| Description: | The MA in Applied Linguistics examines how languages are learned and used, and the roles they play in society. Courses are divided into three clusters that give you a broad knowledge base in language, theories of learning, and second-language pedagogy. The city of Montreal is an ideal location to explore issues related to language policy, politics and teaching. You will benefit from a multilingual urban setting that includes a high proportion of trilingual youth. Join a diverse cohort of students who are pursuing research in second language teaching, psycholinguistics, oral and written production and the use of technologies in language teaching. Languages that students have worked on include Arabic, Chinese, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Ukrainian and many more. |
| Areas of Research: | Research conducted by the faculty is extensive and varied. One major research emphasis is second language learning and teaching under a variety of instructional conditions. This includes documentation of techniques currently employed, the investigation of the distribution of instructional time (intensive vs. distributed teaching), the evaluation of learning outcomes in innovative programs, and the development of learner language. Other areas of research concern the acquisition of second-language phonology (including the application of such knowledge to teaching pronunciation), the study of sociolinguistic influences on language development in second-language learners and bilinguals, as well as the investigation of cognitive aspects of language learning and use in and outside a language classroom. Another research focus concerns the application of frequency-based approaches to the teaching and learning of second language vocabulary. Finally, research is also conducted on issues relevant to the training of novice teachers of second languages (e.g., teacher beliefs and thinking). |