Applied Linguistics

Overview

Within this field, we have expertise in: second language syntax, explicit and implicit knowledge and learning, vocabulary learning and use, individual differences in second language learning, language testing, figurative language and discourse processing. Examples of PhD projects which our students have undertaken include the acquisition of the English article system by native speakers of Korean and Spanish, the relationship of working memory and self-correction behaviour in instructed second language learners' speech, and second language acquisition mediated by a CALL environment.

This PhD Applied Linguistics at University of Essex is available as a PhD by Supervised Research (three years) and as an Integrated New Route PhD (four years).

Many of our former PhD students work in higher education institutions around the world, as teachers and/or as academic researchers. Other career paths our former PhD students have taken include publishing, social work, administration, and retail.

Your future

Given the breadth of our provision within the Department of Language and Linguistics, career prospects for our graduates vary depending on the study undertaken. Often the career destination of our PhD students is university lecturing or research. Given the interdisciplinary nature of the areas of linguistics we cover, this could be in departments of English, linguistics, education, sociology or cognitive science.