Applied Linguistics for Language Teaching MSc

University of Oxford

The MSc Applied Linguistics for Language Teaching is a degree aimed at professionals of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) or modern foreign languages. It is taught primarily via distance/online learning. This innovative two-year part-time course offers a cutting-edge introduction to the linguistic and pedagogic knowledge needed for teaching language.

While the concepts covered in the course can be applied to all languages in most contexts, there is a strong opportunity for students to specialise in the teaching of English language in university settings.

A low-residency course, it is characterised by intense online interaction and feedback, using a range of communication media. Its small-group teaching format pursues the Oxford tradition of demanding much of students and giving them much in return.

The course is taught over two academic years, preceded by a week’s induction module in Oxford. Numbers on the course are kept low, to ensure quality of teaching and learning.

The course consists of six summatively assessed modules, two in Term 1 and one in Term 2 of each year, and a dissertation of between 15,000 and 20,000 words submitted at the end of the course. Beginning in Term 3 of the first year of the course, students work on their dissertation projects under the supervision of a member of the applied linguistics research group.

In addition to these summatively assessed modules, students take a formatively assessed module on Research Methods in Term 2 of the first year, to help prepare them for their dissertation projects. In the induction module, students' academic writing is also formatively assessed.

Students are expected to spend up to 20 hours per week on the course during term time, engaging in independent reading, online discussions, group work, listening to webinars, and writing review and reflection papers.

The course consists of the following modules:

• Induction (formatively assessed residential module)
• Learning and teaching vocabulary
• Materials and assessment in language teaching
• Sociolinguistics and language teaching
• Individual and group differences in language teaching
• Listening and reading processes in language learning
• Developing second language speaking and writing
• Research Methods (formatively assessed module)
• Dissertation.

In addition, students are given access to recorded lectures from the Department’s graduate modules on Research Methods in Education and Statistics. These are non-compulsory and non-assessed.

As a part-time student you will be required to participate in online weekly classes, seminars, and other academic tasks during term time. With the exception of the induction module, all coursework is delivered in an asynchronous format. Materials are made available on the University’s virtual learning environment two weeks in advance of the expected completion date for the associated activities. There is, therefore, flexibility in the dates and pattern of participation each week to fit into your work schedule. Attendance, either in-person or online, will be required for a one-week induction module, which is held prior to commencement of the course, usually in late August. Supervision meetings for the dissertation project are held in person or online, depending on circumstances.