Current Research Tendencies in Applied Linguistics

Abstract

In this article, we discuss the changing role of applied linguistics from a diachronic perspective and outline its present role as an interdisciplinary branch of science. In the 1950s, applied linguistics was viewed as a branch of science dealing with the application of linguistics to language teaching and with tackling central issues of practical language in use. Nowadays applied linguistics encompasses a wide range of objectives, the scope of which is often hard to define. If applied linguistics had to undergo a long way of broadening the field all over the world, this period of development was left out in Latvia, applied linguistics not being officially recognized as a branch of science. The official beginning of applied linguistics in Latvia is considered to be the year 1999, when it was entered into the Science Classification of the Latvian Council of Science. At the outset, the first dissertations written in applied linguistics reflected its interdisciplinary nature as a practice-driven discipline that addresses solving language-related phenomena in a variety of general, academic, occupational and professional contexts. The present article argues that applied linguistics lies at the intersection of different disciplines; however, the narrow view of applied linguistics that still exists in the Latvian society calls for considering its role within our own academic niche as well as in an outward perspective, thus making the Latvian academic society aware of its importance as an interdisciplinary branch of science.