The broad teaching and learning objectives of this MA degree require students (mostly lacking previous training in linguistics but qualified and proficient in other humanities disciplines and the like and often possessed of extensive work experience) (i) to acquire a sound grounding in the basic subdisciplines of `core' linguistics, both `pure' and `applied' (part I), and (ii) to achieve a suitable level of expertise in some of the more specialised subdisciplines taught in subjects offered at part II level (students who complete the full program will take either three or four such part II subjects, depending on whether a research project is undertaken in lieu of one subject). One, or in exceptional cases two, of these part II subjects may - with departmental approval - be a subject relating closely to linguistics but taught in another department or faculty. In the process of satisfying these requirements, students are also encouraged to contribute ideas and insights from other disciplines in which they themselves may already be proficient.
MA in applied linguistics graduates are expected to have come to a self-conscious understanding of the present interpretations and future likelihoods of the major concepts and issues underlying the content of and the approaches to the subdisciplines they have studied, and to have developed the intellectual capabilities inherent in reading and interpretation, written argument, quantitative analysis, qualitative critique and creative thinking required for scholarship and good practice in linguistics. They should also have mastered the practical skills (including those of oral presentation and, where appropriate, computing skills) required for the study of the subject at this level; and they should be aware of the philosophical underpinnings and issues relevant to the discipline and more generally to the careful study of the humanities and to all liberal intellectual pursuits. Further, and most crucially, they should have acquired the expertise and flexibility needed to apply these studies in the rapidly changing circumstances of intellectual life and the world of the professions in which they are employed or are likely to be employed.
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