of course we can because applied linguistics participates in solving the proplems os societies

Yes in One sense and no in the Other. This is because the initial target of Applied Linguistics was language teaching and it has largely remained there while the likes of sociolinguistics are treated as definate sub fields of linguistic study. But generally, Apllied Lings.embraces sociolinguistics e.g you cannot deal with language varieties without reference to sociolinguistics which also represent practical application

Thanks to all for your illuminating posts.

I agree with Sontyo Jimin. How can anyone properly teach, say, English as a Second Language, without knowing both the linguistic and cultural norms of the student population? Years ago, when I taught English conversation to Japanese students at Berkeley, I had to learn a great deal about Japanese culture to understand why my students reacted to certain topics in one way and other topics in a completely different way. Or why some concepts that were indispensable to their cultural and social life were totally foreign to me until I went to Japan and both observed and felt them in practice. I remember being puzzled during my MATESOL program that so little of the course material covered sociolinguistics. Only when a teacher understands the unwritten cultural codes of student population can he or she really succeed. So, while such a course cannot possibly cover all cultures or all issues, it can at least open the student's mind to new possibilities and plant the seeds of what he or she should be alert for in any classroom.

really teaching any language to non-native language without considering culture is unnatural. i am a teacher of English in Iran and i am teaching adults. against all limitations here, i teach both culture and the language. the students understand some concepts only if i tell them about the culture first. and it is interesting for them. and as Natalie said if any course cannot cover all culture issues , it can open the student's mind at least.

Hiva, I agree with you that teaching a language with teaching culture is "unnatural." One indispensable part of a culture , in terms of language, is whether it values speaking (e.g., most Western European languages) or listening (e.g., most Asian and Native American languages). Students need to know not only how to say something but also when (and when not!) to say it. I suspect that all of us fortunate enough to travel to--and live and work in--places with languages very different from our own have learned more from reactions to the cultural mistakes that accompanied our second-language utterances than from any grammatical corrections of those utterances. I wonder if the thinking of Benjamin Lee Whorf is being taught these days (in very brief, that language and culture are inextricably connected and that each continually informs the other). I learned more from reading his essays than I did from many of the classes I had to take.

Thanks to Natalie and Hiva for the detailed argument. Your explanation has made my position stronger while defending the addition of the Sociolinguistics Course to our prospective MA program.

Absolutely. Sociolinguistics are core to any understanding of language attitudes, language policy and planning (including educational planning re: language teaching/ testing/ testing of immigrant language use, testing of interpreters/ translators competence to practice, etc.) The issue of bilingualism, language maintenance, language change, gendered language use, etc. all informs other aspects of applied linguistics work. I'd say that an Applied Linguistics programme that excludes sociolinguistics is really missing something critical.

I agree with Lorraine--and add that the theory of contrastive rhetoric needs mentioning here. With English as the "lingua franca" (the language of commerce) in the academic world, too few non-native-English-speaking academics appear to know that English speakers and writers argue according to the Greeks (Aristotle, Euclid). English speakers do not "discuss" an issue or "narrate" our facts or position: we create an essentially mathematical proof. In contrast, for example, my French students say that the French argue according to Hegel, and my Italian students say that the Italians argue according to both Hegel and Cicero (with the added understanding that the language must also be euphonious). Different cultures also have different emphases; e.g., in certain linguistic communities academics must use the longest words and the most inaccessible sentence style to demonstrate their intellectual prowess. So I suggest that to teach English even at the highest levels, without teaching culture, is to abdicate one's teaching responsibilities.

Natailie, I agree completely!

The greatest problem in African Universities is downplaying Applied Linguistics as a discipline of great scholarship. I wish all understood the fact the Applied Linguistics is the bridge between Theory and Practice!

Lorraine and Francis, I appreciate your comments.

Other areas include Metadiscourse, Terralingua, Communication and Strategic Management/Counseling/Development, Critical Discourse in all disciplines, Harmonization of diverse languages for development among many other teaching and learning aspects where language is the center of tackling the dichotomies.

Thanks Francis for the comment.

Why not. Applied Linguistics interrogates any language issue that has a bearing on the teaching and learning of a language. Sociolinguistic issues can hinder the progress of language learning or acquisition. To that end Sociolinguistics can fall within the realms of Applied Linguistics. In fact, Applied Linguistics is the branch of Linguistics that grabs any area of language involvement that you may not find its location.

Actually, the term Applied Linguistics seems to be vague and it means many things to many people. In other words, there is no clear cut definition of the concept . It is a broad umbrella ranging over ideas as various as those of Corder (1974), Van Els, et al. (1984), Crystal (1986), Strevens (1992) & Cook (2003) among others. Yet, recent definitions regarded applied linguistics as a multidisciplinary approach to the solution of language-related problems (pls see Strevens ,1992). This means that it is an approach which needs to draw on different disciplines to help solving language-related problems. It has also been viewed as the academic discipline concerned with the relation of knowledge about language to decision making in the real world (pls see Cook ,2003). Hence, applied linguistics addresses language-based problems in real world contexts (both educational and social problems). That is, it focuses on trying to resolve language-based problems that people encounter in the real world, whether they be learners, teachers, supervisors, academics, lawyers, service providers, test takers, policy developers, dictionary makers, or translators (Cook, 2003). With this in mind, sociolinguistics should definitely be a course in the MA program as it would help the postgraduate students understand related issues such as gender, culture, dialects..etc which appeared important for students to solve and/or research language-based problems in real world contexts. TQ

Al-Tamimi you have said it all.