Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching

Course detail Description

The Applied Linguistics & English Language Teaching MA course offers you opportunities to explore current research and specialist areas such as teacher education, materials development, teaching English for academic purposes, management and evaluation in ELT and intercultural studies.

You will study required modules covering language-teaching methodology and curriculum design, linguistic analysis for language teaching, issues in language acquisition and use (sociolinguistics, and aspects of second language learning) and research methods. We also place emphasis on the view of informed teaching and the need for teachers to mediate between theory and practice in constructing pedagogies according to specific teaching-learning situations.

If you are studying full-time, you will complete the 180-195 credit course in one year, from September to September. If you are studying part-time, your course will take two years to complete. If you have the Cambridge ESOL Delta or Trinity House Diploma in ELT, you may be eligible for the ‘fast track’ version of the course which will give you exemption from Principles and Practices in Second/Foreign Language Teaching. The fast track option can only be studied part-time. As students on this pathway are exempt from a module, they will not take any taught modules in one of the terms (normally Term 1 of Year 2). They may, however, be working on their dissertation during this time.

For experienced language teachers who want to reflect upon and further develop their understanding of the various theoretical and practical issues that impact on the field of language learning and teaching.

Teaching

You will be taught through a combination of lectures and seminars. The total contact time for each 30-credit taught module is typically 40 hours (20 hours per 15 credit module). These sessions will include lectures, teacher-led and student-led group discussions based on the main areas of study, in addition to other practical, technical and analytical activities. Each 30-credit taught module has 260 hours of self-guided learning time (130 hours for a 15 credit taught module). Typically, one credit equates to 10 hours of work.

For the dissertation module, you will receive six hours of one-to-one dissertation supervision. Lectures involving research methods will involve an additional 20 hours of contact time, to complement the 574 hours of self-study.

Assessment

You will be assessed through a combination of essays, language analysis tasks, exams and oral presentations. Most optional modules are assessed by a 3,500-word essay. The dissertation will be assessed by one 15,000-word extended piece of writing. The format of your optional module assessment will depend on the options chosen.

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Structure

Year 1

Courses are divided into modules. You will take modules totalling 180-195 credits.

King’s College London reviews the modules offered on a regular basis to provide up-to-date, innovative and relevant programmes of study. Therefore, modules offered may change. We suggest you keep an eye on this course page for updates.

• Linguistic Analysis for Language Teaching (30 credits)

• Principles and Practices in Second/Foreign Language Teaching (30 credits) [fast track students exempt from this module]

• Second/Additional Language Acquisition (15 credits)

• Research Methods and Dissertation in Applied Linguistics/Language Learning and Teaching (60 credits)

• Sociolinguistics (15 credits)

You will take an additional 30-45 credits from a range of optional modules that may typically include modules from the list below, and may include a maximum of 40 credits from language/linguistics-related modules from other programmes at King's College London, at the discretion of the Programme Director.

• English for Academic Purposes (15 credits)

• Language Assessment (15 credits)

• Materials Development in English Language Teaching (15 credits)

• Teacher Education (15 credits)

• The Digital ELT Classroom (15 credits)

• Multilingualism, Migration & Diversity (15 credits)

• Corpora for ELT (15 credits)

• Teaching and Learning Pragmatics (15 credits)

If you are following the two-year part-time course, you will usually take the modules in the following order:

Year 1

• Principles and Practices in Second/Foreign Language Teaching (30 credits)

• Sociolinguistics (15 credits) or Second/Additional Language Acquisition (15 credits)

• Part-time students divide their 30-45 optional credits more or less equally across the two years

Year 2

• Linguistic Analysis for Language Teaching (30 credits)

• Sociolinguistics (15 credits) or Second/Additional Language Acquisition (15 credits) – whichever of these you did not take in Year 1

• Part-time students divide their 30-45 optional credits more of less equally across the two years

• Research Methods & Dissertation in Applied Linguistics/Language Learning & Teaching (60 credits)

If you are taking the part-time, fast-track course, you will usually take the modules in the following order:

Year 1
- Sociolinguistics (15 credits)
or
Second/Additional Language Acquisition (15 credits)
- Linguistic Analysis for Language Teaching (30 credits)
- Fast-track students divide their 30-45 optional credits more or less equally across the two years

Year 2
- Sociolinguistics (15 credits)
or
Second/Additional Language Acquisition (15 credits) - whichever of these you did not take in Year 1
- Fast-track students divide their 30-45 optional credits more or less equally across the two years
- Research Methods & Dissertation in Applied Linguistics/Language Learning and Teaching (60 credits)