MA Applied Linguistics

Course prospectus hero image

Key information

Degree

MA Applied Linguistics

Types of study

Full time

Duration

12 months full-time

Start date

September 2025

Faculty

Education and English / Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Entry requirements

Course Requirements: Open to graduates of any subjects. This master programme requires students to have a bachelor‘s degree (or international equivalent) from a recognised institution at the same standard as a UK university's 2:1 (upper second class honours degree or international equivalent). 

English Language Requirements: Applicants whose first language is not English, and who do not have a degree from a UK institution, are required to have the following English language qualifications before they can register on an academic programme:

  • IELTS: 6.5 (with no less than 6.0 in each element) or
  • PTE Academic: 71 (minimum 65) or
  • TOEFL (IBT): 90 (minimum 19 in Writing and Listening, 20 in Reading and 22 in Speaking)

Interview Arrangements: All applicants must also complete an interview with the course admissions tutor. To qualify for an interview, students must ordinarily fully meet the IELTS entry requirement at their point of application. However, potential students applying to the MA AL may be considered for an interview, if their total IELTS score is no less than 0.5 band below the stipulated entry level and have achieved IELTS 6.0 in writing. In these cases, depending on their interview outcome, such students may be offered a conditional offer based on their successful completion of an English Language pre-sessional programme.

Please check interview rubric before you attend interview. 

Further Requirements: The applicant's CV and *an academic writing sample should be provided.

*Writing sample could be a section from the dissertation/essay or a translated section from the dissertation or a translated essay (word length: around 1,000).

Course overview

Applied linguistics identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems, such as improving how languages are taught or how multicultural workplaces can improve communication between staff.

This one-year full-time course has a particular focus on research methodology, exploring how language shapes human interaction.

Special features

By studying this course you will:

  • understand how to employ a range of research approaches to language, from discourse analysis to corpus linguistics
  • have the opportunity to investigate language and communication from an interdisciplinary angle
  • develop a thorough grounding in language research and its practical applications
  • use your knowledge of how languages are formed to solve real-life problems.

The course is excellent preparation for students who wish to continue their studies at PhD level.

Course structure

Careers and further study

By studying applied linguistics you will develop skills that are highly valued by employers, such as critical thinking, research, analysis, oral/written communication, presentation and problem-solving skills. The types of careers you might expect to pursue include:

  • Advertising and marketing
  • Business analyst
  • Communications
  • Language teaching
  • Project management
  • Publishing
  • Research and academia
  • Writing

Fees

Chinese Mainland students

120,000 RMB / year

China's Hong Kong, Macao & Taiwan students

120,000 RMB / year

International students

130,000 RMB / year

Scholarships, sponsorships and bursaries

To encourage academic excellence, we offer a comprehensive and expanding range of full and partial scholarships. 

Please click here and find more information about scholarships.

More information

Contact us

Student Recruitment and Admission Office

University of Nottingham Ningbo China
199 Taikang East Road, Ningbo, 315100, China

E. admissions@nottingham.edu.cn
T. +86 (0574) 8818 0182
W.


Faculty Office of Humanities and Social Sciences

Room 306, Innovation and Enterprise Building (IEB)
University of Nottingham Ningbo China
199 Taikang East Road, Ningbo, 315100, China

E. FHSS@nottingham.edu.cn
W.


Ready to apply? Browse our how to apply page to find our more on how to prepare and submit your application.