MA Language and Social Justice with British Sign Language

Study Applied Linguistics and explore its contribution to social justice. Examine the theories and approaches in language analysis and apply this knowledge to specific social justice contexts. As part of the course, you will study British Sign Language (BSL) from beginners level. You will learn to hold conversations with others on familiar topics. We will prepare you to engage with communities and contribute to their wellbeing.

Staff research areas include:

• Language, social justice and deaf communities
• Language, gender and sexuality-related inclusion in schools
• Language and in/equalities in higher education
• Language-based analysis of York’s and the North East region’s BME communities
• Inclusion and social justice issues relating to languages beyond English in schools
• Social evaluations of accent, dialect and multilingualism
• Inclusive/emancipatory (re)conceptualizations of English as an additional language.

You can join this thriving research community. Co-organise and contribute to our annual conference, the Postgraduate Forum in Applied Linguistics. Alternatively, you can join our student as researchers scheme. This allows you to work alongside staff on their research projects.

You will join a community of students and staff who share your passion for language. Take advantage of our community engagement programmes to enhance your studies. Engage with the deaf community and practice your BSL communication at our Sign Bar. Organise and take part in fundraising events for Hearing Dogs for the Deaf.

Qualifications

Entry onto this postgraduate course requires a minimum of a 2:2 undergraduate degree in a related subject. 

You can join this programme as a beginner in British Sign Language. 

International Students

If you are an international student, you will need to show that your qualifications are equivalent to those above.

If your first language is not English you must show evidence of English Language competence at IELTS level 6.5 overall, with no skill below 6.0, or equivalent.

This course is not suitable if:

• British Sign Language is your first language
• You have British Sign Language Signature level 1
• You have B1 level or above of the Common European Framework for Languages (CEFR) in British Sign Language.

APEL policy

If you can't meet these minimum requirements it may be possible to take into account evidence of Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) as an alternative method of meeting the programme’s entry requirements. In such a case, appropriate references and records of employment might be presented to support the applicant’s case for admission.