Language and Society MA - Kingston University

Language and
Society MA
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
www.kingston.ac.uk/pglanguageandsociety

Language and Society MA
About the course
Course overview
The MA Language and Society provides students with an advanced
understanding of language use in society. The programme explores how aspects
of everyday language relate to social categorisations, such as class, age, gender
and ethnicity; it accounts for the linguistic diversity we encounter at all levels and
it displays a commitment to the pursuit of equality and social justice.
The MA explores key principles, methods and theories in the interdisciplinary
field of sociolinguistics and their application to a range of areas, including
intercultural communication, language ideology and discourse, narrative,
social interaction and identity, and meaning. The MA is unique in that it allows
students to undertake original research within the area of language and society
from a sociolinguistic or sociocultural perspective, combining their critical
understanding of current theories and debates in the field with their reflection on
their own experience as language user in a superdiverse society.
The programme is designed for students who have completed a degree in
English language, linguistics, sociology or a cognate subject area, as well as
those who work in language-related professions (such as teachers, translators
and language consultants). The MA programme provides an excellent foundation
for students who wish to pursue their postgraduate studies to MPhil/PhD level.
What you will study
The MA is composed of a mix of core and option modules. Teaching typically
takes place over two teaching blocks while the dissertation also takes place
over the summer period. The first semester core module Language and
Society: Principles and Theory familiarises students with concepts, theories
and methodologies central to an advanced study of language as a social
phenomenon. The other core module, the Dissertation Project allows students
to demonstrate their ability to undertake a sustained piece of independent
research on any aspect of the relationship between language and society.
In addition to the core modules there are a number of optional modules,
including Special Studies which run over two teaching blocks. These
modules encourage students to broaden and deepen their knowledge and
understanding of aspects of language and society and develop further their
research skills with reference to the specific topics being taught. Topics
you will explore include language variation and change, bi/multilingualism,
standard and non-standard varieties (with specific reference to English), world
Englishes, language and ethnicity, intercultural discourse and interaction,
public, media and political discourses, digital communication, the pragmatics
of communication, language and emotion, narrative, voice and identity.
MA Language and Society students will also have the opportunity to study
modules offered by related postgraduate programmes in the Faculty.
Careers
By the end of the programme, students will have developed solid theoretical
knowledge in a range of theoretical traditions within sociolinguistics, as well
as an advanced competence in qualitative research methods for the study of
language and society. In addition, students will have gained a range of skills
desirable to employers, such as strong communication and presentation skills,
critical thinking skills, self-management, meticulousness in writing and editing
work, the ability to reflect on one’s own work, the ability to write for particular
purposes and audiences, and the ability to work constructively with others.
Graduates from this course can pursue any of the following career paths:
• Language teaching, including EFL
• Publishing and editing
• Journalism
• Social work
• Language policy and planning (including education)
• Advertising and marketing
• Arts management
• New media and communications
For those interested in further research, the course provides an excellent
foundation for MPhil/PhD-level study in related fields.
Support
In addition to structured teaching, guidance and support is available throughout
the year through the provision of specific pre-set office hours, where you
can meet and discuss your work with members of the teaching staff. Further
academic support is provided by the Faculty’s Centre for Academic Skills and
Employability (CASE). You will also be allocated a personal tutor who acts as a
regular point of contact to address any academic or pastoral issues that arise.
Special features
Language and Society MA offers:
• interdisciplinary study of topics within and across the fields of linguistics
and applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, pragmatics, philosophy,
sociology, anthropology, (new) media and communication;
• practice in researching aspects of language in society, with a
specialisation in ethnographic and qualitative research methods;
• an opportunity to critically engage with current theories in the field of
sociolinguistics as well as debates in public domains ;
• a mix of core and option modules to broaden and develop specific areas
of expertise within the subfield of language and society;
• a personal tutor scheme to support and guide students throughout their
time on the programme by monitoring their progress and helping to
identify individual needs;
• employability skills embedded and interwoven throughout the curriculum
to develop a set of achievements – skills, understandings and personal
attributes desirable to an employer and allowing students to form a
clearer idea of future career possibilities and aspirations; and
• the opportunity for students to draw and reflect on their own experiences
as a language user in an increasingly superdiverse society.

www.kingston.ac.uk/pglanguageandsociety
Course content
Modules
Please note that this list of modules is indicative and not intended to be definitive.
Core modules
Language and Society: Principles and Theory has two main aims: the
first is to (re)familiarise you with terms and concepts central to the advanced
study of language as a social phenomenon; the second is to explore the key
research methodologies employed to study the complex relationship between
language and society, with particular emphasis on qualitative research.
Language and Society Dissertation Research Project is designed to
allow you to demonstrate your ability to undertake a sustained piece of
original, independent research on a range of topics and key issues related to
the study of language and society.
Option modules
Language, Ethnicity and Identity explores the role of language in the
construction of ethnic identity in context. This role is manifest both at a group
level, where language often functions as the emblem of a community, and at
an individual level, where language constitutes a powerful tool in displaying
and negotiating an ethnic self. You will engage with issues and topics in
this area and be expected to draw on your own experience, whether as bi/
multilingual speaker who can code-switch and code-mix or as a monolingual
speaker in a multilingual society.
Discourse, Power and Inequality examines issues of discourse, power and
inequality following critical perspectives that have emerged from the study of
discourse in social life and the study of talk in interaction. It looks at the way
differential power relations manifest themselves in language and discourse
and their implications for the production and reproduction of social inequalities
based on one’s cultural background or social positionality.
Principles of Intercultural Communication will familiarise you with
cultural and linguistic theories useful for the systematic study of intercultural
encounters in global and local contexts and engage with topics such
as: intercultural interactions, advertising across cultures, intercultural
communication in literature, as well as concepts such as essentialism,
otherisation, stereotyping and language and culture shock.
Political Communication, Advocacy and Campaigning explores the
dynamic relationship between media, public opinion and public policy. You
will examine different ways of making sense of the relationship between the
state, the public and the media; different approaches to struggles over policy;
and different ways to assess what influence media and policymakers have
on each other. You will then go on to explore struggles over how politics and
policies are communicated.
Language description, materials and methods describes the nature
of language and, in particular, explores how the systems of grammar, lexis,
phonology and discourse underlie language. You will be given the opportunity
to write your own materials and so understand the processes, production
and adaptation of materials to language learning contexts. This module also
provides an overarching perspective on how materials relate to language
learning, syllabus design, teaching approaches and research. A unique feature
of this module is that it is coupled with micro-teaching and class observations.
Special Study: Narrative looks at narrative storytelling in both fictional and
real life stories. You will explore concepts within narratology to understand the
nature, form and function of narratives. You will also look at the common or
universal characteristics of narrative storytelling as well as differences and find
out how it is that we are able to comprehend, memorise and produce stories.
Topics include narrative structure, characterisation, narration and disnarration,
narrative beginnings, the narrator as witness, children’s narratives and
fairytales, and narratives in the media (eg newspapers, blogs) such as those
following major world events.
Special Study: Language and Emotion examines emotional expression,
communication and performance in and through language, drawing on
concepts and frameworks from linguistic anthropology, sociocultural
linguistics and sociolinguistics. You will consider how representations of
emotion in literature, film, the media and advertising, and everyday discourses
shape structures of feeling, and will conduct in-depth studies of emotion as
manifest in situated linguistic and sociocultural activities.
Special Study: Meaning considers work in the philosophy of language on
what it means to ‘mean’ something and work in the domain of pragmatics
and linguistic semantics that suggest a distinction between the contextdependent
meaning inherent in language-in-use and context-independent
meaning. You will study how different linguistic elements interact with the
discourse context to contribute to the communicative act, and also consider
the role played by extra-linguistic aspects of communication such as facial
expression, gesture and body language.
(Special Study options will run subject to student numbers.)
Research areas
The MA in Language and Society is unique in its structure, which is designed
to provide you with a grounding in and familiarity with a range of different
research traditions, and then lead you to the systematic exploration of one or
more domains of research:
• The sociolinguistic domain – drawing on variationist andinteractional
approaches to sociolinguistics, with a primary focus on language varieties
and discourses, ethnicity and identity, power and inequality
• The sociocultural domain – informed by cultural and anthropological
perspectives of the study of language, exploring, amongst others, the
performance of language, intercultural communication and new literacies
Student feedback
“The overall curriculum of the MA programme is interesting and relevant to
society at large. Students taking such a variety of modules in a structured
programme should emerge with enhanced insights into the role of language in
society and to the individual, and an ability to reflect critically on how particular
uses of language are positioning individuals and groups.” (February, 2013)
Special Study: Discourse and Social Media explores discourse aspects
of social media in a globalising world, drawing on theories and methodologies
developed in linguistics, sociolinguistics, and linguistic anthropology. You will
have the opportunity to research language and communication in a range
of social media, including social networking sites such as Facebook, media
sharing sites like YouTube and Flickr, wikis, and other sites of (micro)blogging
such as Twitter.

www.kingston.ac.uk/pglanguageandsociety
Language and Society MA
Entry requirements
We normally expect applicants to have a good second-class degree or above
in English language, linguistics, or cognate subject areas. We will consider
non-standard entrants on an individual basis.
Interviews
We normally invite applicants for an interview with the course director or
another senior member of the teaching team. International students based
overseas can arrange for an interview by email or telephone.
Prior learning – AP(E)L
Applicants with prior qualifications and learning will be considered on an
individual basis.
International students
All non-UK applicants must meet our English language requirements. For
this course it is a minimum of IELTS of 6.5 overall, with special conditions for
students who require a Tier-4 student visa. Please make sure you read our
full guidance about English language requirements on the course webpage,
which includes details of other qualifications we’ll consider.
Duration
1 year full time, 2 years part time
Attendance/delivery
The study commitment may include evening, weekend or day-release
sessions, and can vary in each teaching block. Timetables are subject to
change. Please contact the postgraduate admissions office for further details.
Assessment
Continuous assessments in individual modules are carried out using a range
of formats, including essays, presentations, practical projects and exams,
plus assessment of final dissertation.w
Location
Located beside the River Thames, Kingston University is within the
London travel-pass zone. Easily accessible from surrounding areas such
as Surrey and Middlesex, its local train stations (Kingston; Surbiton) are
also only 25 minutes from London Waterloo.
Further information
Contact details
Please contact the Faculty’s Admissions Office with any further queries.
Admissions Office (Postgraduate Courses)
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Kingston University
Penrhyn Road
Kingston upon Thames
Surrey KT1 2EE
T: +44 (0)20 8417 2361/2378
F: +44 (0)20 8417 2292
E: fasspostgrad-info@kingston.ac.uk
www.kingston.ac.uk/pglanguageandsociety
HS(13.390)L