Language Teaching

Entry requirements

A first degree and a taught Master's degree in a relevant subject.

Recent and relevant experience of, and/or professional training in, classroom language teaching.

Months of entry

October

Course content

A PhD is an advanced postgraduate research degree that requires original research and the submission of a substantial dissertation. You need to find a suitable academic supervisor at Birkbeck, who can offer the requisite expertise to guide and support you through your research. To progress from the Integrated PhD to the research stage, you will usually need to achieve a 60% pass overall on the taught courses and successfully pass a qualifying interview. Find out more about undertaking a research degree at Birkbeck.

This Integrated PhD in Language Teaching will help you to achieve a critical conceptual understanding of evidence and theory relating to recent developments in the field. You will then be in a position to apply this understanding to your own professional context. You will complete 180 credits of postgraduate taught modules in the Department of Applied Linguistics and Communication. The aim of these modules is to help you to gain the skills, knowledge and understanding to engage with, and evaluate, research and theory. These modules will also enable you to prepare and carry out a research project.

Once you have satisfactorily passed your modules and demonstrated evidence of independent research skills and sufficient specialist knowledge in an area commensurate with the research interests of staff in the Department, you will be considered for entry to the research component of the programme. At the end of the taught year(s), you will be asked to attend an interview where your candidacy for the PhD will be assessed. At the doctoral phase, a dissertation of 45,000-55,000 words will be required.

Please note: for those who are interested in the areas of TESOL and language teaching, the Department would be happy to consider applications in the field of language learning, including the learning process and outcome of one, two or multiple languages in different contexts, intercultural learning and teaching.