MA Sociolinguistics

Postgraduate

In Colchester

£ 6,125 + VAT

Description

  • Type

    Postgraduate

  • Location

    Colchester

  • Duration

    1 Year

About the course
In what way does society influence the way that we use language? And conversely, how far does the way we use language influence society? Can language use impact the class system? Sexism? Mental health?
On our MA Sociolinguistics, you address questions like these through exploration of the stylistic, cognitive and functional aspects of language variation and change

We familiarise you with the foundations of contemporary sociolinguistics, including:
Language variation and change
Ethnography of speaking
Multilingualism
Discourse
We additionally offer modules in some of the most prominent sub-disciplines in linguistics such as variation theory, socio-pragmatics, conversation analysis, language contact, language and gender, and language rights


You also gain first-hand experience of interview, questionnaire and observation data and learn quantitative and qualitative methodologies for coding and analysing sociolinguistic interview and questionnaire data


We are one of the largest and most prestigious language and linguistics departments in the world, a place where talented students become part of an academic community in which the majority of research is rated ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ (REF 2014), placing us firmly within the top 10 departments in the UK and ranked among the top 150 departments on the planet according to the QS World [University] Rankings [2016] for linguistics


If you want a global outlook, are interested in human communication, and want to study for a degree with real-world practical value in a world-class department, welcome to Essex

Facilities

Location

Start date

Colchester (Essex)
See map
Wivenhoe Park, CO4 3SQ

Start date

On request

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Reviews

Subjects

  • Sociolinguistics
  • English
  • Teaching
  • Pragmatics
  • Communication Training

Course programme

Example structure
Postgraduate study is the chance to take your education to the next level. The combination of compulsory and optional modules means our courses help you develop extensive knowledge in your chosen discipline, whilst providing plenty of freedom to pursue your own interests. Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field, therefore to ensure your course is as relevant and up-to-date as possible your core module structure may be subject to change.
For many of our courses you’ll have a wide range of optional modules to choose from – those listed in this example structure are, in many instances, just a selection of those available. Our Programme Specification gives more detail about the structure available to our current postgraduate students, including details of all optional modules.
Year 1
Variationist Sociolinguistic Theory
Sociolinguistic Methods 1: Data Collection
Sociolinguistic Methods: Data Coding and Analysis
MA Dissertation
Assignment Writing and Dissertation Preparation
Sociocultural Linguistics
Advanced Phonology (optional)
First Language Acquisition (optional)
Phonological Development (optional)
Second Language Acquisition and Linguistics Theory (optional)
American Languages (optional)
Varieties of English (optional)
Sentence Processing (optional)
Language Rights (optional)
Semantics (optional)
Language Learning (optional)
English Syntax 1 (optional)
Individual Differences in L2 Learning (optional)
Syntactic Theory I (optional)
Experimental Design and Analysis (optional)
Research Methods I (optional)
English Syntax 2 (optional)
Syntactic Theory II (optional)
The Role of Age in Bilingual Development (optional)
Variation in English II (optional)
Research Methods II (optional)
Graduate Research Assignment (optional)
Language Attrition (optional)
Language in Context: From Pragmatics to Conversation Analysis (optional)
Intercultural Communication: communicating across languages and cultures (optional)
Teaching
Teaching methods include lectures, demonstrations and learning by teaching others
We run a weekly departmental seminar, attended by both staff and students
Assessment
Your eight one-term modules are assessed by coursework and you are also assessed on your dissertation
Dissertation
Your 16,000-word dissertation allows you to focus in-depth on your chosen topic from April onwards
Close supervision by a member of staff within our Department
Previous
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Additional information

Our expert staff Our staff maintain excellent student-staff ratios with capped language-specific seminars In sociolinguistics, Peter Patrick, Rebecca Clift, Enam Al Wer and Vineeta Chand all work on different aspects of how language varies, and investigate which factors cause such variation Peter is also involved in language rights, and offers expert opinions in asylum cases where language is used to determine origin Specialist facilities An exciting programme of research seminars and other events Our Languages for All programme offers you the opportunity to study an additional language alongside your course at no extra cost Our ‘Visual World’ Experimental Lab records response times and eye movements when individuals are presented with pictures and videos Our Eye-Tracking Lab monitors eye movement of individuals performing tasks Our Psycholinguistics Lab measures how long it takes individuals to react to words, texts and sounds Our Linguistics Lab has specialist equipment to analyse sound Our Albert Sloman Library houses a strong collection of books, journals, electronic resources and major archives Your future Our course can lead to careers in areas such as academic research, publishing, journalism, administration, public service and teaching You develop key employability skills including research design, data analysis, thinking analytically, report writing and public speaking We work with the University’s Employability and Careers Centre to help you find out about further work experience, internships, placements, and voluntary opportunities Within our Department of Language and Linguistics, we also offer supervision for PhD and MPhil We offer supervision in areas including language acquisition, language learning and language teaching, culture and communication, psycholinguistics, language disorders, sociolinguistics, and theoretical and descriptive linguistics Our graduates are successful in a wide variety of career paths They...

MA Sociolinguistics

£ 6,125 + VAT