Using Linguistics in Teaching English as a Second/ Foreign Language

According to Richards and Schmidt (2010), linguistics is the study of language as a system of human communication. It is the academic discipline concerned with the study of language in general. Linguistics looks for generalities underlying actual appearances, and so in some degree is bound to represent an abstract idealization of language rather than the way it is experienced in the real world. (Cook, 2003, p. 9) Linguistics is a science, but language teaching is an art. Since language teaching is concerned with language, one would expect it to be referable to ideas in linguistics. (Widdowson, 2003, p. 20). English language has a special place in the educational system of foreign countries and no doubt, learning and teaching English requires English teacher to master the English language skills. From this point of view, a knowledge of linguistics is essential for English language teaching in general and English teachers, in particular. The relationship between linguistics and second language teaching has always been acontroversial one. Language teachers and linguists have a subject matter directly in common which is language. Many linguists have argued that linguistics has nothing to say to the teacher. Language teachers have always looked to the linguist for guidance on how to teach languages. Language after all, is what both the language teacher and the linguist are concerned with: the teacher is concerned with teaching something which is the object of the study of linguistics, and is described by linguistic methods (Alexander, Halliday, McIntosh and Strevens 1964, p.166).