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School of Languages, Linguistics and Film

PhD in Applied Linguistics

The Department is interested in receiving applications in a wide range of Applied Linguistics Areas (please note: currently we can offer limited supervision in TESOL or ELT topics). Particular research strengths are focused on the study of institutional communication (for example, health and science communication), the relationships between politics, language and culture, and electronic communication. 

Structure of the PhD Programme

The programme is normally a 3-year full time (or 6-year part time) research only PhD programme (i.e., there is no mandatory coursework component and students are expected to immediately start their research). In May of every year of the programme full-time PhD students are expected to pass an annual progress review.

All students are expected to participate in training and research activities organised by the department. Students also have the opportunity to present their ongoing research to the department.

Potential Supervisors

You can choose a supervisor from any one of the following staff members, who between them cover a range of Applied Linguistics topics. It is essential to contact a possible supervisor to discuss your proposed PhD project before you apply for admission.  If you submit an application without having first confirmed a supervisor, we will circulate your application amongst staff to see if there is any interest, but this can lead to delays in processing the application, and is not usually successful.

Agnieszka Lyons

multimodal and intersemiotic communication, translanguaging in electronically mediated discourse, self-presentation and textual representation of the body, expression of location and self-positioning in discourse, storyworld construction in communication

Weronika Fernando

Language and literacy in academic and professional settings, applications of digital media to language/literacy teaching and learning, social justice in language education, cross-cultural communication, discourse analysis 

Zahid Naz

Education and Sociology. Teacher Education/ Training, quality of language education, classroom observations, ESOL and EFL, Foucauldian discourse analysis, Education policy, Language teaching and Complexity Theory, Neoliberalism and Education, connections between politics, language and identity.

Nelya Koteyko

Health communication, media discourse, digital literacies and identities, critical metaphor analysis, corpus assisted discourse analysis

Falco Pfalzgraf

linguistic purism; the influence of English on other languages; text book / school books analysis; the relationships between politics language and culture

Leigh Oakes

Language policy and planning; language and nationalism/national identity; language ideologies; language attitudes; French sociolinguistics

Saima Sherazi

Evaluation of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) ; English Language Teaching (ELT)  Multimedia materials evaluation; ELT Curriculum Design; Academic Writing; English for Specific Purposes; English for Academic purposes; Teacher Identity; Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Ernesto Vargas

Education Reform; Language Policy; Language Teacher Education with a focus on Continuing Professional Development practices; Language Teacher Research; Critical Discourse Analysis; Discursive practices and Ideology; Social Justice in Language Teacher Education and Language Education; Research Methodology, particularly concerning in-depth qualitative inquiry approaches in educational settings.

Dylan Glyn Williams

Multilingualism; Language Education; EMI (English-Medium Instruction); TESOL; Internationalization in Higher Education; Multilingualism in Higher Education; Social Justice in Higher Education.

Deborah Darling

Discourse analysis, interculturality, language education, language ideologies, language policy, plurilingual pedagogies.  

Luis Carabantes

Language teaching materials; TESOL; English for Academic Purposes; Sociocultural Theory; Activity Theory, Language Teacher Education.

Application Procedure

Please check the following sections as you begin working on your application:

Entry Requirements

Funding Competition

Prepare your Application

Contacts

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