What English skills do I need and what certificates do you accept?

ELLDo is not a program in Engish linguistics, but studying ELLDo requires very good skills in reading, listening, and writing English. We expect a level of at least B2 and the willingness to constantly improve skills. You will be required to read and understand academic texts, not only textbooks for beginners, but also academic books and papers in academic journals. Most subjects include written assignments. Last but not least, to get your diploma you have to write a thesis. MA theses at our faculty are between 60 and 100 pages long. They can be written in English or Polish; sometimes another language is possible if a supervisor and a reviewer agree (mostly French and German).

During enrollment, you do not have to submit a certificate as proof of your English skills. It is up to you – if you don’t have the appropriate skills, you will not study successfully.

How can I prepare for the studies?

Although ELLDo is a master program in linguistics, not all our students have studied linguistics or philology in their undergraduate programs.

Students with little or no background in linguistics are recommended to get some basic knowledge before starting the program, and to continue catching up in core areas such as phonetics and morphology during their first year.Here are some recommendations for resources with which you may work on your own.

http://languagesindanger.eu/ A site made by a team at Adam Mickiewicz University (some of them are your teachers in ELLDo). It includes a textbook for young people with no prior knowledge of linguistics in English and Polish (“Book of Knowledge”) – a Turkish version will be available in autumn 2022, and some exercises with which you can explore lesser known languages (“Interactive Map”).

Textbooks for beginners

There are very many introductions to linguistics – browse the Internet and your library catalogue for descriptions and recommendations. The following three examples from Cambridge University Press give an overview of various fields of linguistics and are accessible to “absolute beginners”.

  • Bruhn de Garavito, Joyce, and John W. Schwieter, eds. 2021. Introducing Linguistics: Theoretical and Applied Approaches. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108696784
  • Genetti, Carol. 2018. How Languages Work: An Introduction to Language and Linguistics. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108553988.
  • Yule, George. 2020. The Study of Language. Seventh edition, Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108582889

Open Access:

Some textbooks we use in our classes

  • Litosseliti, Lia, ed. 2010. Research Methods in Linguistics. London; New York: Continuum.
  • Meyerhoff, Miriam, Laurel MacKenzie, and Erik Smachleef. 2015. Doing Sociolinguistics: A Practical Guide to Data Collection and Analysis. Abingdon; New York: Routledge.
  • Velupillai, Viveka. 2012. An Introduction to Linguistic Typology. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Also recommended: find some linguistic blogs (for example, here: https://blog.feedspot.com/linguistics_blogs/) or podcasts, for example:
https://lingthusiasm.comhttp://talkthetalkpodcast.com/
https://theworld.org/categories/world-words
https://www.accentricity-podcast.com/
https://fieldnotespod.com/

It’s not the OED but…

…our students enjoyed making their own dictionary during the class on lexicography. Here are some of the remarkable results:

(Picture: The team of the Oxford English Dictionary in 1915, from the OUP achive, but found here: https://allthatsinteresting.com/oxford-english-dictionary-history)

Where is professor Wicherkiewicz?

This winter semester ELLDo had to start without him: Professor Wicherkiewicz is currently on a research stay in Japan. From July 2018 to February 2019 he is Specially Appointed Professor at the Slavic-Eurasian Research Center of Hokkaido University in Sapporo. His research project concerns writing systems, scripts and orthographies in Central and Eastern Europe from the point of view of sociolinguistics, language contact and language policy. He is giving lectures in Russian and English, for example on Russian Old Believers in Poland (Русские старообрядцы в Польше как периферийное этноконфессиональное (и языковое) микрообщество) and, in an upcoming event, on writing and identity:
Sophia Nov2019 FCoulmas TWicherkiewicz

Program update for 2018/2019

Starting with the academic year 2018/2019, the Faculty of Modern Languages and Linguistics introduces changes in all its MA programs. In addition to their individual programs, all students will have the following kinds of classes in their first year of MA studies:

  • Introduction to economics (lecture and practical class);
  • Introduction to specialized user software; in the case of ELLDo this is desktop publishing programs (QuarkExpress and Scribus). The application of the software will further be integrated into three of the regular classes.

The motivation for these changes is to give students of modern languages and literatures additional knowledge and skills that will be useful in their life outside of academia. The implementation is supported by a grant within the project POWR!.

Find the updated program at our Program overview.

FAQ 2 Do I have to pay for studying ELLDo? (updated May 2022)

For students starting in 2022/2023, the tuiton fee is “0 PLN” – thus, you may study without paying a fee!

Students who started in 2021 still have to pay for their second year. Please consult with us if you want to apply for an individual reduction.

Our university does not offer general scholarships for foreign students.

A monument to language documentation

This newly unveiled monument in front of the Town Museum in Żory (Silesia) is probably the very first monument to Language Documentation in Poland! It shows the Polish ethnographer Bronisław Piłsudski with an Ainu informant and a wax cylinder recorder. The monument was designed by Ainu designer/sculptor Maki Sekine.

photo from: https://www.radio90.pl/pomnik-bronislawa-pilsudskiego-stanal-przed-muzeum-w-zorach.html

FAQ 1 Which foreign language can I study in ELLDo?

During the two years of the MA program, ELLDo students take classes in a foreign language other than English with a total amount of 240 hours (for example, two classes a week during four semesters).

All students from countries other than Poland are requested to study Polish for 120 teaching hours. These classes can be credited as your “foreign language”. For the remaining 120 hours, you may continue Polish or choose another language.

For students starting in 2021/2022 the offer at the Institute of Applied Linguistics will include:
– French for beginners
– German for beginners
– Latvian for beginners
– Estonian for beginners
– Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Hindi, and Indonesian on an advanced level
Attention: some classes require knowledge of Polish (we will consult all students individually).

You may also choose a language class from another institute of the Faculty of Modern Languages and Literatures (if the respective teacher accepts you), but this may give rise to problems with your time table.