Student holding a book on linguistics and phonetics in Seaborne Library

Course Summary

Advanced knowledge of grammar and phonology coupled with practical application and exploration of English in context – e.g., language and identity, discourse analysis, English in education – forms the core of our MA course. You will be given expert supervision and guidance in completing your own research-based thesis on a specialist topic of your choosing. 

Our cutting-edge MA course is delivered by a dynamic team of linguists, each with their own research specialisms. Our range of expertise includes corpus linguistics (computer-assisted discourse analysis), phonetics and phonology (useful for sociolinguistic research), historical linguistics (e.g., history of surnames and placenames) and critical discourse analysis (e.g., ideology in the media). Students can also explore conflicts and controversies in the discipline and contribute to our online blog.

Our up-to-date English Language research facilities will allow you to undertake data-based projects using some of the latest specialist software (e.g., for acoustic phonetics and corpus linguistic analysis). 

Our team are currently involved in the innovative Cestrian English project which surveys and analyses local accents and dialects (‘Talking Chester’) and representations of Chester - past and present – in written texts (‘Changing Chester’). MA students will have the opportunity to join us in this research.


What you’llStudy

Integral to the course is the advanced study of syntax/morphology and phonetics/phonology combined with application of knowledge about structures of English in use (corpus linguistics, critical discourse analysis, language and identity) and research methods. These core areas of study are supplemented with optional modules.

Module content:

This module explores advanced theories and applications of discourse analysis, drawing on some of the most recent innovative research in fields such as critical discourse analysis, cognitive stylistics and corpus linguistics. Students will be acquainted with the historical evolution of discourse analytical methods including conversation analysis, stylistics, functionalism and critical linguistics. They will explore the relationships between text, discourse, genre and style and engage in a range of analytical practices from the micro (sentence level and below) to the macro (corpus) in order to determine the relationships between text, context and meaning and consider the most appropriate empirical methodologies for drawing the most sound conclusions about the forms and functions of a range of discourses. Students will draw on sophisticated tools of critical discourse analytical methodology with its roots in Hallidayan functionalism such as transitivity, syntactic oppositions, modality and nominalisations to determine their robustness in revealing the nature of ideology in discourse. They will also consider tools of cognitive stylistics, (which draws from the fields of cognitive psychology and cognitive science), such as cognitive deixis, schema theory, text worlds, mind-style, conceptual metaphor and conceptual blending, and cognitive grammar. Students will use computer software such as Wordsmith Tools and WMatrix to explore and analyse large amounts of text (e.g. the 100 million word British National Corpus). They will learn about word frequencies, concordances, keywords, POS tagging, grammatical annotation, and semantic domains. Assessments will include demonstrating critical awareness of the appropriate analytical quantitative and qualitative methodologies suitable for data collected by the students.


Module aims:

The module aims to:

1. give an overview of the evolution of discourse analytical schools of thought;

2. explore a range of contemporary approaches to discourse analysis;

3. provide understanding of the complex relations between form and function in discourse;

4. develop good practice in a range of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis skills.

Module content:

This module is an overview of contemporary qualitative and quantitative research methods in English language studies. Students will explore the core principles of academic research in general and linguistics in particular. Based on the close reading of articles and practical exercises, students will discover how to: form a research question, source and retrieve relevant publications which inform a critical literature review using databases (e.g. Web of Science, Pubmed, Scopus), as well as the appropriate referencing conventions following the APA. Further, students will explore how to derive hypotheses based on a literature review, and how to design experiments to test hypotheses. Sessions on linguistic data collection and analyses will help students to develop an awareness of the various tools linguists have at their disposal to investigate synchronic and diachronic language variation and change.


Module aims:

  • To facilitate students’ familiarisation with the use of electronic databases to source relevant literature
  • To make students aware of the various tools available to linguists for testing hypotheses
  • To explore with students a range of qualitative and quantitative research methods in English Language and Linguistics
  • To encourage critical engagement of students with the research carried out by others and themselves
  • To enable students to uncover the principles behind a good research question and how to derive appropriate hypotheses.

 

Module content:

This module, successful completion of which is necessary for MA qualification, requires students to pursue an extended research project and complete a substantial piece of critical and analytical writing on any subject matter which falls under the remit of the study of English language and linguistics as agreed with an assigned supervisor. This is likely to involve the collection of a sizeable amount of language data, which will then be analysed according to one of the frameworks and models encountered by students in other modules on the programme. This module enables students to explore in depth a topic of personal interest, building on research skills learnt in equivalent undergraduate modules and utilising knowledge built on in the MA module EN7404 Research Methods in English Language and Linguistics. The topic areas and data quantity and quality will be negotiated with individual supervisors to ensure that the chosen project is manageable and that the research methodology is sound. The Department is able to offer supervision for a wide range of permissible topics, so the module provides significant freedom for students to explore issues of English Language and Linguistics which have either emerged from other modules or which are not represented elsewhere on the degree programme.


Module aims:

The module aims to:

  1. enable students to devise, develop, and complete a substantial research project on an aspect of English language and linguistics of their choosing;
  2. to promote the skillful application of the practical, critical, theoretical and ethical research skills acquired in the taught modules;
  3. to support the student, by tutorial supervision and facilitating peer meetings, through the process of pursuing a large project from conception to completion;
  4. to encourage students to become independent and original critical researchers and thinkers and prepare them for possible further post-graduate research such as a doctorate.

 

Module content:

This module is offered as an alternative to EN7305 Dissertation. It gives students who wish to exit with a Postgraduate Diploma instead of a full MA, the option to undertake a more modestly sized independent research project. The Research Essay requires students to pursue a limited research project and complete a short piece of critical, analytical writing on an aspect of English language and linguistics agreed with an assigned supervisor. This is likely to involve the collection of a modest amount of language data, which will then be analysed according to one of the frameworks and models encountered by students in other modules on the programme. This module enables students to explore a topic of personal interest, building on research skills learnt in equivalent undergraduate modules and utilising knowledge built on in the MA module EN7404 Research Methods in English Language and Linguistics. The topic areas and data quantity and quality will be negotiated with individual supervisors to ensure that the chosen project is manageable and that the research methodology is sound. The Department is able to offer supervision for a wide range of permissible topics, so the module provides significant freedom for students to explore issues of English Language and Linguistics which have either emerged from other modules or which are not represented elsewhere on the degree programme.


Module aims:

The module aims to:

  1. enable students to devise, develop, and complete a Research Essay on an aspect of English language and linguistics of their choosing;
  2. to promote the skillful application of the practical, critical, theoretical and ethical research skills acquired in the taught modules;
  3. to support the student, by tutorial supervision and facilitating peer meetings, through the process of pursuing a project from conception to completion;
  4. to encourage students to become independent and original critical researchers and thinkers and prepare them for possible further post-graduate research.

 

Module content:

This module aims to encourage students to take a critical approach to matters in the field of English language and linguistics which are emerging and /or being disputed both in the public and academic realms at the time of delivery. Hotly contested recurring issues include: the so-called ‘reading wars’ (phonics versus real book approaches to literacy and the phonics screening checks in the UK); the relationship between texting and literacy; the nature and influence of ‘political correctness’; the relationship between language and thought (linguistic determinism and relativity); the alleged role of global English in the endangerment of indigenous languages; the pros and cons of language death; linguistic imperialism and markets of English (e.g. the role of the British Council); the positions adopted by language acquisition theorists (innatists, functionalists, social constructivists); attitudes to English variety and change (‘descriptivism’ and ‘prescriptivism’); the role of the teaching of grammar in UK schools; the relationship between various approaches to discourse analysis (conversation analysis, stylistics, CDA); the differences between traditional literary criticism and literary stylistics; conflict between models of syntactic analysis (Universal Grammar - Chomsky, Functionalist Grammar – Halliday, Descriptive Grammar -  Quirk, Leech,  Huddlestone and Pullum, Cognitive Grammar - Langacker). Emerging trends in the field include: cognitive stylistics, computer-assisted approaches to discourse analysis, speech and language processing and lexicography; multimodality; ELF (English as a Lingua Franca); bilingualism and linguistic relativity. The readings which inform the discussions will include a mixture of academic and populist texts. The latter might include news reports and opinion columns, informal discussions on internet forums, blogs and interviews. Underpinning the module is the desire to resist simplistic binary approaches to conflicts in the field and to encourage a view that the discipline, which crosses several subject boundaries, is by its nature one of tensions and intersectionalities, regardless of the desire of many practitioners to promote it as a pure ‘science’.


Module aims:

The module aims to:

  1. explore a range of contemporary contested issues in the fields English language and linguistics in both the academic and public domains;
  2. investigate emerging trends and approaches to English language and linguistics;
  3. encourage critical engagement with conflicting approaches, paradigms, models of English language and linguistics;
  4. foster an understanding of the tensions, intersectionalities and interdisciplinary nature of the discipline in the academic and public realms.

 

Module content:

This module offers students the opportunity to study the relationships between language and society and to develop a critical understanding of the links between language use and social identity. The module will consider the role of language in constructing individual and social identities, by considering how the social context of the speaker and their social relationships can affect linguistic choice. The module will also explore how we identify with our own social group, and our attitudes to other cultures. The associated topics explored may include phonological and morpho-syntactic variation; language attitudes and political/geographical borders; language and nationality; and endangered languages.

Students will develop a strong vocabulary of sociolinguistic terms and concepts, and a working knowledge of research methods appropriate to sociolinguistic study, including ethical considerations. 


Module aims:

The module aims to:

  1. to explore the causes and effects of linguistic variation and change;
  2. to consider how studying variation and change contributes to linguistic theory, and vice versa;
  3. to adopt different perspectives of how variation is structured geographically, socially and through time;
  4. to provide a working knowledge of appropriate methods for studying variation and change.

Module content:

This module will introduce students to advanced Cognitive Stylistics, with its main focus being on readers’ discourse processing and text comprehension and representation strategies. As a discipline, Cognitive Stylistics departs from ‘traditional’ Stylistics in that it augments the linguistic study of literary and non-literary discourse with theoretical and analytical insights from the field of cognitive linguistics in order to focus on the interaction between text and reader, or what is termed the ‘readerly dimension’ of the reading process. Concerned with readers’ mental representations of texts, the module will concentrate on key areas within Cognitive Stylistics such as ‘cognitive worlds’ theories. For example, Text World Theory (TWT) is the most contemporary and dynamic of a number of ‘cognitive worlds’ theories which have evolved in recent decades and its particular value resides in its focus on the linguistic cues which trigger the creation and maintenance of textual representations or ‘worlds’ as we read. Having learned about the cognitive linguistic processes underlying textual comprehension, students will explore this concept of world creation by firstly considering its origins in Possible Worlds Theory and its development through applications of Discourse Worlds before gaining insight into how text worlds are created through various stylistic and linguistic devices as well as learning how readers track these multiple worlds through consideration of cognitive linguistic insights into language and discourse processing. Already possessing advanced text analysis skills, students will be expected to become sufficiently familiar with the current state of Cognitive Stylistics, its theories of discourse processing and associated ‘worlds theory’ research to allow them to critically evaluate recent and ongoing modifications to these theories by contemporary scholars in the field as well as to apply these theories and subsequent modifications to data of their choice. As such, assessment for the module will take the form of an extended project in which students can integrate theory and application to propose further developments to and/or demonstrate the usefulness and potential limitations of their chosen theory(ies), all of which are amongst the most vigorous contemporary advancements within the field of Cognitive Stylistics.


Module aims:

The module aims:

  1. to introduce students to cutting-edge theories of discourse processing within the field of Cognitive Stylistics;
  2. to investigate these theoretical insights into how the linguistic features of texts combine with readers' cognitive contributions to generate textual representations and hence readerly interpretation;
  3. to explore the usefulness of various cognitive stylistic worlds theories as a means of analysing specific stylistic features of literary and non-literary genres;
  4. to encourage students to critique and evaluate these Cognitive Stylistic theories through application to appropriate data of their choice.

 

Module content:

This module introduces students to the study of current (or recent) change.  This is an exciting research impetus which investigates the introduction of new grammatical constructions and the loss of others, shifts in frequency of competing words and phrases, and even the revival of older forms.  In this module we will consider the spread of changes in written and spoken language and in different varieties such as British and American English; investigate changes to grammatical constructions such as the subjunctive, the modal auxiliaries, and the progressive; and consider the motivations for linguistic change. This will typically include processes such as colloquialisation, democratisation and Americanisation as well as the effects of the internet and other technology on language use.  We will also consider how current change fits into the picture of longer term grammatical change, and investigate linguistic change using corpora such as The Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), The Corpus of Historical American English (COHA), and The Diachronic Corpus of Present-Day Spoken English (DCPSE).


Module aims:

The module aims to:

  1. explore cases of linguistic change in contemporary English;
  2. explore a range of methodologies in the study of linguistic change;
  3. examine the usefulness of corpora in studies of linguistic change;
  4. encourage critical engagement with existing research in the field.

Module content:

This module offers students the opportunity to study the structures and functions of modern English grammar in depth. Given that grammar is a morpho-syntactic notion, the first part of this module will be dedicated to morphology; students will study the internal structure of words and theories of word-formation. The module will also explore current contentious issues in morphology such as the distinction between inflection and derivation. The focus will then shift to the defining features of word classes, including their characteristic functions at the clause level, and to issues of grammatical indeterminacy.

The module will also allow students to investigate the major clause types (e.g. declaratives, interrogatives, imperatives) and the ways in which clauses can combine via coordination and subordination. Attention will then turn to types of relative clauses, finite and non-finite clauses, and clauses without verbs as well as to the use of information packaging constructions such as pseudo-clefts and dislocation.

Finally, there will be an opportunity to investigate grammar in a range of contexts which may include discourse analysis, stylistics, and dialect forms.

 


Module aims:

  1. To introduce English morphology and word-formation processes, including the distinction between inflection and derivation;
  2. To consider grammatical indeterminacies in English word classes;
  3. To examine the complexities of English clause construction including information packaging constructions;
  4. To investigate grammar in context.

Who you’ll Learn from

Dr Matt Davies

Senior Lecturer in English Language; Programme Leader, MA English Language and Linguistics
Dr Matt Davies

Dr Joanne Close

Deputy Head of Department
Dr Joanne Close

Dr Harry Parkin

Senior Lecturer in English Language; Programme Leader, MRes Storytelling
Dr Harry Parkin

Dr Helen West

Senior Lecturer in English Language/Linguistics
Dr Helen West

Dr Paul Flanagan

Senior Lecturer in English Language; Programme Leader for BA English Language (Single Hons)
Dr Paul Flanagan

How you'll Learn

Teaching

Lectures and seminars/workshops will be supplemented by dissertation supervision and personal tutorials with lecturers. Optional modules on the course may include the role of English in education (e.g., phonics and grammar in the classroom), English in literary texts (cognitive stylistics) and contemporary language change. Guest lecturers from other universities – experts in their field – will present their work to you at special research seminars.

Assessment

Assessments are tailored for each module and include exercises in grammar and phonetics/phonology, discourse analysis essays, seminar papers (including presentations), discursive essays, extended data collection and analysis projects, portfolio, and an extended thesis (dissertation).

Beyond the Classroom

There will be opportunities to be involved in our exciting ‘Cestrian English’ project, analysing historical texts and recordings of local accents and with the chance of publishing collaborations. 

Entry Requirements

2:2 honours degree

A minimum of a 2:2 honours degree, or equivalent, in an appropriate discipline (e.g. English Language, Linguistics), is required. Applicants may be asked to provide evidence of written work or be invited for interview.

2:2 honours degree

A minimum of a 2:2 honours degree, or equivalent, in an appropriate discipline (e.g. English Language, Linguistics), is required. International students are required to have a minimum IELTS score of 6.5. Applicants may be asked to provide evidence of written work or be invited for interview.

English Language Requirements

For those who do not have IELTS or an acceptable in-country English language qualification, the University of Chester has developed its own online English language test which applicants can take for just £50.

For more information on our English Language requirements, please visit International Entry Requirements.

Where you'll Study Exton Park, Chester

Fees and Funding

£8,505 per year (2024/25)

Guides to the fees for students who wish to commence postgraduate courses in the academic year 2024/25 are available to view on our Postgraduate Taught Programmes Fees page.

£14,750 per year (2024/25)

The tuition fees for international students studying Postgraduate programmes in 2024/25 are £14,750. 

The University of Chester offers generous international and merit-based scholarships for postgraduate study, providing a significant reduction to the published headline tuition fee. You will automatically be considered for these scholarships when your application is reviewed, and any award given will be stated on your offer letter.  

For more information, go to our International Fees, Scholarship and Finance section.

Irish Nationals living in the UK or ROI are treated as Home students for Tuition Fee Purposes.

Your course will involve additional costs not covered by your tuition fees. This may include books, printing, photocopying, educational stationery and related materials, specialist clothing, travel to placements, optional field trips and software. Compulsory field trips are covered by your tuition fees.

If you are living away from home during your time at university, you will need to cover costs such as accommodation, food, travel and bills.

The University of Chester supports fair access for students who may need additional support through a range of bursaries and scholarships.

Full details, as well as terms and conditions for all bursaries and scholarships can be found on the Fees & Finance section of our website.

Your future Career

Job prospects

Student job destinations include teaching, work in the media-based industries, speech therapy, librarianship, public relations, marketing, advertising, copywriting, and proof-reading. Some students will also progress onto further research, such as pursuing a doctorate. 

Careers service

The University has an award-winning Careers and Employability service which provides a variety of employability-enhancing experiences; through the curriculum, through employer contact, tailored group sessions, individual information, advice and guidance.

Careers and Employability aims to deliver a service which is inclusive, impartial, welcoming, informed and tailored to your personal goals and aspirations, to enable you to develop as an individual and contribute to the business and community in which you will live and work.

We are here to help you plan your future, make the most of your time at University and to enhance your employability. We provide access to part-time jobs, extra-curricular employability-enhancing workshops and offer practical one-to-one help with career planning, including help with CVs, applications and mock interviews. We also deliver group sessions on career planning within each course and we have a wide range of extensive information covering graduate jobs.