Joining Linguistics with Other Fields in the Service of Foreign Language Teaching.

The study of language is an interdisciplinary field, since language can be seen to embody characteristics of psychology, linguistics, literature, sociology, anthropology, education, and the sciences. Teachers of language can no longer afford to ignore useful information from any of the underlying disciplines. If language teaching is to be assisted by these disciplines, the following conditions must be met: (1) the various fields involved must admit that they all have something to learn from each other; (2) these several fields must be willing to communicate their knowledge in such a way that it sees life from the learner's viewpoint; (3) they must meet other disciplines halfway; (4) they must be less concerned with internal orthodoxy and more about the long range success of their clients; and (5) they must realize they are all in a constant state of change. There is now evidence that the various academic fields are opening up to fresh ideas from allied disciplines. Thus, the task of joining linguistics with other fields in the service of foreign language instruction no longer seems farfetched. The advent of sociolinguistics has helped crystalize this interdisciplinary trend. Because of its focus on variability, sociolinguistics makes educators more aware of the importance of the setting and the lifestyle from which a student comes. (Author/PM)