Applied Linguistics, MA by Research

COURSE OVERVIEW

An MA by Research in Applied Linguistics enables you to undertake a project led by your own passions and interests, without committing to a full PhD.

Your project will take one year full-time or two years part-time.

Our staff are members of the Language Research Centre (LRC) and we are especially interested in projects concerning:

• Computer Assisted Language Learning
• Cognitive Psychology of Language
• Discourse analysis
• Lexical Studies
• Pragmatics
• Psycholinguistics
• second language acquisition
• Sociolinguistics
• vocabulary learning

This programme is suitable preparation for doctoral work, but a proven ability to conduct independent research in the field will also improve your employment prospects in English language teaching and outside academia in the media, publishing or government bodies.

Your project will be agreed in consultation with supervisors and we recommend these discussions are started before applying, to help draw up an initial proposal.

You will be closely supervised by two experienced academics with relevant expertise throughout the course of the project. This involves fortnightly meetings in your first term and meetings at regular agreed intervals thereafter.

As a research student, you are required to attend skills and training courses. You deliver presentations to research students and staff at departmental seminars, at the annual departmental postgraduate symposium in June, and at the College of Arts and Humanities Postgraduate conference.

Programme Summary

This MA by Research in Applied Linguistics at Swansea will enable you to undertake a research project led by your own interests. It is a highly respected qualification which can enable a future career in academia or a wider scope for employment in fields such as education, government or the private sector. A thesis of 40,000 words will be submitted for assessment demonstrating original research with a substantive contribution to the subject area. The Masters is examined following an oral examination of the thesis (a viva voce examination or viva). You will acquire research skills for high-level work and skills and training programmes are available on campus for further support.

Programme Aims

This Masters programme will provide students with:

1. The opportunity to conduct high quality postgraduate research in a world leading research environment.
2. Key skills needed to undertake advanced academic and non-academic research including qualitative and quantitative data analysis.
3. Advanced critical thinking, intellectual curiosity and independent judgement.

You should hold or expect to achieve a minimum of an upper second class honours degree (2:1), or equivalent, in a related subject or hold relevant work experience.