This unique course bridges the gap between linguistic theory and language teaching practice to enable you to develop a career in language teaching or research.

Whether you’re already a teacher or you plan to become one, this degree offers you an in-depth theoretical and methodological understanding of how language is structured, used and interpreted and how this can inform language teaching. Core modules will introduce you to key topics in linguistics such as syntax, phonetics and phonology, as well as teaching methodologies and how they are applied. You will also improve your knowledge of research methods in language sciences.

To enhance your knowledge, you will choose from optional modules to suit your career plans or interests, on topics such as second language acquisition or pragmatics and discourse analysis. With support from expert tutors within the Language at Leeds research network, you will gain valuable skills and a sound knowledge base to prepare you for further research or to inform your teaching practice.

Specialist facilities

Leeds is a fantastic place to study linguistics and phonetics. Our tutors and research students are active members of the wider Language at Leeds network which brings together researchers from across the University. You'll be able to enhance your learning with an array of research events throughout the year.

Postgraduates also have access to our extensive facilities, including a recording studio, PCs running specialist software, and online corpora. You can make use of our phonetics lab and the Language Zone, a state-of-the-art space where you can use a range of language-based teaching materials whenever you want.

Career opportunities

This course will give you a sophisticated understanding of human communication, as well as valuable transferable skills in areas such as use of quantitative and qualitative data, research, interpretation, oral and written communication and analysis, which are highly attractive to employers in a wide range of industries.

Many of our graduates pursue a career in education and language teaching, working as language teachers or EFL instructors in schools and universities. Our MA will also give you valuable skills to continue onto further training and specialisation in areas such as translation/interpretation, computational linguistics and natural language processing, forensic linguistics, or speech and language therapy.