| title | Hocbigg - Applied Linguistics |
|---|---|
| description | Path to a free self-taught education in Applied Linguistics |
Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field that works on real-world problems involving language. Theoretical linguistics studies language as an abstract, formal cognitive system. Applied linguistics asks how language works in society, education, institutions, law, and everyday interaction. People study it to improve language education, analyze communication breakdowns across cultures, examine power and bias in public discourse, and understand how the mind acquires and processes multiple languages.
This curriculum is for independent, self-directed learners with no formal background in linguistics, language pedagogy, or cognitive science. You do not need an institutional affiliation, a statistics background, or experience teaching foreign languages.
Self-directed study leaves you free to set your own pace, but the order below is deliberate and each step builds on the one before it:
- Start with Foundations of Applied Linguistics to see the scope, history, and professional domains of the field, then take Introduction to Linguistics for the basic scientific principles of language.
- Next, Descriptive Linguistic Analysis: Sounds and Grammar gives you the phonetic transcription skills, morphological terminology, and syntactic tools you need to describe authentic language data and learner errors.
- Then take Pragmatics and Discourse Analysis and Sociolinguistics, which cover how meaning is negotiated in context, how conversation is structured, and how language variation intersects with power, identity, and social policy. Once your descriptive foundations are in place, you can study these two in either order.
- Finish with Psycholinguistics and First Language Acquisition, which covers how the mind processes language and how children develop it. This subject supplies the theory for Second Language Acquisition, which looks at how older learners develop an interlanguage. Language Teaching Methodology then turns these cognitive and developmental insights into instructional techniques, syllabus design, and classroom practice.
This page covers only the core subjects that every learner in applied linguistics should master before branching into subfields. It sets out the conceptual models, analytical tools, and shared vocabulary common to the whole discipline.
After this sequence, you can tailor your studies to specific domains:
- Pursue specialized subfields like corpus linguistics, language assessment, and English for specific purposes in Advanced Topics.
- Apply your knowledge by compiling custom corpora, designing assessment rubrics, or writing policy briefs in Projects.
An overview of applied linguistics as an interdisciplinary field that identifies, analyzes, and solves real-world, language-related problems in education, society, and policy.
An Introduction to Applied Linguistics, 3rd ed. (Norbert Schmitt and Michael P. H. Rodgers, Eds., Routledge): the core survey of the discipline, covering everything from grammar and vocabulary to forensic linguistics and language assessment.
Applied Linguistics (Guy Cook, Oxford University Press): a shorter alternative to Schmitt and Rodgers that focuses on how linguistic inquiry applies to practical dilemmas in law, education, and social interaction.
A survey of the scientific study of language, covering the universal design features and core analytical categories of human language systems.
Crash Course Linguistics (YouTube): a fast-paced video series that gives a first pass through the major branches of language science.
Essentials of Linguistics, 2nd ed. (Catherine Anderson et al., eCampusOntario): a free, open-access textbook with video explanations that builds core linguistic concepts chapter by chapter.
MIT 24.900 Introduction to Linguistics, Spring 2022 (MIT OpenCourseWare): a rigorous university course with full video lectures and problem sets that deepens your grasp of the theory.
Miracles of Human Language: An Introduction to Linguistics (Coursera / University of Amsterdam): a guided MOOC, available in audit mode, with discussions among practicing linguists. It works as an interactive alternative to reading a textbook on your own.
The study of speech production, sound patterns, word formation, and syntactic structure. It gives you the descriptive toolkit for analyzing learner errors and authentic language data.
The Study of Language, 7th ed. (George Yule, Cambridge University Press): an accessible, exercise-driven textbook on phonetics, phonology, morphology, and grammar, with many cross-linguistic examples.
Essentials of Linguistics, 2nd ed. (Catherine Anderson et al., eCampusOntario): an open-access option with dedicated chapters on sounds, words, and sentences, and an entirely free alternative to commercial structural grammars.
The Virtual Linguistics Campus, VLC105 Phonetics, Phonology & Transcription (YouTube): search "VLC105 Phonetics, Phonology & Transcription" on YouTube for systematic e-lectures on phonetic articulation and IPA transcription. They reinforce the sound-analysis chapters of your textbook.
How speakers create and interpret meaning in context, including speech act theory, conversational interaction, genre conventions, and textual coherence.
Discourse Analysis: An Introduction, 3rd ed. (Brian Paltridge, Bloomsbury Academic): the main textbook on how spoken and written texts are structured, covering conversation analysis, genre theory, and critical discourse analysis.
Pragmatics (George Yule, Oxford University Press): a compact primer on micro-pragmatic phenomena such as implicature, deixis, and speech acts. Read it before Paltridge's broader discourse frameworks.
Essentials of Linguistics, 2nd ed. (Catherine Anderson et al., eCampusOntario): read the pragmatics chapter first for a concise, open-access summary of conversational maxims and presuppositions before starting your main reading.
The study of language in its social environment: how regional variation, social identity, prestige, and power shape linguistic behavior and language policy.
An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 6th ed. (Janet Holmes and Nick Wilson, Routledge): an engaging, narrative introduction with international case studies on dialects, multilingualism, and language attitudes.
An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 7th ed. (Ronald Wardhaugh and Janet M. Fuller, Wiley-Blackwell): a more structured academic alternative to Holmes and Wilson, with deeper coverage of variationist sociolinguistics and language planning.
Essentials of Linguistics, 2nd ed. (Catherine Anderson et al., eCampusOntario): the sociolinguistics chapter gives an open-access overview of language variation and speech communities.
How the human brain processes, comprehends, and produces speech, along with the developmental milestones of child language acquisition.
MIT 24.904 Language Acquisition, Spring 2022 (MIT OpenCourseWare): a university course with open lecture materials and assignments on developmental milestones, learnability, and the structural growth of a first language.
An Introduction to Psycholinguistics, 2nd ed. (Danny D. Steinberg and Natalia V. Sciarini, Routledge): a comprehensive introductory book that links cognitive processing, mental lexicon access, and childhood language development.
Essentials of Linguistics, 2nd ed. (Catherine Anderson et al., eCampusOntario): the psycholinguistics and first-language development chapters are a clear, self-contained overview. Read them before the MIT OCW materials to establish the basic concepts.
The mechanisms, developmental sequences, and individual learner differences that govern how children and adults acquire additional languages.
How Languages Are Learned, 5th ed. (Patsy M. Lightbown and Nina Spada, Oxford University Press): a leading introduction to SLA research that compares first- and second-language acquisition patterns and ties theory to classroom reality.
Introducing Second Language Acquisition, 3rd ed. (Muriel Saville-Troike and Karen Barto, Cambridge University Press): a more academically structured alternative to Lightbown and Spada that approaches SLA from linguistic, psychological, and social perspectives.
The principles, history, and current practice of second and foreign language instruction, curricular design, and classroom management.
Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, 3rd ed. (Jack C. Richards and Theodore S. Rodgers, Cambridge University Press): a historical and structural survey that compares teaching models from Grammar Translation to Communicative and Task-Based Language Teaching.
The Practice of English Language Teaching, 5th ed. (Jeremy Harmer, Pearson): a practical guide that complements the theoretical models of Richards and Rodgers with concrete advice on lesson planning, developing receptive and productive skills, and classroom dynamics.
Teach English Now! Foundational Principles (Arizona State University / Coursera): an open-audit video course on core teaching principles, lesson framing, and classroom techniques, which gives you an audiovisual foundation alongside your reading.