Language Sciences

Entry requirements

Normally a good second class honours degree (57% or above, with 2.1 marks in Research Methods and project/dissertation modules), or equivalent from a university outside the UK, in a field such as linguistics, psychology, cognitive (neuro)science, speech and language therapy, or education. Other degree subjects may be considered on a case-by-case basis. Applicants who narrowly miss these entrance requirements (for example a high 2:2) may be considered based on additional relevant experience or expertise.

IELTS: 7.0 overall with no element less than 6.5 (or equivalent).

Pre-sessional English language programme

If you need to improve your English language score, you can take a pre-sessional English course prior to entry onto your degree.

• Find out the English language requirements for our courses and our pre-sessional English programme

Months of entry

September

Course content

Our flexible MSc Language Sciences programme is aimed at graduates and professionals who work in language-related careers and seek in-depth specialised knowledge in the language sciences.

Leading experts will instruct you key, contemporary issues in language sciences. Building on core knowledge in linguistics and psycholinguistics, you'll gain professional training in the neuroscience of language, language development and disorders, and multilingualism.

Explore how language is implemented in the brain, including functional MRI and the electrophysiology of language, how language may be affected by developmental and acquired language disorders, and the linguistic and cognitive consequences of mulitlingualism.

Specialist facilities

You'll have access to a wide range of research facilities for experimental and other empirical work in the language sciences. These include eye-tracking, EEG and MRI facilities, numerous computer labs, and clinic rooms. Working closely with one of our expert supervisors, you'll have the opportunity to carry out research within a lab for course credit within the fields of psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics, mulitlingualism, language development and language impairment.

This programme also includes a research placement module that will give you the opportunity to work in one of our research laboratories for course credit. While on placement, you can work on projects within the fields of psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics, multilingualism, language development and language impairment.

Careers

MSc Language Sciences is ideal for preparing graduates in linguistics, speech and language therapy, psychology, cognitive (neuro)science, education and allied disciplines for research-related careers and PhD study in the language sciences. It is also appropriate if you are a professional already working in speech and language therapy and would like to update your knowledge of the language sciences.

Overall, 99% of graduates from Psychology are in work or further study within 15 months of graduating; of those in full-time employment, 96% are in graduate-level roles. (Based on our analysis of HESA data © HESA 2022, Graduate Outcomes Survey 2019/20; includes postgraduate [taught] Psychology responders)

Research impact

The University of Reading is host to the Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism (CeLM) and the Centre for Integrated Neuroscience and Neurodynamics (CINN). Both of these world-class research centres inform our teaching, and staff from both CINN and CeLM teach on this master's programme.

Our programme reflects the cutting-edge work carried out by key members of staff. Our research encompasses fields such as language acquisition and processing in monolingual and multilingual environments, language and literacy development, the neuroscience of language and multilingualism, and the development of cognition and its relation to language at the beginning and end of the lifespan.

We also have strong expertise in:

• language impairment, including fluency disorders
• developmental language disorder
• language in autism
• acquired language disorders in adulthood, including aphasia and language impairment in Alzheimer’s disease/dementia.

For more information about this programme, including funding opportunities, please visit the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences website.

Fees and funding