You know when someone asked me what
Applied Linguistics is,
I usually tell them it's the study of language in context.
Complimentary to theoretical linguistics,
which looks at the structure of language,
Applied Linguistics looks at the use of language
in a particular context or several contexts.
For example how do people talk to each other,
when you're talking to your boss and when you're talking
to your sister, when you're talking to a close friend,
that would be aspects of discourse
and your discourse, or your language, which shift
in each of those different contexts.
But Applied Linguistics also looks at language
in a use in a sense of language testing.
We have a very strong language assessment program,
or language testing program in our department
and we also look for example context of use
to do with technology or in a pedagogical situation.
So there's lots of varieties, probably a good
working definition of Applied Linguistics,
study of language and use.
In our program we have four different streams.
We have a T-Cell stream, so teaching English as 
a second language and that looks at for example,
the pedagogies of second language acquisition,
in particular English.
We have one looking at english language
probably as a global phenomena.
Our third stream is language testing
and the final one is technology in language learning
and again that's looking at the use of language
to do with technology.
Everything from it's pedagogical applications onto gaming.
And I think the most exciting thing about Applied Linguistics
is actually just looking at different language use
and it's just everywhere once you start to notice
just how it shifts and changes, and there's different
nuances and increasingly there's a lot more
positions for Applied Linguists in the sense
there's a lot more language involvement, 
I mean language teaching, language learning
that's happening globally.
I think there's a stronger study of, for example 
computer mediated communication online,
that's a huge growing area and there's a lot 
government advisors, a lot of our students are
advisors, for example, for indigenous language
either helping to document them or helping to revitalise them,
helping to maintain those indigenous languages.
One of the things we have, one of the units
we have in the department is the
Aboriginal Language study centre and that's
just fantastic, it's been a leader here in Australia
for helping study and document and hopefully
revitalise Aboriginal languages.
We have people coming from throughout the globe
who are interested in language, 
language brings people together in lots of different ways
that maybe other degrees aren't so malleable
or flexible in that sense.
Really great international cohort, focus on
research and skilling up for I suppose
getting upto speed with current issues 
in language acquisition, applied linguistics,
language assessment, technology in language .
