Applied Linguistics

I. Apa itu Applied Linguistics (Linguistik Terapan)?

Dalam buku Linguistik Umum karya Drs. Abdul Chaer (2007), Applied Linguistics atau Linguistik Terapan merupakan bidang ilmu yang menyelidiki tentang bahasa, atau hubungan bahasa dengan faktor-faktor di luar bahasa untuk kepentingan praktis masyarakat dalam kehidupan sehari-hari. Contohnya seperti, penerjemahan buku pelajaran, buku cerita, ensiklopedi, atau novel; penyusunan kamus; atau pembinaan bahasa nasional.

II. Sejarah Singkat Applied Linguistics

Linguistik terapan telah mengalami perkembangan dari waktu ke waktu. Dahulu, linguistik terapan memperhatikan prinsip serta praktek terhadap dasar-dasar linguistik. Pada tahun 1960, cakupan linguistik terapan diperluas dalam hal penilaian bahasa, kebijakan bahasa, dan penguasaan bahasa kedua. Linguistik terapan terus mengalami perkembangan bahkan perubahan. Pada sekitar tahun 1990, linguistik semakin meluas cakupannya, meliputi studi kritis dan multilingualisme.

III. Produk dan Manfaat dari Applied Linguistics

Applied linguistics atau linguistik terapan memiliki banyak produk dalam kehidupan sehari-hari kita yang manfaatnya dapat langsung dirasakan oleh kita. Berikut merupakan beberapa contoh produk hasil dari linguistik terapan, yaitu:

• Kamus, buku pelajaran, ensiklopedia, dan novel;
• Mesin penerjemah;
• Baliho;
• Brosur;
• Papan penunjuk arah atau papan penanda (contohnya papan bertuliskan exit, entrance, departure, dan arrival di bandara);
• Petunjuk penggunaan elektronik, dll.

Applied linguistics sangatlah bermanfaat untuk kehidupan kita. Dengan era globalisasi yang semakin canggih, penerapan ilmu linguistik terapan ini semakin diperlukan dan semakin terasa manfaatnya. Bentuk dan ragam produk keluarannya pun beragam. Kehidupan kita pun semakin terbantu dengan adanya penelitian yang berkelanjutan mengenai linguistik terapan.

Applied Linguistics and Primary School Teaching

• Editors:
• Sue Ellis, University of Strathclyde
• Elspeth McCartney, University of Strathclyde

• Date Published: April 2014
• availability: Available
• format: Paperback
• isbn: 9781107696877

Modern primary teachers must adapt literacy programmes and ensure efficient learning for all. They must also support children with language and literacy difficulties, children learning English as an additional language and possibly teach a modern foreign language. To do this effectively, they need to understand the applied linguistics research that underpins so many different areas of the language and literacy curriculum. This book illustrates the impact of applied linguistics on curriculum frameworks and pedagogy. It captures the range of applied linguistics knowledge that teachers need, and illustrates how this is framed and is used by policy makers, researchers, teacher educators and the other professions who work with teachers in schools. It considers how to effect professional development that works. It is essential reading for primary teachers but also for speech and language therapists, educational psychologists, learning support teachers and all those doing language or literacy research in the primary classroom.

• A range of classroom situations, mainly in the UK but also in the USA and Australia, are given as case studies
• Outlines the range of ways that applied linguistics knowledge impacts on the primary curriculum and pedagogy, and on language and literacy research
• Highlights the changing demographics of primary schools and how they impact on the linguistics knowledge teachers need

In editing a book on applied linguistics and primary school teaching, it is unsurprising to assert the view that linguistics should be a proper part of a teacher’s professional knowledge.  However, this view might also be supported by consideration of the rights of children with SLC (and indeed the rights of all children) to be educated by linguistically informed teachers who can develop their language skills. Applied linguistics as a knowledge base and analysis tool has an opportunity to spread its influence widely into mainstream school education, to support teachers in the modern complex classroom and to support inclusive education. But there is a need for much further conversation about how this may be progressed.