MA in English Applied Linguistics (MAEAL) is an innovative linguistics-based and labor-oriented postgraduate program within the local, regional and international communities, in general. Though it is the first in Palestinian universities, MAEAL has been offered at various universities all over the world, as it is the latest trend which has academic applications and professional potentials. MAEAL has a strong concentration on the practical as well as the theoretical skills and competences required to work in several sectors. It is important to note here that the proposed postgraduate Master’s program in English Applied Linguistics is in good concord with the undergraduate Bachelor’s program ‘Applied English’ taught at PAU.
MAEAL will equip enrolled students with the competences and skills they need to work as linguists, analysts, language instructors, and researchers across a range of organizations and sectors offering their world-wide employability opportunities and job vacancies. Furthermore, higher education institutions, such as universities, colleges, language centers, and high schools, and companies or firms, such as banks, hotels, media, oil companies are recruiting well-educated graduates having both linguistic competences and skills.
The program in English Applied Linguistics builds on Bloom’s dichotomies in regard to the general domains of knowledge & comprehension, application and analysis, and evaluation and creation. Thus, it aims to help the students to master the following:
⮚ Cognitive and critical thinking skills
⮚ Applicable and transferable skills
⮚ Communicative and technical skills
⮚ Behavioral and ethical concerns
The alumni of the program are expected to:
- Categorize, analyze and evaluate the language used in the general area of applied linguistics at both levels of syntax and semantics.
- Synthesize analyze and evaluate information, theoretical claims and their applications in the main literacies of the various areas of applied linguistics.
- Design curricula and /or syllabi plans on the basis of the data provided or collected.
- Generate a well-structured, clearly-written, and library-based academic and professional paper in one of the key topics related to the relevant areas of applied linguistics.
- Apply innovative teaching methods and good language learner skills, strategies, styles and preferences in the various educational environments related to both worlds of TEFL and TESOL.
- Conduct and submit an empirical investigation that is based on a well-established theory and professional concerns, including a clear statement of research problem, objectives, questions, discussion, findings, conclusions and implications for both pedagogy and research, and contributing to the basic knowledge of applied linguistics.
- Apply qualitative, quantitative and mixed critical and analytical research method approaches to language study.
- Assess various skills related to language using alternative/authentic assessment tools.
- Give a well-organized, clear oral presentation to a specialist or semi-specialist on a key topic of the general field of applied linguistics.
- Collaborate with other classmates in identifying as well as accomplishing research problems, plans, and proofreading tasks associated with studies they have conducted in the various areas of applied linguistics.
- Highlight research ethics and concerns including authorship identification, citation, privacy and confidentiality when writing a research and presenting its findings.
- Manage time effectively when carrying out reading, research and related writing activities.
The proposed MA program in English Applied Linguistics fits into the linguistic studies which have not only theoretical but also practical applications. The areas the program covers can be subcategorized into linguistics applied and applied linguistics. The former refers to such areas as TEFL, TESOL, and translation that have been applied for ages now. The latter, the main interest and focus of the program, minds other areas having the potential of being applied. These areas, such as sociolinguistics, corpus linguistics, discourse analysis, pragmatics, curricula and syllabi, and SLA, are interdisciplinary. They can open the door wide for linguists to address the needs of the local community, collaborate with the emerging technologies, to study the rhetorical features of other discourses and genres, design language curricula and syllabi, and to examine theories of learning. In short, the program is expected to turn out:
▪ Academicians who can work at private and public universities and colleges
▪ Sociolinguists who can examine societal issues, such as notions of self-concept, identities, gender, sociocultural values., etc.
▪ Language analysts who can analyze the rhetorical features of the discourse and genre at the macro- and micro-levels in the academic, professional, scientific and technological contexts
▪ Language curricula and syllabi designers who can compile teaching materials and course plans, whether textual or multi-modal
▪ Language instructors to teach English either as a second or a foreign language at private and public schools.
- A list of the course titles and numbers to be taught at the program of MAEAL distributed as follows:
| Major courses | 24 credit hrs. –thesis track & 27 cred hrs. -comprehensive exam track |
| Elective courses | 6 credit hrs. –thesis track & 6 credit hrs. -comprehensive exam track |
| Master’s Thesis | 6 credit hrs. [1] |
| Master’s Project | 3 credit hrs. [2] |
| Total | 36 credit hrs. |
