Applied linguistics majors develop a variety of valuable skills that are highly valued by employers. These include critical thinking, research, analysis, oral/written communication, and problem-solving abilities.
Some linguists go on to become teachers or train as speech and language therapists. Others work in the text-to-speech industry as developers of speech recognition systems or develop software for artificial intelligence.
Speech Pathology or Audiology
Contents
As a speech-language pathologist, you help people who have problems with their communication. You assess their needs and create treatment plans. You use a variety of methods to help them improve their speech, language and swallowing skills. You may also work with individuals who have hearing problems.
Many speech-language pathologists choose to specialize in pediatrics or adolescent speech and swallowing disorders, as these populations are the most likely to have severe problems with communication. They can also find employment in a wide variety of settings, such as hospitals, schools and nursing care facilities.
Those who want to get their start in the field should consider earning a bachelor’s degree in speech pathology or audiology. These degrees provide the academic and practical experience needed to earn both a master’s in speech pathology and a doctorate in audiology.
Students who are interested in becoming speech-language pathologists should pursue a program that is accredited by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Boston University’s master of science in speech-language pathology offers students the opportunity to gain the academic, clinical and professional skills required for certification from ASHA and licensure in Massachusetts.
A bachelor’s degree in linguistics is a solid foundation for any career that involves understanding how languages change with context, how different dialects and social conditions impact language use, and how to accommodate people who have disabilities. It also lays the groundwork for further study in areas such as linguistics and acoustics.
Audiologists focus on aiding people who have hearing difficulties, and they also work with children. They do a lot of hands-on, one-on-one therapy to address the issues that affect speech and language development.
Linguists can be in a variety of fields, but the primary duties of linguists are to interpret meaning and translate words from one language into another. They can work in education, medical and media settings, or they can help people who speak a variety of languages understand each other better.
Whether you’re interested in becoming an audiologist or a speech-language pathologist, you should look for a college with a high standard of student services and a strong commitment to your success. You should also seek out a school that is a member of the Association of Schools of Audiology or the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation. Both associations have a rigorous admissions process and a rigorous training curriculum. They also require a minimum of two years of professional experience.
Teaching English or Other Languages Around the World
A linguistics degree can help you pursue many different career paths. Linguists study language and how it is used throughout the world, combining their studies with subjects like history, philosophy, anthropology and psychology.
A bachelor’s degree in linguistics is the primary entry point to a career in this field. Most bachelor’s programs require 120 credit hours and take around four years of study to complete at a normal full-time pace.
An associate’s degree is another option for entering the linguistics field. These programs are interdisciplinary and offer students a wide range of general education courses, introducing them to the fundamentals of the academic discipline.
The main goal of these degrees is to provide students with an understanding of the basics and complicated concepts that surround language. These include topics such as phonetics, morphology and syntax.
Some linguistics majors choose to specialize in a particular area of the discipline, such as historical linguistics or forensic linguistics. Others pursue a more theoretical approach, learning about how language evolved, what is considered the ideal language and how to create it.
Other linguistics majors choose to explore the use of language within specific communities, with topics such as sociolinguistics and anthropology. In this way, they can become linguists for the purpose of improving the lives of those living in certain areas.
Graduates of a linguistics program can find employment as English teachers, with job duties including teaching a variety of classes and helping to develop lesson plans and classroom materials. They can also pursue a career as a translator, helping to translate information into languages for foreign audiences.
In addition to the above career choices, graduates of linguistics can work as editors in publishing companies and media organizations. Their specialized knowledge of English and their ability to notice errors in documents makes them well-suited for this job.
Applied linguists can also pursue jobs in the medical, business and law sectors. These positions involve translating languages, creating computer software that can understand human speech and evaluating how people communicate using various languages.
As a linguist, you can travel around the world and teach English to students in countries where it is not the native language. This is a satisfying and rewarding career, especially if you have an innate interest in the study of languages and want to put your knowledge to good use.
Applied Linguistics
As a linguistics student, you’ll study language and how it works in relation to real-world problems. This is a scientific field that draws on knowledge from other disciplines, such as biology, sociology and psychology. Applied linguistics can be a rewarding career, as you’ll apply your skills to help people understand how their language works and why it may fail them.
Applied linguistics also includes research on language teaching and learning, evaluating the effectiveness of language programs, identifying ways to improve intercultural communication, improving language policy and planning, and understanding how language is used in different contexts. These topics are all important to society, so it’s a great way to use your knowledge of language and communication to make a positive impact on the world around you.
Linguistics is a scientific field, and you’ll do your research using methods like data collection, analysis and generating hypotheses. You’ll develop crucial analytical and problem-solving skills that are applicable to a wide range of careers.
You’ll study different linguistic subjects, such as morphology, syntax, semantics and phonetics, and learn how languages work, including how they are created, and how they are used by speakers of other languages. You’ll also learn about the history of linguistics and how it has evolved over time.
Many linguists go on to teach at universities, but you can also find jobs in the public sector or private industry. Alternatively, you can pursue further study to gain a postgraduate qualification such as an MA or PhD in Applied Linguistics.
Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field that draws on information from different disciplines, such as sociology, psychology, anthropology and information theory, to solve practical problems and to develop theoretical models of how human language is used. It’s a dynamic, human science and it’s often a combination of academic fields that can include information science, natural language processing, sociology, psychology, education and anthropology.
Applied linguistics is a relatively recent phenomenon that was originally formed as a means of applying linguistic theories and findings to language teaching and learning. Historically, applied linguistics has taken on a variety of concerns, such as the analysis of language disorders (clinical linguistics), teaching English as a second language and language planning and policy. It has branched out into other areas, such as lexicography and translation, stylistics and linguistic development.
Forensic Linguistics
A forensic linguistics degree can lead to an exciting career in a field that’s often associated with solving crimes. These professionals analyze language to help law enforcement officers solve cases, find suspects and determine a person’s guilt or innocence.
Linguists in this field study a variety of language types, including written documents and verbal statements. Their work can involve voice identification, the interpretation of expressed meaning from a legal perspective and deciphering a criminal’s plans through written or spoken communication. They may also be responsible for the translation of text into a foreign language, if the person in question has a different native tongue than the one used to write or speak the evidence.
Most forensic linguists have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in linguistics, although some also hold degrees in other related fields such as law, psychology, sociology or computer science. In addition to helping the police and legal system, forensic linguists are also trained to analyze cybercrime and other technology-related crimes.
Forensic linguists use a variety of methods to investigate written and verbal texts, which include statements made by witnesses and suspects. They may also examine letters written to victims, suicide notes or the contents of emergency call records.
There are a number of universities around the world that offer bachelor’s and master’s programs in forensic linguistics, as well as PhD programs. These institutions include Aston University in Birmingham, Cardiff University, Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Hofstra University in New York.
Typically, a forensic linguistics degree will include coursework in phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and discourse analysis. Students will also learn how to apply these skills to real-life situations.
Some forensic linguists also work as expert witnesses, presenting their findings in court. These experts can be hired by law firms, prosecutors and defense attorneys.
Forensic linguistics is a rapidly growing field that’s constantly in demand, with some universities offering undergraduate and postgraduate programs. The linguistics program at Hofstra University in New York, for example, “meets a growing demand for advanced training in scientific language analysis”5. This program offers an MA in Forensic Linguistics that’s designed to give you the tools and knowledge to succeed as a linguist and a forensic linguist.
- What Degree Do You Need to Be a Zoologist? - 2 February, 2023
- Which Global Entry Strategy Has the Highest Degree of Risk? - 2 February, 2023
- Which Algebraic Expression is a Polynomial With a Degree of 4? - 2 February, 2023
