Our MA Applied Linguistics course is an ideal option for graduates who wish to develop a career in the language-related industries including publishing, media, teaching and translation.

Reading's Department of English Language and Linguistics has more than 50 years of excellence in the field. David Crystal OBE (awarded for services to the English language, 1995) set up the first linguistics degree at the University of Reading, and sociolinguistics was born at Reading.

This course provides up-to-date and critical knowledge of applied linguistics taught by top scholars in the field through training in established and cutting-edge research methodologies. We’re in the top 150 universities in the world for these subjects (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024).

It connects theory with practice in real-world settings and offers flexibility and variety through a wide choice of optional modules to suit individual needs and academic interests.

Our specialist areas of research include discourse analysis, professional communication, sociolinguistics, phonetics and phonology, corpus linguistics, testing and assessment; second language acquisition, intercultural communication, multilingualism, language teaching and creativity, language curriculum design, EFL teacher training, child language development, language and migration, and world English.

Careers

Graduates from this course enter the following careers worldwide: university research, teaching and leadership at all sectors; testing and assessment; directing, managing and teaching roles within language teaching institutions worldwide including state (governmental) and private sectors; publishing and marketing; public relations; translation and interpreting.