Postgraduate Programmes in the School of Modern languages, Literatures and Cultures

Postgraduate programmes in French Studies, Spanish & Latin American Studies, German Studies and Chinese Studies available, please click on each language section on the menu on the left.

MA Applied Linguistics and Intercultural Studies

If you have ever wondered what language is and how language shapes and is shaped by human existence or if you have ever asked the question what is culture and how culture shapes and is shaped by increasing intercultural and cross-cultural interaction, then this is the programme for you! Through the degree, you’ll learn about how we acquire and learn different languages in the real world and the classroom setting; how language shapes and is shaped by things like age, gender, race, biological sex, identities, sexuality etc; how the global move towards English is affecting and affected by multilingualism and multiculturalism.
By engaging with different areas of Applied Linguistics and Intercultural Studies and other students on the programme, you’ll get a well-rounded education in the disciplines. Through in-class discussions, group work, presentations, and essay and thesis writing, you’ll develop strong interpersonal skills, written and spoken communications skills applying deep critical thinking and develop original ideas and approaches to existing and new topics. Language evolves on a daily basis so there’s a never-ending number of new developments to explore!
Past graduates from this programme have gone in multiple areas of further study and employment, ranging from PhD studies at Maynooth University, as well as Georgetown University and Yale University in the USA, to teaching at post-primary and university levels nationally and internationally as well as in industry in the areas of publishing, working on natural language processing (e.g. Alexa and Google Home) for large global companies as well as international client relationship management in financial services and global commerce. 

New programmes in French, German and Spanish for Teaching at Post-Primary Level

Are you a native or proficient speaker of French, German or Spanish? Have you completed or intend to complete a teacher training programme? Do you want to become a post-primary teacher but don’t have sufficient subject-specific credits for Teaching Council accreditation? If you answered “yes” to the above questions, we may have the right programme for you!
The School of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures is offering a suite of new programmes for teaching languages for prospective teachers who would like to complete the subject-specific credits required to submit themselves for accreditation with the Teaching Council of Ireland.
You can choose from a range of options in Translation, Literature, Film, and Language Teaching and put together your own programme to meet the requirements for Teaching Council accreditation. You’ll even be able to take all your classes on one day per week so you can meet your other professional and personal commitments at the same time! Past graduates of our programme in German Studies have been successfully accredited by the Teaching Council and continued their professional journeys as fully accredited post-primary teachers of German, including some who subsequently also completed their postgraduate teacher training (e.g. through the PME).
Prospective candidates may qualify for partial funding of their programmes through the Post-Primary Languages Initiative (PPLI)