Newcastle has one of the largest academic communities in the country working in applied linguistics, TESOL (Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages) and cross-cultural communication (CCC), and we offer strength and depth in all areas of research and teaching.
In terms of research power we are ranked third in the UK, based on results from the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008.
TESOL provides the opportunity to work with pupils, students and adults who are learning English at different stages of their education – primary, secondary, higher and adult education – and to research issues around language acquisition.
We are a leading provider of TESOL and CCC programmes and currently have over 180 postgraduate students from across the world.
The MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL enables you to become a qualified TESOL practitioner and offers two routes, one for experienced teachers, and one for students who have little or no teaching experience. Each route enables you to choose from a range of options including: TESOL; second language acquisition;; discourse analysis;corpus analysis for language learning; gesture analysis; task-based teaching; sociolinguistics; cross-cultural communication; developing thinking; and multimedia and the Internet for language learning.
Our MAs in Cross-Cultural Communication enable you to develop a cross-cultural perspective on those aspects of business and education where an in-depth understanding of communicating across cultures can make a real difference to fostering positive and productive relationships. We have a range of pathways allowing you to develop expertise not only in CCC, but also media, education, applied linguistics, international management and marketing.
The Integrated PhD is a specialist doctorate that combines a substantial taught component with supervised, research-based study. It is designed for senior professionals in education and related fields who have an interest in the application of linguistics to educational contexts. The modules and research projects available to students are informed by the research undertaken by our staff, many of whom have worked as TESOL teachers. Most staff are members of the Applied Linguistics Research Group, which focuses on advancing aspects of linguistic and communication theory and practice, across a range of professional fields and international contexts. Multi-competence, the interactional architecture of the L2 classroom and the reconceptualisation of second language acquisition are just some of the influential theoretical models associated with the group’s work.
Staff and students are based in the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences but they also contribute to the University’s Centre for Research in Linguistics and Language Sciences (CRiLLS). Selected programmes have funding for postgraduate students, and we have ESRC studentships in applied linguistics and sociolinguistics, as part of the new ESRC Doctoral Training Centre