Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of study that identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems.

• Juan Pino-Silva

  On incipient argumentation (IA): How much do we know about it? The term sounds cool but is there any substance to it?

  "I am agree with you, but also with other supporters." is a piece a data (opening sentence) taken from a corpus obtained from Engineering students, taking ESP courses. The task was to write an"I am agree with you, but also with other supporters." is a piece a data (opening sentence) taken from a corpus obtained from Engineering students, taking ESP courses. The task was to write an essay-like piece about the good and bad side of technology. Not surprisingly, I found transfer errors at the micro-level indicative of willingness to engage in argumentation but with little English incipient argumentation showed up. I also found sign of refusal to engage in argumentation, writing about side points to look good and exhibit the English writing skills which some apparently have but avoiding argumentation generally. I too have just made up the term "incipient argumentation (IA)" to study this phenomenon. Does IA sound appropriate to you? Is there something of interest to the field to look into here?

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    João Bôsco Santos replied

    Incipient argumentation is only one of several levels of reading subjectivity construction. I consider a relevant level for students start gaining confidence in their sense perception.

    11 days ago
• Juan Pino-Silva

  The use of We in academic writing: Hiding behind your Mama's skirt?

  We have a tendency to use WE when I is a good option (i.e. the author is one person) as in " We present data from a 350 academic papers..." " We may then conclude that (a)..." etc. or in cases likeWe have a tendency to use WE when I is a good option (i.e. the author is one person) as in " We present data from a 350 academic papers..." " We may then conclude that (a)..." etc. or in cases like this "Though we have already garnered some predicaments, applied linguists ought to keep an eye on new edges stemming from...". Here WE is used on behalf of a community and I is less of an option. In the first two examples, we may be "hiding" from something. Hiding from what and why? Is this good use or abuse? (Notice that in constructing this post, I am also guilty of "hiding")

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    João Bôsco Santos replied

    It depends from text voice you want to mark in your enunciation. If you want to constitute yourself subject of your speech and mark it, you use "I", to make clear your formulation. I myself wouldIt depends from text voice you want to mark in your enunciation. If you want to constitute yourself subject of your speech and mark it, you use "I", to make clear your formulation. I myself would rather writing academically using "I". If you want to emphasize an author's idea, a concept, a notion, a principle, a theoretical basis you can use an "unpersonal" voice with third person (including it and passive constructions). If you want to show results from a group, from a collective thinking on an object, why not use "we". "hiding behind mamma's skirt", is a strong expression in defense of not being safe about a scientific thinking.

    11 days ago
• Aridem Vintoni

  Language and culture have a close relationship, people from different cultures have different way of speaking, like what I found based on the result of research: The people belonging to the TanjungLanguage and culture have a close relationship, people from different cultures have different way of speaking, like what I found based on the result of research: The people belonging to the Tanjung Pauh Mudik dialect of Kerinci language (Kerinci, Jambi, Indonesia) tended to be "verbally aggressive and long-winded" in requesting and refusing the request.
• Prudhvi Raju

  In the context of teaching writing particularly in second language context what should a common regional medium teacher know about teaching writing?

  I want to know different ideas and discussions

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    Denise Morel replied

    Give them authentic writing tasks, suitable to their age and level of language development. They need to understand the importance of audience, purpose and context. Take care of the mechanics andGive them authentic writing tasks, suitable to their age and level of language development. They need to understand the importance of audience, purpose and context. Take care of the mechanics and grammar within the context of writing whole, meaningful texts. They need to be exposed to, and experiment with, a wide variety of written texts and different types of discourse as models, i.e. not only formal continuous texts such as reports and essays, but also informal texts (friendly letters, e-mails) and non-continuous texts (posters, ads, pamphlets, notes, etc.).

    Apr 20, 2012
• Kurosh Iraanzad

  Lingua Franca, Creole and Pidgin

  Can anyone provide academic descriptions?

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    Ian Kennedy replied

    This thread is just a forum for people who are too lazy to consult http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

    Feb 27, 2012
• Sophus VD

  Is there any evidence that esperanto improves ability of learning other languages?

  Papers would be great.

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    Javier Girarte replied

    HI, I found this paper I hope it's useful. Section: International Invented languages The lure of made-up languages SCRABBLE is compelling enough, but playing it in Esperanto, for those of a certainHI, I found this paper I hope it's useful. Section: International Invented languages The lure of made-up languages SCRABBLE is compelling enough, but playing it in Esperanto, for those of a certain cast of mind, is even more addictive. The invented language's tidy roots and suffixes are well suited to wordplay. A recent game in London featured words like acajeto (a little bit of dirt) and artamehoj (echoes of the love of art). Over its 120-year history Esperanto may have failed in its original mission to bring world peace via mutual intelligibility, but it remains both an engaging intellectual exercise and a route to a ready-made social life. "A language isn't something you learn so much as something you join," says Arika Okrent, author of a book on artificial argots. Few people will bother to learn a language on abstract or idealistic grounds, she says. Esperanto gives them a reason to get started, because of the culture that has grown up around it. The 50,000-odd people able to speak reasonable Esperanto form a kind of global freemasonry, with shared sub-passions including cats, chess and fungus-foraging; a chateau in the Loire Valley offers retreats while "Pasporto Servo" arranges humbler home hospitality for travellers. Skype and Facebook put even the loneliest speaker in touch with others. Wikipedia has 150,000 entries in Esperanto--more than in Hebrew, itself a semi-constructed language revived in modern Israel. The World Esperanto Congress in Copenhagen in late July drew 1,500 people from 67 countries, among them Belgium, which includes the former Neutral Moresnet, a speck of territory that in 1908 nearly adopted the language as its official tongue. On a smaller scale, Klingon appeals to "Star Trek" fans and puzzle-solvers. The parlance of the sci-fi series's beetle-browed baddies is ugly, difficult and has no real purpose (barring encounters such as the one pictured). But it has its own translation of "Hamlet" ("taH pagh taH be " in case you were wondering), an Académie Française-style institute and journal, and a global network of devotees. D'Armond Speers, an American, spoke only Klingon to his son until he was three (his wife spoke English); Helen and Ian Fantom, a couple in Newbury, England, raised all three children in Esperanto. Nick Nicholas, a business analyst from Melbourne, Australia, speaks both Klingon and Esperanto; he is also reputed to be the world's best wordsmith in ultra-logical Lojban. Esperanto is fairly harmonious by neoglossal standards, though splenetic rows sputter between "conlangers", who think made-up tongues are just for fun, and the "auxlangers", who are serious about substituting for English. Feuds divided and diminished Loglan, Lojban's forebear, which also aimed to eliminate ambiguity and illogicality. Suzette Elgin, creator of the feminist Laadan, tried to capture women's experience with words like busholan (to be alone in the bosom of your family) and halehadihahal (work that is constantly interrupted), only to discover that lesbians resented her perceived heterosexual bias. The tide of invention shows no sign of abating. David Crystal, an expert on English, receives a proposal for a new language every six months. The neoglossalists' efforts may seem naive, but their belief in the evanescence of English could prove prescient. Mr Crystal reckons that it is only a matter of time before automatic machine translation becomes so sophisticated that the language of Bagehot loses its role as lingua franca. Enjoy it while you can. PHOTO (COLOR): 'eSperanto' Hol Dajatlh'a? Copyright of The Economist © 2011 is the property of Economist Newspaper Limited and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. All rights reserved. Users may not save or store any or all of the content on their own systems or distribute any of the content on a local area or wide area network (such as corporate intranets or networks).

    Feb 24, 2012
• Lei Lei

  How to submit a book review to an academic journal?

  Most academic journals do not accept unsolicited submissions of book reviews, to my knowledge. So, do you have any suggestions on how to submit a book review to an academic journal? Is it possibleMost academic journals do not accept unsolicited submissions of book reviews, to my knowledge. So, do you have any suggestions on how to submit a book review to an academic journal? Is it possible to contact the review editor/s to inquire 1) whether the author can submit a book review of a certain book, 2) or whether s/he can be assigned the task of writing a book review? Someone advised that we may consult the "Publications Received" section in a journal to find a book of interest and then contact the review editor/s. Is it feasible? Or, would anyone who has published book reviews be kind enough to share his/her experiences? Any response would be much appreciated.

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    Liljana Markoska replied

    Hi, You've already got some good suggestions. All I can add is try to find a journal that's interested and go for it. Good luck!

    Feb 7, 2012
• Chongrak Sitthirak

  How to get your article published in a renowned journal?

  If you decide to write an article and get it published, which needs to be considered first, the article from your field of expertise, or the proposed issue in your prospective journal?

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    Joan Griffith replied

    Get an editor to ensure your language is good. Publications do not want to wade through grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors to find out what you have written about. As an editor, I was ableGet an editor to ensure your language is good. Publications do not want to wade through grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors to find out what you have written about. As an editor, I was able to get a very smart guy out of astrology magazines and into the British Royal Society publication, among others. I have discovered, however, that such outlets seem to prefer not to publish the same authors frequently, perhaps because they have so many submissions.

    Jan 31, 2012
• Sai Kishore

  Consider that you are working on a survey/ questionnaire method (cross sectional analysis). Is it necessary that the questionnaire MUST BE translated into the native language?

  The original authors/designers of that particular questionnaire - would they accept for a translation? Apart from copy rights issues, is it ETHICAL to do such thing? If your subjects can'tThe original authors/designers of that particular questionnaire - would they accept for a translation? Apart from copy rights issues, is it ETHICAL to do such thing? If your subjects can't understand the meaning of some questions, and in a situation where one may have to explain a few words for them, don't you feel that TRANSLATION IS A MUST? Kindly share your expert opinion. (I wish you all a great new year ahead..!)

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    Chongrak Sitthirak replied

    Rod Ellis said (in one of his lecture in Bangkok lately) using translation is another means of examining the Interlanguage of students, and I'm trying it for my research.

    Jan 6, 2012
• Sando George

  Can i reject H3 based on the fact that the p-value for H2 is less than that of H1?

  I have three groups of data A, B and C. I also have three null hypotheses H1, H2 and H3. H1 states that A is not significantly different from C and I failed to reject it with a p-value of 0.9419I have three groups of data A, B and C. I also have three null hypotheses H1, H2 and H3. H1 states that A is not significantly different from C and I failed to reject it with a p-value of 0.9419 (alpha = 0.05). H2 states that B is not significantly different from C and I failed to reject it with a p-value of 0.3366 (alpha = 0.05). H3 states that B is more accurate than A when compared to C (C being the model for accuracy). Can i reject H3 based on the fact that the p-value for H2 is less than that of H1?

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    Sando George replied

    I see... thank you for your input.

    Oct 26, 2011
• A.Wahed Al Zumor

  Scope of Applied Linguistics

  A controversy is going on about the scope of Applied Linguistics. Can we consider a sociolinguistics course in an Applied Linguistics Master program? Thank you.

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    A.Wahed Al Zumor replied

    Thanks Francis for the comment.

    Oct 11, 2011
• Pamela Norton

  Speech Pathology/Speech-Language Therapy as Area of Applied LInguistics

  Does anybody here have information on research looking at speech pathology practice as an area of applied linguistics? I'd be interested in any leads. Thanks

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  • 
    Fawaz Elahl replied

    http://www.huitwit.com Set out to build a better world, we are focused on thinking beyond the basics. Huitwit.com is a public relations foundation of extensive and high quality intelligence. Ourhttp://www.huitwit.com Set out to build a better world, we are focused on thinking beyond the basics. Huitwit.com is a public relations foundation of extensive and high quality intelligence. Our clients rely on our database to build the most accurate picture of the world around us. We offer easy-to-use tools, exceptional client support and in-depth media contacts database. We are numerology made accurate and we deliver high quality research on an easy to use platform. Visit us today!

    Sep 14, 2011
• Chongrak Sitthirak

  Contrastive and concessive discourse markers

  I'm doing a research on the use of contrastive and concession discourse markers, i.e. but and although. I'm wondering if you consider "although" a contrastive connector or a concession? I found lessI'm doing a research on the use of contrastive and concession discourse markers, i.e. but and although. I'm wondering if you consider "although" a contrastive connector or a concession? I found less grammar books mentioned the "concession" since it lumped "although" into "contrastive" type.

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    Chongrak Sitthirak replied

    I also like something practical, too. Thanks for your comment.

    Aug 24, 2011
• Morteza Yazdani

  Scoring TOEFL

  Dear researchers, I am currently working on a paper in which I need to score iBT tests. I came up with some software programs such as AES(1966), e-rater, Criterion, Exrater, and Intelligent essayDear researchers, I am currently working on a paper in which I need to score iBT tests. I came up with some software programs such as AES(1966), e-rater, Criterion, Exrater, and Intelligent essay grader, but I couldn't find the link to download them or even find a shop which sells these programs. Do any of you know how to purchase or download them? It's very important for my thesis. Thanks in advance, Morteza

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    Morteza Yazdani replied

    Hi Irina... THanks for your message... but I don't need materials. I need a software/machine which can score TOEFL (Or IELTS might also help). Thanks anyway. :)

    Jul 6, 2011