntactic, and semantics) 2. The symbolic nature of language; the relationship between language and reality; the philosophy of language; the history of language. 3. Phonetics; phonology; writing systems; kinetics; proxemics; and other paralinguistic features of language. 4. Semantics; language cognition; Psycholinguistics. 5. Communication systems; speakerhearer interaction; sentenceprocessing. 6. Dialectology; sociolinguistics; language and culture; bilingualism; second language acquisition. 7. Human language; non-human language; the physiology of language. 8. Language universals; first language acquisition.
441

2. Language is a set of arbitrary symbols.

3. Those symbols are primarily vocal, but may also be visual.

4. The symbols have conventionalized to which they refer. 5. Language is use for communication

6. Language operates in speech community or culture. 7. Language is essentially human, although possibly not limited to human 8. Language is acquired by all people in much the same way language

On the Scope of Applied Linguistics

Hossein Farhady

and language leaning both have universal characteristics. A glance at the characteristics of language thus suggests many issues and concerns within linguistics, all of which relate directly to central goal of linguistic study, i.e., discussing what language is. However, among the concerns listed are a number of issues that are typically grouped into applied rather than theoretical linguistics. Is it possible to draw a line of demarcation which separates the applied from theoretical. To elaborate on the above table, certain factors that are prominent in language education need to be elaborated on. From among many questions, the following ones may be more illuminating: What is taught? Who is taught? What is the purpose of the learner? Under what conditions does teaching take place? Answers to these and similar questions, sometimes referred to as the WH-questions of language education, would demonstrate the scope of AL. WH Questions of Language Education The answer to the first question, i.e., what is taught, is simply language. In order to teach language, one should know what language is. Describing language is the responsibility of the linguists. And the outcome of linguistic description is commonly called grammar. Linguistics, as the scientific study of language, lives, grows, and advances independently of the language teaching profession. That is why there have been a good number of theories, and thus grammars, to describe and explain what language is. Some of these theories are Saussurian, structural, functional, daughter dependency, case, transformational, and universal, to name a few. Although the substance of investigation for all these theories is language, each and every theory has looked at the phenomenon of language from a slightly different perspective. Thus, the knowledge of the teachers on what to teach comes from linguistics. The second question deals with who is taught. The answer to this question is more complex than that of the first one because this question entails multidimensional aspects of learning, teaching, learner and teacher. Learning is one of the important issues the field of psychology which is an independent field with its own principles, theories, and advancements. However, while linguistics deals with language itself, psychologists concern many issues related to human mental activities. One of these mental activities is human learning, a branch of which is learning a language. Thus, psychology contributes to language learning not directly, but by proposing theories for human learning. That is why there have been many theories of learning such as behaviorism, cognitivism, functionalism, etc. So, the teachers understanding of how language is learned comes from the developments in psychology. The connection between how language is learned, investigated in psychology, and what language is, studied in linguistics has even led to the development of a new area of inquiry called psycholinguistics. Furthermore, learning takes place in the mind and brain. The structure of brain is studied within the field of neurology. Although much is not known about the structure, physiology, and the functioning of the brain regarding language, the limited amount of knowledge has given useful insights to those involved in the study of
442

On the Scope of Applied Linguistics

Hossein Farhady

language. At present, studying the structure of brain, which is the main concern in neurology in connection with the structure and functioning of language has brought up a new field referred to as neurolinguistics that specifically addresses the issues related to brain and language. Another part of the questions deals with the leaner who is a human being. Human beings are social beings. They learn language, no matter what it is and how it is learned, in order to communicate with the members of a community. A community lives under certain social rules and regulations that influence the use of language. The field that inquires about such rules is sociology. Again, sociology is an independent field of study. However, its findings are important regarding what Widdoson calls the use of language. The interrelationship of language use and sociology has led to the emergence of a new field called sociolinguistics. The group of scholars studying the use of language has to get involved in discourse analysis, pragmatics, and stylistics. The fourth point in the question relates to the person who is supposed to help the learner learn the languages, i.e., the teacher. Teachers, too, live in societies with all sorts of variables influencing their personal, social, psychological, and academic lives. All these variables influence the teacher, and thus the teaching process. A motivated, dedicated, knowledgeable, and creative teacher would definitely help learners more than a teacher without such characteristics. It should be noted that the factors mentioned under the question of who is taught, are not, by any means, unrelated to each other. Nor do they operate independently of one another. They all function interactively within a macro network of learner/teacher variables. A motivated teacher will certainly be more successful with a motivated learner than with an unmotivated one. Similarly, a motivated learner will benefit more from a committed teacher than from an indifferent one. Thus, discussing these variables in isolation is just for the sake of clarity and not for demonstrating their independent functioning within the process of language learning and language teaching. The third question deals with the purpose of learning. Undoubtedly, within the era of communicative teaching, one of the most important factors has been the significance of the learner needs, along with the ways of identifying, determining, and categorizing these needs. When learner needs are determined, implementing a program that would fulfill the needs of the learners requires considerations of materials development, syllabus design, and teacher education. In fact, needs analysis, materials development, syllabus design, and teacher education, each of which has established itself as an interesting and an almost independent field of inquiry, have collectively led to the development of a new trend in language teaching called teaching English for specific purposes (ESP). ESP has been the focus of research in many scientific and technological disciplines within the last quarter of a century in order to meet, as much as possible, the learners purpose for learning a language. The fourth question addresses the issue of the conditions of teaching. Conditions refer to so many variables including the physical environment of the class, the time of the teaching, the facilities available for teaching, the country in which the language is taught, to name a few. All these factors influence, directly or indirectly, the teacher,
443

On the Scope of Applied Linguistics

Hossein Farhady

the learner, and the outcome of teaching learning process. For instance, the number of students in a class is an important factor in most public educational systems. In crowded classes, the teacher does not find ample time or an acceptable environment to have students repeat or practice the materials. The number of students is related to the space available in the classroom. In most classrooms students do not have enough space to sit comfortably, let alone to get involved in some class activities. So, conditions of teaching influence conditions of learning and thus the effectiveness of instruction. Technological and technical facilities available in class are also important. Computer assisted language learning (CALL) has recently established itself as a major area of interest for language educators. The utilization of electronic devices in translation, the so-called machine translation, has also intrigued language educators for a long time now. Taking into account all the WH questions of language education, along with related issues, indicate that AL cannot be equated with language teaching. AL involves so many variables in so many seemingly unrelated areas. Therefore, the notion that AL equals language teaching did not hold true for two reasons. On the one hand, theories of language, language learning, language teaching, etc., formulated through different disciplines, were not exclusively used in classroom situations. There were many other occasions in which the findings of these fields played a central role. On the other hand, none of the mentioned fields alone was capable of accounting for the multitude of variables involved in the complex process of language related activities. The extension of theoretical perspectives has recently led to a philosophical thinking on AL. Rampton (1995) claims that research in AL has shifted from focusing on products, linguistics, and psychology to focusing on processes, psycholinguistics, sociology, anthropology, and media studies, respectively. He claims that the situation in AL is moving from autonomous to ideological thinking. According to this new trend, AL has a sociopolitical, cultural, and ecological interpretation. In this sense, AL research can occupy a position that deals with political orders characterized by cultural authoritarianism, service to the governments, competition on the market, independent analysis and critique, and new social movements. For instance, much AL research serves the principles and policies of the government. Whether the language education curriculum should be centralized or localized is an AL domain of research. Whether educational system is localized or centralized, each entails many other areas such as materials development, teacher education, teaching methodology and so forth. In addition, many research projects dealing with ESP, lexicography, and communication skills training are sponsored by manufacturing and educational organizations. This indicates that part of research in AL deals with competition in the market. Only independent critical studies conducted by individual academicians serve the liberal aspects of AL research. Last but not least is the direct or indirect effect of the new social movements in different parts of the world on the social systems and the way the members of the societies behave, which in turn influences the educational policy and language education.

444

On the Scope of Applied Linguistics

Hossein Farhady

Along the same lines, Corson (1997) claims that AL goes beyond ideal matters of linguistic meaning and moves into the real world of human interaction. The influential philosophy of human sciences, critical realism, begins with questions of being and views the nonhuman properties of the social world as real entities especially the reasons and accounts that people offer to interpret the material and immaterial aspects of their world. He claims that if AL were to take these accounts more seriously, it might contribute more directly to improving human condition. Phillipson (1992) sees the following two rather incompatible epistemologies that now underpin the work in AL,
In one, applied linguistics takes over theories and methods from other areas of scientific study, which then have the status of feeder disciplines, in the other, it is an autonomous scientific activity requiring the elaboration of its own theoretical base in relation to its intended applications. When all these ambiguities in the term exist, it is not surprising that there is uncertainty about what applied linguistics stands for (p. 167).

Clearly on logical grounds, the first of these theories of knowledge is more relevant and appropriate for the academic study of language teaching. However, it is the second epistemology that governs their work. For much of the work in AL does on independent of other disciplinary influences. This recent generation of AL assumes much more into AL. As Corson states,
The task of theorizing the point of intersection between applied linguistics and the real world of human social interaction, is an ontological matter: what is the status of human reasons and accounts, offered up in natural language exchanges, that in turn become the data and domain of inquiry of applied linguistics, and provide the system of discourses that support that domain? Are these reasons and accounts ontological elements? And if they are, what follows from this? An answer to these questions can be found in the philosophy of human sciences, notably in the critical realism recently advanced by Roy Bhasker, a British philosopher of science who extends his ideas directly and compellingly from the sciences, so that they have comparable impact in the human sciences as well (p. 168).

And so it grows. AL has moved from Corders conceptualization of apprenticeship to Bhaskars critical realism in the philosophy of science covering the totality of human interaction.

Conclusions
Certain conclusions can be drawn from the discussion presented in this paper. The first set of conclusions as was hoped at the beginning, comprises the following clarifications: 1. The idea that AL is a mere application of the findings of linguistics to practical activities is clearly wrong. 2. The idea that AL can be used interchangeably with foreign language teaching is clearly wrong. 3. The idea that AL is only a practical field and it does not deal with theoretical issues is clearly wrong. 4. Applied linguistics is neither a subordinate nor a superordinate to linguistics. That is, it is neither a subsection of linguistics nor linguistics itself.
445

On the Scope of Applied Linguistics

Hossein Farhady

5. AL is a multidimensional, multifaceted, and multidiciplinary field which utilizes the findings of all theoretical and practical fields related to human life and analyzes, modifies, and then creates new ways of approaching language related topics. The second set of conclusions relates to the unclear points in AL that requires more research to be conducted by the students of language studies. These points can be summarized as follows. 1. The extent to which AL can benefit from the other seemingly unrelated areas. 2. Techniques and procedures used in AL research should follow traditions in the fields or should they develop its own research strategies. 3. Expansion of AL entails a systematic procedure to handle the interconnections and interrelations of different fields with one another and all with AL. This is a major problem with the organization and nature of a scientific area. 4. The domain of specialty for the students of AL is another problem because if an applied linguist is supposed to study all related fields, they could not get deeply into the problems and prospects of these fields. Thus, it may be suggested that applied linguists have a comprehensive knowledge of one of the areas related to AL and develop an ability to utilize the findings of the other fields.

Summary
In this paper an attempt was made to clarify the scope of AL. Through a historical review, the emergence of sciences and applied sciences was presented. Then the concept of AL was discussed and its different meanings were explained. It was mentioned that AL started as a mere application of the findings of linguistics to practical problems of foreign language teaching, moved into a theory building area, and eventually to a philosophical thinking. Finally certain clarifications and suggestions were made for research in AL.
* Paper presented at the 4th international conference on Linguistics and Applied Linguistics (1998). Allame Tabatabaee University, Tehran.

Bibliography
Wardaugh, R. & Brown, H. D. (eds.) (1977). A survey of applied linguistics. An Arbor, The University of Michigan Press.

446