Grand Valley State University

Applied Linguistics, Minor

Subject Overview

Applied Linguistics is an interdisciplinary field that investigates and offers solutions to language-related problems in the world. The discipline relies on the theories and findings of linguistics, together with the experiences and needs of language users, to engage real-world issues at such intersections as language and society, language and education, and language and power. Rather than merely proffering advice, applied linguists must negotiate between academic and public perspectives on language issues, seeking common ground between expertise and experience. Applied Linguistics informs such questions as how best to teach and learn a second language or dialect, how gendered language impacts social status, how to assess language proficiency, how descriptions of human language relate to computer languages, how language policy impacts literacy, what language(s) should be used in official business and public education, and what effect the growth of English as a lingua franca is having on the societies in which it is used.

Although a young discipline, Applied Linguistics continues to play an increasingly prominent role in a range of academic disciplines and professional settings. Studies of literature are informed by an understanding of sound symbolism, discourse analysis, language varieties, and language change; psychology relies on linguistics to inform studies of language acquisition and cognition; computer science draws on the discipline in the development of artificial intelligence, speech synthesis, and computer languages; classical and modern language studies use language theory and language pedagogy in translation and teaching; education draws on linguistics to inform reading and writing pedagogy, language learning disorders, and second language learning. Indeed, since language is involved in virtually all human activity, the scope of applied linguistics is very broad.

Program Description

The Applied Linguistics minor is designed to provide systematic study of and principled approaches to issues in which language is implicated, including language teaching, language learning, and language use. Relying on foundational linguistic concepts and an understanding of the structural properties of language as elaborated in phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics, the minor engages issues and seeks resolution to language-related problems in the world. Courses in the minor consider such topics as learning and teaching of languages, social and regional language variation, literacy, language policy, language disorders, and language history, to name a few.

The Applied Linguistics minor serves as an excellent disciplinary complement to such fields as African/African American Studies, Anthropology, Classics, Communications, Computing and Information Systems, English, Education, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, and Writing.

Career Opportunities

The discipline of applied linguistics has application to careers in a wide variety of fields, including computer science, foreign and second language teaching, speech-language pathology and intervention, forensic analysis, literacy and educational assessment, language planning and policy, and publishing and advertising. Applied linguists, for example, teach second and foreign languages, compile dictionaries, resolve communication problems among pilots who must use a common nonnative language, work with legislators in countries to develop language policies, and assist with criminal and legal investigations. (See below for a list of Web sites where you can learn more about the applied linguistics and professional affiliations.)

Degree Requirements

The applied linguistics minor requires a minimum of 21 hours of course work: 9 hours in the foundation and 12 hours in electives. Three electives must be taken from English electives and one elective must be taken from cross-departmental electives or be an elective approved by an English linguistics advisor. As with all minors at Grand Valley, 20 hours in the minor must be credits unduplicated in the major (and 30 hours in the major must be credits unduplicated in the minor).

Foundation Courses (required 9 hours)
ENG 261 Foundations of Language Study (prerequisite for other ENG courses)
ENG 363 Applied Linguistics
ENG 364 Sociolinguistics

Electives (12 hours)
English electives (9 hours)
ENG 362 History of the English Language
ENG 365 Teaching English as a Second Language
ENG 366 English Grammar and Usage
ENG 392 Language and Power
ENG 461 Language and Gender
ENG 467 Language Disorders and English Literacy
ENG 390 Special Topics in Language and Rhetoric

Cross-departmental electives (3 hours)
AAA 350 African American Identity and Communication
ANT 207 Language and Culture
CLA 410 Literary Translation: Theory and Practice
CS 343 Structure of Programming Languages
CS 365 Artificial Intelligence
CS 461 Compiler Design and Construction
FRE 305 French Phonetics
FRE 355 Introduction to French Linguistics
GER 321 German Phonetics
GER 322 Intro to German Linguistics
GER 421 History of the German Language
PSY 305 Infant and Early Childhood Development
PSY 357 Psychology of Language
or HNR 313 Honors Junior Seminar
PSY 365 Cognition
SPA 308 Spanish Phonetics
SPA 309 Advanced Spanish Grammar
SPA 327 History of the Spanish Language
SPA 329 Sociolinguistics of Spanish
SPA 335 Introduction to Spanish Linguistics

Refer to www.gvsu.edu/catalog for the most current catalog information.

For More Information

Laura Vander Broek, Linguistics Section Chair
English Department
244 Lake Huron Hall
1 Campus Drive
Grand Valley State University
Allendale, Michigan 49401-9403
Telephone: (616) 331-3467
Email: vanderbl@gvsu.edu
Web: www.gvsu.edu/english
or
Admissions Office
Grand Valley State University
1 Campus Drive
Allendale, Michigan 40401-9403
Telephone: (616) 331-2025 or (800) 748-0246
Email: admissions@gvsu.edu
Web: www.gvsu.edu/admissons

Additional information about applied linguistics can be found at these sites:
American Association for Applied Linguists (AAAL)
www.aaal.org
International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA)
www.aila.info
Linguistics Society of America (LSA)
www.lsadc.org
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
www.tesol.org
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)
www.asha.org