Masters (Coursework) in English & Linguistics - Department of English, Linguistics and Theatre Studies

Masters (Coursework) in English Language & Linguistics

Build expertise at an advanced level in foundational areas of language study.
Complete your MA in one academic year.

The Master of Arts in English Language and Linguistics (Coursework) is a fully taught programme, designed to be completed in one year of intensive full-time study, or over a longer period of part-time study. Only those locally domiciled are eligible for part-time study.

Our graduate programmes provide both an extensive education and a specialist discipline, enabling you to develop flexibility and range, coupled with specific transferable skills. (Note: The coursework MA is not designed to prepare students for a PhD programme)

Admission Requirements

Curriculum

Apply for Admission

Funding

Admission Requirements

To be eligible for admission, candidates must have:

An NUS Honours degree or equivalent (e.g. a four-year Bachelors degree with at least an average grade of B or equivalent in the subject or related field); or
A good Bachelors degree (at least an average of B or equivalent) in the subject or related field; or
In exceptional cases, other qualifications and experience subject to approval by the Board of Graduate Studies; and
Minimum overall IELTS score (7.5) or TOEFL equivalent, for students who have not studied in a university where the medium of instruction is English.

Curriculum

Candidates can earn the degree of Master of Arts in English Language and Linguistics by completing 40 units or 10 courses (each course is worth 4 units). Course requirements and options are listed below. For courses that are subject to approval, please consult with your supervisor or department before attending any course.

For more information on the courses, please refer to Canvas(opens in new tab) and NUSmods(opens in new tab).

Compulsory: ELC5104 Approaches to Language

Nick HUANG

This foundational course familiarizes graduate students with the major theoretical principles and research paradigms that define the various subfields of linguistics. The course surveys the history of linguistics as a discipline, and introduces major thinkers, key linguistic concepts, significant debates, and basic research methods. Topics covered include formal linguistics, historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, contact linguistics, psycholinguistics, computational linguistics, and applied linguistics. Students will complete the course with a solid understanding of the range of topics addressed and approaches used in the study of language.

Minimum of 5 EL or ELC level-5000 courses

Select at least 5 of the following:

EL5101 Grammatical Analysis

Michael ERLEWINE

This course aims to ground graduate students in a solid conceptual, analytical, and empirical foundation for doing research in syntax and semantics. It examines a range of core empirical phenomena that have been important in the development of modern linguistic theory and that remain central to current linguistic frameworks (e.g. passive, infinitival constructions, relative clauses, wh-constructions, binding, etc.). Core theoretical notions to be covered include: phrase structure, grammatical relations, subcategorization, and lexical entries.

Remarks:
Subject Area B: Grammatical Structure and Meaning (Applicable to August 2023 intake and before)

EL5102 Phonetics and Phonology

Rebecca STARR

The course covers the foundational knowledge of the sound pattern of human language. Major topics include how speech sounds are made and transmitted, and how they pattern, drawing data primarily from English and other familiar languages. Students will learn the conceptual tools and technical skills in the analysis of speech data.

Remarks:
Subject Area A: Sounds and Sound Patterns (Applicable to August 2023 intake and before)

EL5103 Language in Society

Mie HIRAMOTO

This course surveys major approaches and current issues relevant to the study of language in society. It aims to familiarize students with a range of theoretical and conceptual frameworks they may refer to in addressing sociolinguistic questions across a variety of sites and to provide general principles that they may consider when engaged in the study of language in social context. For this purpose, it will critically discuss classical and contemporary research to explore the historical background, prevailing assumptions, methodological perspectives, and analytic strengths of different approaches to language in society, and consider recent developments in the field.

Remarks:
Subject Area C: Language in Use (Applicable to August 2023 intake and before)

ELC5104 Approaches to Language

Nick HUANG

ELC5206 Advanced Psycholinguistics

Aine ITO

This course explores topics in psycholinguistics such as spoken and visual word recognition, language comprehension, language production, language acquisition, and bilingual language processing. Students will also be exposed to research methods in psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics, including eye-tracking and brain potentials (EEG; Electroencephalography, or ERP; Event-Related Potentials).

Preclusion: EL5206

Remarks:
Subject Area C: Language in Use (Applicable to August 2023 intake and before)

ELC5251 Approaches to Discourse

Shrutika KAPOOR

This course will explore approaches to analysing both written and spoken discourses. Students will learn the analytical tools used to describe features of both modes of discourses. They will be encouraged to explore current research in discourse analysis. There may be a specific focus on particular kinds of discourse (classroom, computer-mediated, media, legal, political, etc.), depending on the expertise and interest of the lecturer. Students will be encouraged to collect and analyse their own data for the assignment.

Preclusion: EL5251

Remarks:
Subject Area C: Language in Use (Applicable to August 2023 intake and before)

ELC5253 Textual Construction of Knowledge

Michelle LAZAR

This course aims to cultivate an understanding both of the relationship between discourse and ideology and of the textual construction of knowledge. Students will be exposed to a critical deconstruction of different kinds of socio-political discourses (including discourses about gender and race, etc.) with specific attention to ideological positionings, and the role ideology plays in the knowledge construction process. Through this course, students will acquire critical skills in reading texts and come to appreciate the different kinds of textual and ideological strategies used in the formation of knowledge.

Preclusion: EL5253

Remarks:
Subject Area C: Language in Use (Applicable to August 2023 intake and before)

Maximum of 2 non-EL or non-ELC level 5000 courses on related subjects (subject to approval)

Maximum of 2 EL level-4000 courses (subject to approval)

Choose a maximum of 2 of the following modules. Please consult with your supervisor or the department for approval before attending the course(s).

EL4203/EL4203HM Semantics

Michael ERLEWINE

The goal of this course is to develop a concrete, compositional mapping between the syntactic structure of linguistic expressions and their interpreted meanings, based primarily on the study of English data. Emphasis will be placed on precise, formal descriptions of meanings as truth conditions and their computation. The contribution of the conversational context will also be discussed. Basic knowledge of English syntactic structure will be assumed.

Pre-requisite for EL4203: Cohort 2021 onwards: Completed 80 units, including 20 units in EL or 20 units in PH. PH students who believe they have sufficient background knowledge for the course should consult the lecturer for permission to take it.
Preclusion for EL4203: EL4203HM

Pre-requisite for EL4203HM: Cohort 2020 and before: Completed 80 units, including 28 units in EL or 28 units in PH, with a minimum GPA of 3.20 or be on the honours track. PH students who believe they have sufficient background knowledge for the course should consult the lecturer for permission to take it.
Preclusion for EL4203HM: EL4203

EL4216/EL4216HM Lexicology and Lexicography

Vincent OOI

With special reference to English in multilingual and multicultural settings, this course introduces students to the study of words from both lexicological (theory) and lexicographical (practice) perspectives. It aims to equip participants with a critical awareness of the notion of the word and its attendant sources of evidence, the organisation of the mental lexicon, and the publication of words in the form of print, online and standalone electronic dictionaries.

Pre-requisite for EL4216: Cohort 2021 onwards: Completed 80 units, including 20 units in EL
Preclusion for EL4216: EL4216HM

Pre-requisite for EL4216HM: Cohort 2020 and before: Completed 80 units, including 28 units in EL, with a minimum GPA of 3.20 or be on the Honours track
Preclusion for EL4216HM: EL4216

EL4222/EL4222HM Stylistics and Drama

Peter TAN

This course highlights one way in which the disciplines within the Department (theatre, literary studies and linguistics) can be brought together in the enterprise to come to terms with dramatic discourse. The course will focus on the analysis of dramatic discourse, so that evidenced interpretations of dramatic passages may be provided. Students will be introduced to a number of frameworks, especially those used to deal with discourse such as speech-act theory, the co-operative principle, face and politeness, cognitive and critical discourse approaches. Key topics in stylistics such as foregrounding and reader response will also receive coverage.

Pre-requisite for EL4222: Cohort 2021 onwards: Completed 80 units including 20 units in EL or 20 units in TS.
Preclusion for EL4222: EL4222HM

Pre-requisite for EL4222HM: Cohort 2020 and before: Completed 80 units including 28 units in EL or 28 units in TS, with a minimum GPA of 3.20 or be on the Honours track.
Preclusion for EL4222HM: EL4222

EL4252/EL4252HM Interactional Discourse

Peter TAN

This course focuses on how the phenomenon of discourse might be analysed and will consider how a number of frameworks can be used in a complementary fashion to give a fuller description of discourse. These include the frameworks of register and genre; speech-act theory; co-operation; face and politeness; exchange structure and conversation analysis. This course is appropriate for students reading or intending to read English Language honours.

Pre-requisite for EL4252: Cohort 2021 onwards: Completed 80 units, including 20 units in EL
Preclusion for EL4252: EL4252HM

Pre-requisite for EL4252HM: Cohort 2020 and before: Completed 80 units, including 28 units in EL, with a minimum GPA of 3.20 or be on the Honours track
Preclusion for EL4252HM: EL4252

EL4253/EL4253HM Language, Gender and Sexual Identities

Mie HIRAMOTO

This course encourages you to think analytically about identity construction issues regarding gender and sexuality by focusing on language, and about the relation between language and social practice. The goals are inseparably intellectual and political: responsible scholarship and citizenship require the ability and eagerness to go beyond stereotype, common belief, and the popular press, to evaluate claims for oneself in a knowledgeable way. Through the gathering and analysis of data, you will be asked to look for questions that might be answered, problems that might be solved, and issues that might be explored.

Pre-requisite for EL4253: Cohort 2021 onwards: Completed 80 units, including 20 units in EL or 20 units in EN, and EL2151.
Preclusion for EL4253: EL4253HM

Pre-requisite for EL4253HM: Cohort 2020 and before: Completed 80 units, including 28 units in EL or 28 units in EN, and EL2151, with a minimum GPA of 3.20 or be on the Honours track.
Preclusion for EL4253HM: EL4253

EL4254/EL4254HM Language, Ideology and Power

Michelle LAZAR

This course focuses on the interrelations between language, ideology and power within contemporary society. It examines key concepts and ideas investigated by a range of scholars working within a critical perspective. Topics covered include: the structuring influence of language on worldviews; the construal of particular realities through patterned linguistic choices; the inclusion/exclusion, privileging/marginalising of different social groups through language policies and practices affecting the use (or disuse) of particular language varieties. Target students: those with an active interest in the social and political aspects of language use, willing to articulate their own positions amid lively and complex debate.

Pre-requisite for EL4254: Cohort 2021 onwards: Completed 80 units, including 20 units in EL
Preclusion for EL4254: EL4254HM

Pre-requisite for EL4254HM: Cohort 2019 and before: Completed 80 units, including 28 units in EL or 28 units in GL/GL recognised non-language courses, with a minimum GPA of 3.20 or be on the Honours track.
Cohort 2020: Completed 80 units, including 28 units in EL, with a minimum GPA of 3.20 or be on the Honours track.
Preclusion for EL4254HM: EL4254

EL4880D/EL4880DHM Experimental Syntax

SHEN Zheng

Fundamental importance is assigned to speakers’ introspective judgments of sentence acceptability in syntactic research. However, such judgments can be gravely compromised by instability of different kinds, which calls into question the empirical reliability of such data. In this course, students will learn objective and practical methods by which they may collect and analyse acceptability judgments. We will discuss experimental design, data visualisation, statistical analysis, and the application of experimental methods to theoretical questions. This will be a hands-on course, and students will be expected to lead discussions on primary research.

Pre-requisite for EL4880D: Cohort 2021 onwards: Completed 80 units, including (i) 20 units in EL, and (ii) EL2101 or with instructor's consent.
Preclusion for EL4880D: EL4880DHM

Pre-requisite for EL4880DHM: Cohort 2020 and before: Completed 80 units, including (i) 28 units in EL, and (ii) EL2101 or with instructor's consent, with a minimum GPA of 3.20 or be on the Honours track.
Preclusion for EL4880DHM: EL4880D

EL4880F/EL4880FHM Grammar and Language Processing

Nick HUANG

Many morphosyntactic phenomena, such as those concerning subject-verb agreement or wh-dependencies, are typically seen as reflecting abstract grammatical rules. However, linguists have often questioned the need for such rules, arguing that these phenomena can be more fruitfully understood as the product of sentence processing and cognitive constraints, such as the limits of working memory. This course introduces students to these perspectives, their underlying assumptions, and their successes and limitations. Through this course, students will also become more familiar with the logic of linguistics experiments and statistical analysis.

Pre-requisite for EL4880F: Cohort 2021 onwards: Completed 80 units, including (i) 20 units in EL, and (ii) EL2101 or with instructor's consent.
Preclusion for EL4880F: EL4880FHM

Pre-requisite for EL4880FHM: Cohort 2020 and before: Completed 80 units, including (i) 28 units in EL, and (ii) EL2101 or with instructor's consent, with a minimum GPA of 3.20 or be on the Honours track.
Preclusion for EL4880FHM: EL4880F

Candidates who have completed equivalent courses which were not used towards obtaining another degree prior to admission to the Master of Arts in English Language and Linguistics may apply to the Department for an exemption of course(s), subject to a maximum of 50% of the MA requirements.

GPA Requirements

Candidates must obtain a minimum Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.00 for all examinable courses. The candidature of a student will be terminated if they:

Obtain a GPA of less than 2.5 for two consecutive semesters; or
Obtain a GPA of less than 3.0 for three consecutive semesters; or
Fail more than two courses

Residency

Candidates must fufil 50% residency in Singapore.

Applying for Admission

Unless there are special circumstances, we prefer that students begin their studies in the first semester in August each year.

For the Masters by Coursework programmes, students planning to begin in August must have submitted their application between 1 November of the previous year and 15 January of the current year.

Click on the button below for more information about admissions and the application process.

Admission Info

Apply Now

Fees and Funding

In general, MA coursework programmes do not have scholarships. As such candidates must ensure that they have the financial resources to support themselves for their entire programme of study.

However, there are options for graduate financial assistance such as travel grants for conferences and support for fieldwork. Please click on the button below for more information on course fees and funding.

Funding

Ready to go?

Apply for this programme

Need help?

Feel free to get in touch with us! Click on the relevant button below to email the department directly.

Graduate (Coursework)