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Linguistics

Notes 15.5.5 Interactionist Theory
In parallel with communicative approach, interactionist theory also puts emphasis on the effect of
social environment in which linguistic competence can be turned out to be communicative competence
through interaction and by the help of nonverbal components, much more meaningful language
learning can be achieved, as proposed by educational linguists. It is worth noting that "classroom
interaction" is the core of educational linguistics research.
According to the associations given above, it is obvious that communicative language teaching, silent
way, suggestopedia, TPR and other methods such as task-based and competency-based language
teaching can also be linked to educational linguistics.
15.6 The Birth and Development of Educational Linguistics

As a research area, educational linguistics is very young. Its birth occured in 1972 with the works of
Bernard Spolsky in America. As mentioned earlier, it grew from the discomfort with the ambiguity
of the term "applied linguistics". Therefore, the history of educational linguistics is inextricably linked
to applied linguistics.
Since its inception, applied linguistics has had a broad scope, but it is language and education that
has come to be dominant. In 1950s, it included a wide range of topics (linguistic geography, dictionary
and literature, rhetoric, stylistics, lexicography, general language planning, etc.); however, while
ELT was gaining momentum in 1960s and booming by the 1970s, many of these areas which were
included in applied linguistics either received less attention or became the object of interest of other
developing areas of study.
The problems and controversies regarding the nature and scope of applied linguistics were driving
forces in Spolsky's decision to formulate a more precise title for the research studies specifically
related to language and education. Moreover, there was also an implication in the term applied
linguistics that linguistics is simply applied to issues of social practice. Such a "unidirectional" approach
is undesirable and even dangerous especially in education where attempts by linguists to insert their
theories directly into practice have led to disastrous results in, for example, phonemic approaches to
reading and audiolingual approaches to general language learning.
Spolsky felt that applied linguistics in broad sense obscures the work specifically devoted to language
and education. He also felt that to use applied linguistics in a narrow sense to refer to only language
education research obscures the multiplicity of the work being done within the field in other domains.
Namely, the term applied linguistics was imprecise and disadvantaging for everyone concerned.
He first set fourth his vision for its nature in a presentation at the third AILA congress in 1972, later
published in its proceedings. Then, in 1976, the department of Educational Linguistics was established
at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education within the deanship of Dell Hymes.
In 1978, Spolsky published a seminal monograph on educational linguistics. Moreover, in 1984, the
journal Working Papers in Educational Linguistics has been established, and since then, sixteen
volumes have been published under student editorial direction which include topics ranging from
speech act analysis and classroom discourse to language planning and second language acquisition.
At the beginning, people thought that his objective was to provide a new label for applied linguistics.
This was largely stemming from a view of applied linguistics as being solely occupied with language
and education. However, it was later understood that it's a "unified field within the wider discipline
of applied linguistics". And today, it has turned out to be an independent field whose "starting point
is always the practice of education and the focus is squarely on the role of language in learning and
teaching (Hornberger, 2001: 19). Now, it is widely believed that it is EL which should be responsible
for L1 and L2 learning, not applied linguistics.

15.7 The Nature and Composition of Educational Linguistics

Concerning the nature and composition of EL, Spolsky puts forward that language teaching takes
place in a school and is closely tied to sociological, economic, political, and psychological factors.

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