•    Equip MRes/MA students with the necessary research skills to make their own high-quality contribution to the field of English Language/Linguistics.
•    Provide students with solid background knowledge of the main qualitative and quantitative methods used in linguistic research. 
•    Equip MRes/MA students with the ability to discuss and critically assess the research methods used in the literature, identifying strengths and weaknesses and their impact on data interpretation/analysis.
•    Raise awareness of ethical issues in data collection and equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to address ethical issues within their own research.

(LO1) Students will be able to demonstrate familiarity with and understanding of a range of relevant literature.

(LO2) Students will demonstrate critical thinking skills in reviewing existing research.

(LO3) Students will be able to present and defend a plausible and feasible research plan that also takes into account ethical issues.

(LO4) Students will demonstrate the ability to identify appropriate research questions (to be addressed in the dissertation/future work).

(LO5) Students will be able to choose appropriate research methods.

(LO6) Students will be able to analyse data and offer valid interpretations.

(S1) Students will gain problem solving/ critical thinking/ creativity skills, analysing facts and situations and applying creative thinking to develop appropriate solutions

(S2) Students will gain information technology skills, including the (application of) adopting, adapting and using digital devices, applications and services

(S3) Students will gain information literacy skills (online), incl. finding, interpreting, evaluating, managing and sharing information

(S4) Students will gain literacy skills, including the ability to produce clear, structured written work and oral literacy - including listening and questioning

(S5) Students will gain self-management skills, including a readiness to accept responsibility (i.e. leadership), flexibility, resilience, self-starting, initiative, integrity, willingness to take risks, appropriate assertiveness, time management, readiness to improve own performance based on feedback/reflective learning

(S6) Students will gain experience with team (group) work, including respecting others, co-operating, negotiating / persuading, awareness of interdependence with others

(S7) Students will gain ethical awareness

Topics covered will typically include (in 1-2 sessions each): 
1. Introduction to Research Methods in English Language and Linguistics
2. Qualitative Research Methods (such as critical discourse analysis, focus groups, interviews)
3. Quantitative Research Methods (such as questionnaires, corpus analyses)
4. Ethics
5. PhD (funding) applications
6. How to write a review article/annotated bibliography/research proposal (incl. a discussion of work in progress) Library resources will be accessible through the module reading list, other key learning resources will be made available through Canvas. In some cases, students will be expected to identify their own supplementary resources.

Teaching Method 1 - Synchronous whole-cohort sessions
Description: The 2-hour sessions are bi-weekly reading/discussion group exploring a range of topics related to academic research in English Language.
Attendance Recorded: Yes

The majority of teaching will be delivered face to face on campus. Online delivery will be used to complement the on campus delivery and where technology affords a better learning experience.