Linguistics for many may appear to be too academic and theoretical. Linguistics, the study of human language which involves morphology, phonology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics is very relevant to understanding language issues throughout various societies. The research and understanding of how language is used seeks to guide linguist and to an extent non-linguist about language variations, dialects and social attitudes. The essential focus of Applied Linguistics was to apply methods to language issues. However, due to the broadening of the field of Applied Linguistics into other subfields such as forensic linguistics and mathematical linguistics, ,educational linguistics became lost in the cornucopia. As an offspring of Applied Linguistics, Educational Linguistics became unique in its own right to deal “with the practicalities and pressure of the world in which language takes place” (Spolsky 6). Therefore, Educational linguistics needed to become discrete in order to define and focus on language education policy, social concerns and communicative methods.

Developing a language policy enables those in authority to make decisions about the effective implementation of teaching and learning strategies. Spolsky, who is the leading expert in the field of educational linguistics encouraged the separation of this field from applied linguistics in order to focus on matters of language policy. “A good language education policy, or effective methods of implementation,