single degree

Master of General and Applied Linguistics

A single two year graduate award offered by the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences

MGAL
  • Length 2 year full-time
  • Minimum 96 Units
  • Length 2 year full-time
  • Minimum 96 Units

Program Requirements

The Master of General and Applied Linguistics requires completion of 96 units, which must consist of:

24 units from completion of introductory graduate linguistics courses from the following list:

LING6001 Introduction to the Study of Language
LING6002 Language and Society
LING6010 Sounds of the World's Languages: Phonetics and Phonology
LING6013 Teaching Languages
LING6015 Language, Culture and Translation
LING6018 Languages in Contact
LING6020 The Structure of English
LING6021 Cross Cultural Communication
LING6105 Language and the law: introduction to forensic linguistics
LING6311 Language and Social Interaction

 

A maximum of 24 units from completion of disciplinary courses from any of the following lists:

Structural Linguistics
LING6003 Introduction to Syntax
LING6007 Morphology
LING6008 Semantics
LING6010 Sounds of the World's Languages: Phonetics and Phonology
LING6019 Phonological Analysis
LING6026 Syntactic Theory
LING6033 Advanced Sociophonetics
LING6522 Seminar on Semantics
LING6525 Special Topics in Linguistics
 
Language learning
LING6013 Teaching Languages
LING6023 Dictionaries and Dictionary-Making
LING6029 Assessing Language
LING6101 Second Language Acquisition
LING6521 Child Language Acquisition
 
Language in society
LING6015 Language, Culture and Translation
LING6021 Cross Cultural Communication
LING6022 Language Policy and Language Politics
LING6103 Language, Power, and Identity
LING6105 Language and the law: introduction to forensic linguistics
LING6311 Language and Social Interaction
 
Forensic Linguistics
LING6105 Language and the law: introduction to forensic linguistics
LING3032 Advanced Forensic Linguistics: Forensic Voice and Text Comparison
 
Language documentation and language change
LING6005 Language Change and Linguistic Reconstruction
LING6018 Languages in Contact
LING6508 Study of a Language Family
LING6529 The History of the English Language
 
Language-specific linguistics
ARAB6505 Introductory Course to Arabic Linguistics
ASIA8051 Language and Power in Asiaand the Pacific
JPNS6007 Japanese Linguistics
JPNS6024 Japanese Grammar
JPNS6512 Teaching Japanese: Content
JPNS6513 Japanese - English Translation
JPNS6514 Teaching Japanese Method
LANG6004 Language and Society in Latin America
LING6016 Language in Indigenous Australian Society
LING6017 Chinese Linguistics
LING6020 The Structure of English
LING6030 Advanced Academic English 
PASI6010 Talking the Pacific: Melanesian pidgins and creoles in social context
SPAN6022 Intermediate Spanish II (Language and Linguistics)
SPAN6509 Advanced Spanish Topics in Language and Linguistics
SPAN6514 The Structure of Spanish
SPAN6516 History of the Spanish Language: A Linguistic Time Travel
SPAN6518 The Sounds of Spanish
SPAN6604 Language Variation Across the Spanish-speaking World
 

A minimum of 12 units and a maximum of 24 units from completion of research methods courses from the following list:

HUMN6001 Digital Humanities: Theories and Projects
HUMN6003 Digital Humanities: Methods and Practices
HUMN8032 Writing for the Research Process
LING3032 Advanced Forensic Linguistics: Forensic Voice and Text Comparison
LING6009 Field Methods in Linguistics
LING8026 Qualitative Research Methods in Language Studies
LING8027 Research Design in Applied Linguistics
 

A minimum of 12 units and a maximum of 24 units from completion of research projects from the following list:

HUMN8030 Digital Humanities and Public Culture Research Project
HUMN8031 Digital Humanities and Public Culture Research Project (Advanced)
LING6005 Language Change and Linguistic Reconstruction
LING6016 Language in Indigenous Australian Society
LING6023 Dictionaries and Dictionary-Making
LING6029 Assessing Language
LING6101 Second Language Acquisition
LING6311 Language and Social Interaction
LING6508 Study of a Language Family
LING6522 Seminar on Semantics
LING6525 Special Topics in Linguistics
LING8001 Graduate Reading Course (Linguistics)
LING8003 Readings in Applied Linguistics
SPAN6022 Intermediate Spanish II (Language and Linguistics)
SPAN6514 The Structure of Spanish
SPAN6604 Language Variation Across the Spanish-speaking World
 

A maximum of 24 units from completion of courses from any of the following language specialisations:

Ancient Greek Language and Culture
Arabic Language and Culture
Australian Indigenous Languages and Society
Burmese Language and Culture
Chinese Language and Culture
English Language
French Language and Culture
German Language and Culture
Hindi Language and Culture
Indonesian Language and Culture
Italian Language and Culture
Japanese Language and Culture
Korean Language and Culture
Latin Language and Culture
Mongolian language and Culture
Persian Language and Culture
Portuguese Language and Culture
Russian Language and Culture
Sanskrit Language and Culture
Spanish Language and Culture
Tetum Language and Culture
Thai Language and Culture
Turkish Language and Culture
Vietnamese Language and Culture

 

 

24 units from completion of elective courses offered by ANU

 

Unless otherwise stated, a course used to satisfy the requirements of one list may not be double counted towards satisfying the requirements of another list.

Specialisations

Study Options

Year 1 48 units Introductory Graduate Linguistics Course 6 units Introductory Graduate Linguistics Course 6 units Introductory Graduate Linguistics Course 6 units Disciplinary Course 6 units
Introductory Graduate Linguistics Course 6 units Research Methods Course 6 units Research Methods Course 6 units Research Methods Course 6 units
Year 2 48 units Research Methods Course 6 units Disciplinary Course 6 units Disciplinary Course 6 units Disciplinary Course 6 units
ANU Elective Course 6 units ANU Elective Course 6 units ANU Elective Course 6 units ANU Elective Course 6 units

Admission Requirements

A Bachelor degree or international equivalent with a minimum GPA of 5/7.

Cognate disciplines
Applied Linguistics, Audiology, Communication Studies, International Communication Studies, Languages, Language Teaching, Lexicography, Linguistics, Speech Pathology, TESOL from an Australian tertiary institution or its international equivalent, Translating/Interpreting

English language requirements
All applicants must meet the University’s English Language Admission Requirements for Students.
 
Assessment of qualifications
Unless otherwise indicated, ANU will accept all Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) qualifications or international equivalents that meet or exceed the published admission requirements of our programs, provided all other admission requirements are also met.
Where an applicant has more than one completed tertiary qualification, ANU will base assessment on the qualification that best meets the admission requirements for the program. Find out more about the Australian Qualifications Framework: www.aqf.edu.au
ANU uses a 7-point Grade Point Average (GPA) scale. All qualifications submitted for admission at ANU will be converted to this common scale, which will determine if an applicant meets our published admission requirements. Find out more about how a 7-point GPA is calculated for Australian universities: www.uac.edu.au/future-applicants/admission-criteria/tertiary-qualifications
Unless otherwise indicated, where an applicant has more than one completed tertiary qualification, ANU will calculate the GPA for each qualification separately. ANU will base assessment on the best GPA of all completed tertiary qualifications of the same level or higher.

Applications for course credit
Applicants with a Bachelor Degree or Graduate Certificate in a cognate discipline may be eligible for 24 units (one semester) of credit.
Applicants with a Graduate Diploma or Honours in a cognate discipline may be eligible for 48 units (one year) of credit.

Annual indicative fee for domestic students
$28,320.00

For more information see: http://www.anu.edu.au/students/program-administration/costs-fees

Annual indicative fee for international students
$40,416.00

For further information on International Tuition Fees see: https://www.anu.edu.au/students/program-administration/fees-payments/international-tuition-fees

Scholarships

ANU offers a wide range of scholarships to students to assist with the cost of their studies.

Eligibility to apply for ANU scholarships varies depending on the specifics of the scholarship and can be categorised by the type of student you are.  Specific scholarship application process information is included in the relevant scholarship listing.

For further information see the Scholarships website.

The human capacity for language is at the heart of the study of linguistics. The field encompasses the nature of different languages and the nature of language as a cognitive and social phenomenon. It asks questions such as: How do we communicate? In what ways are languages different and similar? How do we learn language? Why does language change over time? What is the relationship between mind and language? The Master of General and Applied Linguistics offers the opportunity to explore these and many other questions through an especially broad selection of topics. The program will provide you with a solid grounding in linguistic theory, analysis and associated methodologies, and offers the opportunity to study language as a cognitive, social and historical process. Students can also study a broad range of languages as part of the degree.

Career Options

Graduates from ANU have been rated as Australia's most employable graduates and among the most sought after by employers worldwide.

The latest Global Employability University Ranking, published by the Times Higher Education, rated ANU as Australia's top university for getting a job for the fourth year in a row.

Employment Opportunities

The Master of General and Applied Linguistics can advance your career in education, translation and interpreting, language teaching, speech pathology, audiology, editing, language policy, cross-cultural communication, language documentation and other positions in government and private business. It is also a pathway to further studies.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of a Master of General and Applied Linguistics, graduates will be able to:

  1. apply established theoretical frameworks critically and creatively at an advanced level to the description, analysis and explanation of linguistic data and language use;

  2. identify sources of linguistic data, and evaluate the reliability of those sources and their relevance to theoretical issues;

  3. research complex language phenomena using a variety of sources and techniques, and communicate this research to both specialist and non-specialist audiences; and

  4. apply a sophisticated understanding of language and its use to real-world language contexts.

 

Further Information

  • Interested in writing a thesis? Check out the advanced version of this degree.
  • Please be aware that any courses taken as part of the 24 units from completion of elective courses offered by ANU list will not count towards the advanced degree should you decide to transfer. This is because the advanced degree has no free electives, as they are in practice replaced by a 24 unit thesis.
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