Examining the debatable concept of the Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary fields of research from EFL students’ perspectives

Abstract

This study attempts to investigate the of the Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary fields of research from EFL students’ perspectives field of research from EFL students’ perspectives. A vast literature review shows that many Applied Linguistics contributors believe that the field necessitates insights from diverse academic disciplines, such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, political science, and education. Therefore, researchers are attempting to determine how EFL students may find it challenging to differentiate between interdisciplinarity and multidisciplinarity and grasp the connection between linguistic studies and other fields such as psychology, sociology, education, and cultural studies. To conduct this investigation, the researchers used a quantitative research methodology. A questionnaire of 15 items was distributed to a sample of 48 study subjects randomly selected during the academic year 1441 – 1442 at Qassim University, KSA. One of the key findings indicates that it is challenging to differentiate between the primary focus of applied linguistics and certain theoretical linguistics areas like sociolinguistics. The study also shows that the subjects are aware that areas like computational linguistics and clinical linguistics are also branches of applied linguistics.