In this module you will be engaged in translation of texts in specialised domains to gain knowledge of literary translation and translation in socio-political, legal or technical and scientific fields. You will learn to analyse source texts with specific subject background and culture awareness, identify translation challenges and overcome them by applying different strategies and translation techniques.

Is learning all about cognitive processes? What is the role of psychological factors in successful language learning and teaching? Why do foreign language teachers need to know about their learners?

Why do speakers of English initially think that sentences like “The horse raced past the barn fell” are ungrammatical? Why are sentences like “The mouse the cat chased stole the cheese” more difficult to understand than “The mouse stole the cheese and the cat chased the mouse”? Learn about the principles of sentence and discourse processing that guide language understanding. Conduct experiments testing how speakers respond to structurally different types of sentences.

What do you know about semantics? Wish to understand this key component of modern linguistics? Study formal semantics, working on examples and exercises that use logic in the analysis of natural language semantics. Examine the main topics on word and sentence meaning in contemporary semantics.

How do you respond to learner questions about language? What do you understand about the nature of language? Build the linguistic vocabulary and analytical tools needed to talk about the English language effectively and accurately in second language learner classrooms.

What psychological factors impact on second language learning? Study a range of cognitive variables that influence people's success when learning a second language. Undertake your own piece of research into a variable of your choice, eg learning style or language learning aptitude, and gain useful experience for your future Masters project in the process.

What are the main phenomena of syntax and how can we describe and explain them? Study the properties of syntactic categories, subjects, complements and adjuncts, raising and control sentences, and long distance dependencies. Learn the importance of precise and explicit descriptions, of dealing with the full range of relevant data, and of accommodating different kinds of languages.

The purpose of this module is to introduce you to the main approaches and methods used in English Language Teaching (ELT). You will study the different theoretical and historical contexts of language teaching and look at how these different approaches and methods have shaped pedagogy, practice and course design. You will explore key aspects of teacher development such as professional identity, teacher language and teacher psychology and look at the different ways in which these influence and shape teaching practice.

How does language change over time, vary across communities, and what do social alignments help explain about language variation and change? Explore the relationship between sociolinguistic theories and social groupings. Examine current sociolinguistic debates regarding language variation and change.

This module will introduce students to the fundamentals of Teaching English to Young Learners, referring to children and adolescents. You’ll become familiar with theories surrounding language acquisition among children and the different aspects of their psychology in instructed classroom settings. You will also consider how young learners' language skills could be assessed and tested.

We will look at theories of language learning that broadly take a usage-based perspective and compare and contrast these with more traditional formalist approaches in order to highlight changes and new points of emphasis in current theorising in the field. We will consider the role of explicit (conscious) and implicit (non-conscious) knowledge and processes in additional language learning and how these interact with characteristics of the individual learner, the learning context, and the linguistic input that constitutes the learning target. Importantly, we will look at the influence of these factors across the lifespan to pinpoint if and how language development differs in children, younger adults and older adults. We will capture current research trends that move beyond the traditional sample population of educated young adults and include hitherto under-researched groups such as third-age learners and low-educated learners.

The aim of this module is to develop your understanding of the theoretical foundations of pragmatics and conversation analysis. You will be introduced to the study of meaning and explore how what is said is not necessarily what is meant, by investigating aspects of utterance interpretation and of language use. By the end of the module, you will be familiar with a range of issues and debates in contemporary pragmatics and be able to apply your knowledge of these to a variety of problems in the investigation of language use in interaction.

The module aims to explore some of the different ways in which theories have shaped and informed the different approaches to the teaching of reading and writing in English Language Teaching (ELT). By studying these ideas you will deepen your understanding of the different ways in which reading and writing is understood and conceptualised, and give you a theoretical platform from which to consider, and reflect upon, your own experiences and approaches to teaching reading and writing.

This module will acquaint you with some of the existing approaches and issues in intercultural communication, balancing theoretical insight with advanced practical skills. You will investigate communication patterns in different cultures and languages including illocutionary force, indirect speech acts and politeness and look at how cultural norms, values and conventions influence linguistic choices across languages and cultures.