What is Applied Linguistics?
Applied Linguistics is a social science that studies language as a cognitive, social, and cultural phenomenon. While other disciplines such as communication, rhetoric, and world languages work with language-related topics or specific languages, Applied Linguistics focuses on what language is and how people use it. We study everything from the smallest bits of language (such as sound) to whole texts and complicated multi-person interactions. In other words, Applied Linguistics makes overt what we all use and experience but generally don't think about, let alone analyze. Using linguistic analysis and argumentation, we work on major problems that societies grapple with, such as education, health care, law, artificial intelligence, and public policies.