Welcome to English Language and Applied Linguistics at Swansea University. This is our blog site, which we will keep updated with news and events. Follow @Swansea_AppLing on Instagram for more updates! You can also follow our LINKTREE to all our content.
In our department, we offer the BA (Hons) English Language and Linguistics and a BA (Hons) in English Language and English Literature at undergraduate. At postgraduate level, we offer the MA TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other languages). We also offer an MA by Research, an MPhil and a PhD.
Our degrees look at ways of analysing language knowledge, language use across contexts and time and the TESOL element within our degrees relates these ideas to teaching English to speakers of other languages.
The Swansea University site is available here.
What is linguistics and what is applied linguistics?
Linguistics is the scientific study of how human language is used in a range of different contexts. It is concerned with:
- how language develops over time;
- how we acquire our first and subsequent languages;
- how the brain operates in bilingual contexts;
- how we produce and understand language in real time;
- how the underlying language system works for sounds and grammar.
Our courses relate to real world issues with crucial impacts on individuals and communities. This is the ‘applied’ part of what we do in our discipline and which you will experience through one of our degrees. A few examples of the ‘applied’ part of our courses include learning about best methods for teaching language to new learners; the psychological challenges of learning new languages; examining discourses of persuasion in society, healthcare and the media; and the sociological aspects of someone’s language identity in day-to-day life.
In TESOL modules, we also look at the challenge of learning and teaching of English as a new language, including how different methods are used to teach language; how children learn an additional language; how theories of second language acquisition relate to teaching; and how current research into English Language Teaching informs practice.
Our undergraduate degree programmes
Our degree programmes consider ways of analysing language knowledge and language use across contexts and time. The degrees are three-year courses, and these are available with a semester abroad. You can also take a four-year degree, if you want to take a year abroad or do a year in industry.
Embedded CELTA qualification
Students enrolled on our BA degree have the opportunity to gain an internationally recognised professional teaching qualification – the CELTA
Postgraduate programmes
We have a taught Masters programme in TESOL/ TEFL and several research degrees including MA by Research, MPhil and PhD.
MA TESOL
The MA TESOL is a one-year full time or three-year part time, campus-based programme designed to give (prospective) teachers of English as a foreign/second language a thorough understanding of current theories, trends, and cutting edge applied linguistics research relevant for language teaching. The programme also aims to stimulate reflection on students’ own teaching practices.
Full details and application forms for the MA can be found on the main university website.
On these blog pages you can find out more about our MA modules and read what some of our recent graduates have done after finishing their MA courses.
PhD/MA by Research and MPhil
A PhD, MA by Research, or MPhil in Applied Linguistics enables you to undertake a substantial project led by your own interests, supervised by a specialist in the area. The PhD takes three years full-time or six years part-time, and the MPhil takes two years full-time or four years part-time.
For PhDs, you would usually submit a thesis up to 90,000 words for assessment (for the MA by Research up to 30,000 words, and for the MPhil assessment the word count is 60,000 words). Each of these should demonstrate original research with a significant contribution to the subject area. The submission is then followed by an oral examination of the thesis (a viva voce examination, or viva).
Staff
The School of Culture and Communication’s English Language and Applied Linguistics area has a strong research profile in a number of specialist areas. These include vocabulary studies, second language acquisition, discourse analysis, corpus linguistics, pragmatics, language teaching pedagogy and dialect study. These are reflected in the topics we supervise and in many of the modules offered on our degree schemes.
We have recently invested in an Applied Linguistics research lab, including an eye-tracker and reaction time software. Students will have the opportunity to use these facilities during their dissertations, depending on the topic chosen.
Our staff are members of the Language Research Centre (LRC), a global hub for single, inter- and multi- disciplinary empirical research into language data and processes. It draws together academics and postgraduate researchers from across Swansea University and connects their activities with those of the Centre’s global network of Associate Members and distance learning doctoral students. The LRC host a dedicated Research Seminar series in the Autumn and Spring semesters with speakers presenting from around the world.
Our staff page on the blog can be found here.
