Entry requirements
You should be prepared for study at postgraduate level and have the minimum of a bachelors degree (in any subject) from a UK University or an equivalent professional qualification. We warmly welcome applications from students who have an undergraduate degree level qualification from universities outside the UK and which is deemed equivalent to a UK higher education degree.
You will be encouraged to relate the content of the modules to your own experiences therefore you will need access to a teaching/learning context of some kind. You may teach at primary, secondary or tertiary level; you may teach English to speakers of other languages; perhaps you are a parent or childcarer; or are involved in mentoring or training at work. All of these could provide suitable settings to apply your learning.
You need to be able to spend approximately 15-18 hours per week on studying for this module.
Preparatory work
We’ve developed some optional activities to help you prepare for Applied linguistics and English language (EE817), depending on your previous learning.
Activity 1
Succeeding in Postgraduate Study – If you're brand new to masters study, then this free Badged Open Course will get you started on study skills, time management and more.
Activity 2
Language in the Real World – This free OpenLearn course explains and illustrates why knowledge about how language works (i.e. ‘linguistics’) is helpful for different aspects of our everyday lives. It introduces ideas around what language is; and the field of applied linguistics, which explores and addresses situations where language plays a crucial role.
Activity 3
Understanding language and learning – A free OpenLearn course that considers the relationship between language and learning, it explains and illustrates the different relationships between language and learning, using videos and activities with real world examples of language in use.
Optional reading list
Here are some useful introductory readings from the first few weeks of Applied linguistics and English language. These readings are purely optional, and once you begin studying, the books will be available through the OU Library as ebooks or as PDF extracts on the module site.
- North, S. English (2015) A Linguistic Toolkit, Milton Keynes, The Open University. (If you’ve studied our undergraduate module U214, you’ll already have this book)
- Burns, A., Davies, W., Dörnyei, Z., Durrant, P., House, J., Hudson, R., Hunston, S., Kirkpatrick, A., Knight, D., and Richards, J.C. (2009) What is Applied Linguistics? Cambridge University Press Reading Room. View What is Applied Linguistics
- Introduction section of: Simpson, J. (2011) The Routledge Handbook of Applied Linguistics, Abingdon, Routledge.
- Cook, G. (2009) ‘The “Design Features” of Language’, Milton Keynes, The Open University. pp. 276–284, 287–288 from: Pinker, S. (1994) The Language Instinct: The new science of language and mind, London, Penguin Books.
- Steven Pinker on Language Pragmatics (2016) Floating University video, added by Big Think [Online]. Available at http://bigthink.com/floating-university/language-pragmatics-why-we-cant-talk-to-computers (Accessed 8 June 2016).
- Hymes, D. (1971 [1972]) ‘On communicative Competence’, in Pride, J.B. and J. Holmes (eds.) Sociolinguistics: Selected Readings, Harmondsworth, Penguin, pp. 269–93.