An Introduction to Applied Linguistics 3 What is Linguistics? (1/2) •Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Linguists do work on specific languages, but their primary goal is to understand the nature of Language in general.

Applied Linguistics is the application of linguistic theories, descriptions and methods to the solution of language problems which have arisen in a range of human, cultural and social contexts Carter (1993: 3). If linguistics reifies “language” one can say that Applied Linguistics

Applied linguistics is practically-oriented, but it is also theory- driven and interdisciplinary. Models of how languages are learned and stored, for example, are ‘applied linguistics’, as are descriptions of individual language varieties that prioritise actual and contextualised language use.