Applied Linguistics

the definition of "applied linguistic" according to experts:

“Applied linguistic is an area of work that deals with language use in professional settings, translation, speech pathology, literacy, and language education; and it is not merely the application of linguistic knowledge to such settings but is a semiautonomous and interdisciplinary . . . domain of work that draws on but is not dependent on areas such as sociology, education, anthropology, cultural studies, and psychology.”
(Pennycook, Alastair (2011).Critical Applied Linguistics: A Critical Introduction. Retrieved from http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/appliedlinguisticsterm.htm on 10 March 2012 at 11.03 pm)

“AL is the utilization of the knowledge about the nature of language achieved by linguistic research for the improvement of the efficiency of some practical task in which language is a central component.”
(Corder, S. Pit, (1974). Introducing applied linguistics. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/petitlutin/applied-linguistics on 10 March 2012 at 11.14 pm)

for me, applied linguistic is the use of language to solve social problems which involve language.

then, the scope of applied linguistics are:
• Language teaching and learning
• Language testing
• Psycho- and neurolinguistics
• Sociolinguistics
• Discourse analysis
• Computational linguistics
• Translation studies
(source: http://www.slideshare.net/petitlutin/applied-linguistics)