A Tribute to Professor H. G. Widdowson on the Occasion of his Visit to Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz, 2018

Abstract

There are such great names in language studies as Noam Chomsky, Lev S. Vygotsky, Howard Gardener and Michael Halliday who are widely accredited with having introduced new concepts in linguistics and neighboring disciplines and to whom we remain deeply indebted. In this article which has been written on the occasion of Professor Henry Widdowson's visit in April 2018 to Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University in Tabriz, Iran, professor Widdowson's thoughts and contributions to applied linguistics and language teaching are reviewed in passing. The author make this issue his point of departure and takes up some of the ground breaking ideas of Professor Widdowson and elaborates very briefly on the following notions: 1) English in Training and Education. 2) Applied Linguistics and Linguistics Applied. 3) Authenticity of Teaching Materials in ESP. 4) Present Situation versus Target Situation Analysis of Students' Language Learning needs: The Language Audit 5) Linguistic principles and intuitive interpretation