Applied Linguistics

Understanding the relevance of language and linguistics to real-life situations is more important than ever, particularly within our increasingly modern and linguistically diverse world.

Applied Linguistics equips you with the skills to apply language and linguistic knowledge to a range of topically relevant areas.

The minor introduces you to subjects such as language management and language policy, language in spoken interaction, language acquisition, language teaching and cross-cultural communication.

Applied Linguistics is highly relevant for students from diverse backgrounds, including: those with prior knowledge of linguistics and who wish to understand how linguistics can be applied to a variety of real-life issues; language students who wish to explore language acquisition and teaching from a theoretical perspective, or the relevance of language in all contexts and cultures; and students with no prior language or linguistic knowledge but who are interested in how language is used in contemporary society, the minor will provide for you a strong foundation in the area.

Career options

Studying applied linguistics is useful for all sorts of employment as it gives you an understanding of many aspects of human communication. It is particularly useful for communicating in the workplace, and applying problem-solving and analytical skills across many areas.

It can lead to a career in teaching English or a foreign language. Plus it opens the way to all kinds of employment, providing valuable background knowledge for anyone going into fields such as translation, editing, speech pathology or audiology, and Aboriginal education.

It can also lead directly into postgraduate studies.