Entry Requirements for Postgraduate Study

The following provides information about current entry requirements for postgraduate study in the Department of Language and Linguistics.

Most MA Programmes

You normally need a good first degree (or equivalent). On some, some previous knowledge of linguistics is useful, though not necessary.

MAELT, MACALL, MALTPE

You need a good first degree (or equivalent), and a minimum of two years' active professional involvement with ELT (whether as a teacher, educationalist, or writer).

MRes and 'Integrated' PhDNR

These programmes are open to anyone holding a good first degree in linguistics or a relevant discipline to their research, an interest in a specific area of research which we have a supervisor for, described in a 750 word research proposal.

Supervised PhD and MPhil

For our pure research degrees you need primarily to

Have a well written proposal for a workable project in an area where we have a supervisor available;
Show that you have the requisite training already, e.g. for PhD it would likely come from a suitable MA (though it is normal to do some topping up of training by attending relevant modules on an unassessed basis during a PhDSR);
Have a good academic background (BA etc.)

English Proficiency Requirements

All students are expected to be able to understand and express themselves in both written and spoken English. Candidates who are not native speakers of English (or from a background we can treat as equivalent to that - e.g. fully English-medium educated) are expected to have scores as follows:

Applicants for taught Programmes (taught MA): IELTS 6.5 (with 6 at least for writing) or TOEFL 570/230/88

Applicants for MRes or PhDNR: IELTS 7 or TOEFL 600/100 (or IELTS 6.5 TOEFL 570/88, on condition of taking an EAP course concurrently with study)

Applicants for supervised Research Degrees: PhD, MPhil & MA: IELTS 7 or TOEFL 600/100

Scores slightly below these are usually acceptable on condition of taking a Pre-sessional English course of at least 10 weeks.

Your ability will also be tested at the start of the academic year in October. The University's International Academy (IA) offers full-time English language pre-sessional courses which may be taken as a preliminary to degree study, over 6 month, 20, 15 or 10 weeks in the summer. Details of these courses can be obtained from:

The International Academy
University of Essex
Wivenhoe Park
Colchester
Essex
CO4 3SQ UK

Telephone: +44 (0)1206 872217
Fax: +44 (0)1206 873107

E-mail: intacad (non Essex users should add @essex.ac.uk)

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