Applied Linguistics is a growing and vibrant discipline in universities nationally and internationally. It is an interdisciplinary field of research and instruction that provides theoretical and descriptive foundations for the empirical investigation and solution of language-related issues, especially those of language education (first-language, secondlanguage, foreign-language and heritage-language teaching and learning), but also issues of bilingualism and biliteracy, language policy, language assessment, translation and interpretation, lexicography, rhetoric and composition. Students who demonstrate competence in these areas increase their opportunities for employment, as many job descriptions indicate a preference for candidates with an emphasis in applied linguistics or second language acquisition. Also, with the ever-increasing number of second language learners at the K-12 levels, it is essential for all teachers and educational researchers to have a fundamental understanding of language learning and teaching theories and practices.
News: Congratulations to our most recent Ph.D.s who have added the Emphasis (2008): Carola Matera, Omideh Miri Sloan, Satoko Shao-Kobayashi and Makiko Tanaka.
Lectures in Spring 2009:
Wednesday, May 20, 2009, 4:00-5:00, Phelps 1172: Mark Kaiser "Teaching Language and Culture with the UC’s Library of Foreign Language Film Clips"
Thursday, May 21, 2009, 3:30-5:00, Phelps 1172: Meei-Ling Liaw "Beyond Linguistic and Cultural Differences: When ELF (English as Lingua Franca) Meets Telecollaboration"
Lectures in Winter 2009:
Friday February 20, 2009, 10.30-12.00: Stefanie Wulff "Constructions in learner language: experimental and corpus-linguistic evidence"
Friday March 6, 2009: Alison Phipps "Language Learning and Air: Towards an Elemental Pedagogy"