Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research 15 (8): 1140-1146, 2013 ISSN 1990-9233 © IDOSI Publications, 2013 DOI: 10.5829/idosi.mejsr.2013.15.8.11238 Corresponding Author: Ali Akbar Khansir, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, Iran. 1140 Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching Ali Akbar Khansir Bushehr University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, Iran Abstract: The aim of the present investigation is to examine applied linguistics and english language teaching. Many resent researches concerned with applied linguistics have led to a phenomenon to resolve language problems in general and in particular english language. In general, language phenomenon is complex. Finegan and Besiner defined language as a finite system of elements and principles that make it possible for speakers to construct sentences to do particular communicative jobs. Brumfit, defined applied linguistics such as “the theoretical and empirical investigation of real- world problems in which language is a central issue.” Grabe used the term of applied linguistics as an emerging discipline. This paper gives special emphasis to the influence of applied linguistics on english language and discusses the relation between linguistics and language teaching. Key words: Applied linguistics Linguistics Language English Language Teaching INTRODUCTION communication that can be identified, analysed or solved The history of English Language Teaching is linked with developments in many fields and especially with linguistics, applied linguistics, the psychology of learning and education. Titone [1] emphasized that there have been two basic positions held in English language teaching : a ) Form-focused teaching which emphasizes the teaching of the rules of grammar, structures, the development of vocabulary and the sounds of language; b) Meaning–focused teaching which emphasizes language use, communication or fluency and appropriacy of expression in different situations. Language teaching came into existence as a profession in the twentieth century. Its foundation was developed during the early part of the twentieth century, as applied linguists focus on the fields of linguistics and psychology to support what was thought to be a more effective teaching methodology. Language teaching in the twentieth century was characterized by frequent changes, innovations and development of language teaching ideologies [2]. Corder [3] argued that applied linguistics was a collection of applications of linguistics at various levels to the determine precisely the constrains, or laws if you will, language teaching operation, albeit of linguistics in a broad sense. Cook and Wei [4] mentioned that applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of research and practice dealing with practical problems of language and by applying available theories, methods or results of Linguistics or by developing new theoretical and methodological frameworks in linguistics to work on these problems’. Varshney [5] defined applied linguistics as the collective term for the various applications of linguistic (and phonetic) scholarship to related practical fields-foreign language teaching, lexicography, translation, speech pathology and therapy, error analysis, etc. Applied linguistics in the widest sense, therefore, borders on other disciplines, for example, sociology, anthropology, psychology, biology, computational linguistics, stylistics, etc. The speech therapist, the literary critic, the translator, the communication engineer, the language teacher, the syllabus framer, the educational planner, the text book writer, the dictionary maker have found linguistics useful for their work. “Applied linguistics is a consumer, or user, not a producer of theories” [5]. As a field of study it is about more than 60 years old. Rosenbaum [6] mentioned that the object of linguistic research has two fold, first of them, is to which govern the form of the constructs employed in the linguistic descriptions which best characterize the varied instances of human linguistic ability; the second is to determine the particular instances of the descriptive