Page 210 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Linguistics

Notes • It has elucidated that education and linguistics are in need of each other all the time; especially
teaching linguistics to the educators is important so that they can cope with the problems
such as teaching vocabulary, reading, and writing.
• EL follows from this notion that educational linguists variously investigate a host of themes
related to individuals, the institutions they inhabit, and the socities in which both are situated,
all as they relate to language and education. This holistic perspective makes it so strong and
successful.
15.13.2 Disadvantages of Educational Linguistics

o Although educational linguistics claims that it is an independent but transdisciplinary field any
more, there are some other arguments which insist that it is still a sub-branch of applied linguistics.
For instance, van Lier puts forward that researchers working on language learning should consider
themselves to be linguists who do applied linguistics who do educational linguistics.
o In a similar way, applied linguists also claim that for a discipline to be an independent one, it has to
create its own approaches, theories and methods. Therefore, they assert that EL cannot be regarded
as a seperate field in this respect. However, the contradiction that applied linguistics -considering
itself as an independent field- also does not have its own approaches, theories, or methods weakens
this argument.
The inadequecy of EL concerning these aspects can be explained best with its being such a young
field to produce its own approaches, theories, and methods. In the course of time, educational
linguistics is to come up with novel approaches in L1 and L2 learning and improve current practices
with more efficient and innovative ones.
Self-Assessment

1. Fill in the blanks:
(i) The book ‘The Handbook of Educational Linguistics’ written by ............... .
(ii) The title ‘Educational Linguistic’ was proposed by Spolsky in ............... .

15.14 Summary

• Concerning Spolsky's own words; educational linguistics starts with the assessment of a
child's communicative competence on entering school and throughout his or her career,
includes the analysis of societal goals for communicative competence, and embraces the
whole range of activities undertaken by an educational system to bring its students' linguistic
repertoires into closer accord with those expected by society.
• With its roots in the controversies of applied linguistics, educational linguistics has grown
into a thriving field of inquiry focused on foreign language education. Its transdisciplinary
nature has allowed it to flourish in a wide range of disciplinary climates. While this wide
range has resulted in an impressively diverse body of knowledge with great potential to
influence educational practice, it has also made it challenging to develop a sense of cohesion
for educational linguistics as a whole.
• Although the question "Do we really need educational linguistics as a separate field? " is still
echoing especially at the part of applied linguists, EL has proved that language practicioners
are really in need of such a distinct field so as to specifically work on the issues belonging to
this particular area: foreign language education. On the other hand, this does not mean that
applied linguistics is useless any more. In the case that EL becomes insufficient to solve a
particular problem related to language learning and teaching, it is applied linguistics that EL
will call upon. In this respect, the two are always in juxtaposition and cannot reject the
presence and significance of each other.
• Even though there are some oppositions concerning its independent structure, today it is
obvious that educational linguistics stands powerfully as an independent but at the same
time transdisciplinary discipline. This position can be summarized best with the metaphor
used by Hornberger: birds on a wire. He says that the shifting and repositioning nature of

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