Reflection 2

Paradigmatic Controversies/Contradictions and Emerging Confluences

By  YVONNA S. LINCLOLN and EGON G. GUBA

           

Coping with the paradigmatic controversies or contradictions, it became evident that emerging confluences are impossible unless there is a universal understanding of the truth. The article opened an array of issues which form the basic platform for understanding the nature of applied linguistics. The issues are related to axiology, accommodation and commensurability, action, control, foundations of truth and knowledge, validity and voice, reflexivity, and postmodern textual representation. Each of these issues represents one whole behind which are fighting carious philosophies.

My reflection on this article is through my general perspective on these issues. I believe that applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field that mediates between theory and practice of language acquisition and use. As linguistics concerns with the study of language, and pedagogy deals with the teaching of language, there should be relevance between these two. Applied linguistics establishes relevant concepts or models of language in the pedagogic domain, those that are most appropriate for teaching purposes. This field is not limited to the study of language learning, nor does it encompass all applications of linguistic theory. It concerns with the use of findings from theoretical studies of language for the solution of language-related real-world problems. The relation of applied linguistics to language teaching is based on the belief that such findings must be relevant to practical teaching of languages.

My argument is that applied linguistics should be academically instituted. It should be defined by certain rational principles applied to the data of everyday experience. Abstractions are devices for understanding reality not for replicating it. The essential distinction is between actual experience and the abstractions that are set up to partially account for them. The quality of research is measured by reference to some set of principles.

We need to become intelligent readers of research, draw this knowledge into interaction with our professional experience, and bring it to educational decision-making. We need to devise and conduct empirical analysis ourselves, to search for a model that will draw on and appeal to the learners’ experience as a language user.