Applied Linguistics
The application of insights from theoretical linguistics to practical matters such as language teaching, remedial linguistic therapy, language planning or whatever.
Applied linguistics addresses the most pressing and controversial areas of contemporary language use, including intercultural communication, political and commercial persuasion, the impact of new technologies, the growth of English, language in education, and foreign language teaching and learning.
Applied linguistics is not simply a matter of matching up findings about language with pre-existing problems but of using findings to explore how the perception of problems might be changed. It may be that when problems are reformulated from a different point of view they become more amenable to solution. This changed perception may then, in turn, have implication for linguistics.
Applied linguistics is a quest for common ground. It establishes a reciprocal relationship between experience and expertise, between professional concerns with language problems and linguistics.
Applied linguistics is using what we know about (a) language, (b) how it is learned and (c) how it is used, in order to achieve some purposes or solve some problems in the real world. Those purposes are many and varied, as is evident in a definition given by Wilkins: in a broad sense, applied linguistics is concerned with increasing understanding of the role of language in human affairs and thereby with providing the knowledge necessary for those who are responsible for taking language-related decisions whether the need for these arises in the classroom, the workplace, the law court, or the laboratory.
⠀ https://books.google.com/books?hl=uk&lr=&id=HKBqKjqidZQC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=applied+linguistics&ots=2UECRrgcf7&sig=nwK6lpN-Mb_JvDWRUT0Z36REbQk