The Doctor of Applied Language Sciences (DALS) programme aims to help nurture and develop future leaders in language-related professions.
Students will investigate developments in language sciences and develop an advanced understanding of the inextricable link between theory and practice. They will be able to integrate linguistic knowledge and research skills with reflective practice in coping with the demands and development of their careers as language professionals in this age of globalisation and digitalisation.
Doctor of Applied Language Sciences – a professional doctorate programme by the Faculty of Humanities (FH)
A professional academic team combining experts from the Departments of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, Computing, English and the English Language Centre, DALS offers students an opportunity to broaden and deepen their knowledge by pursuing a qualification of direct relevance to their chosen profession, with advanced programme of study and research in areas of professional working in practices.
The flexible study mode of 4-year full-time or 5-year part-time provides students with different options to complete the programme according to their preferred pace.
Combining taught subjects and research component, students are required to complete 48 credits for graduation. Among them, 24 credits are designated to a thesis which reflects the student’s knowledge and understanding of the related literature and of the research methodology appropriate to the investigation. The thesis is also a viable demonstration of the student’s ability to provide innovative insights to the practice of the profession and to apply theoretical knowledge to the solution of a significant applied problem. An oral examination of the thesis will be held.
Aside from the compulsory subjects within the 24-credit taught subjects, students can choose subjects in the following 4 focus areas, which our academic staff members from the teaching departments are all specialised in:
Language Education
This area focuses on the frameworks of knowledge and skills that underpin language education theories of linguistics and language learning, discourse and corpus analysis, and the role of language in society and on language education itself, particularly trends in teaching, learning, curriculum development and assessment. Another important focus is on the processes involved in first and second language acquisition.
Intercultural and Professional Communication
The emphasis here is on the key concepts, issues and practices in intercultural, organizational and professional communication, and on analysing spoken, written and multimodal discourses in a range of intercultural and professional contexts. The area addresses the need for individual professionals to acquire expertise in relevant fields of knowledge, theoretical and conceptual frameworks, methodologies, applications and frameworks of evaluation to comprehend the complexities of professional communication in intercultural and media-based settings. The subjects associated with this area also aim to enhance both professional and personal communicative competence.
Translating and Interpreting
This area focuses on providing professional training to university teachers and those who are currently working in the fields of translation and interpreting but do not hold formal academic credentials. The area encompasses the understanding of general linguistic theories, rhetorical studies in cross-cultural contexts, contemporary theories of translation and interpreting, and recent discoveries in typological divergencies amongst languages.
Speech Sciences, Language Processing, and Cognition
This focus area is built on the knowledge of how language is processed, with the intention to apply this knowledge to areas such as communication disorders, digital humanities, language and speech sciences, language technology and neuro-cognitive approaches to language use and language learning. Language technology, including computational and neuro-cognitive technologies, permeates many aspects of life and has an indispensable role to play in the delivery of language policies, language education and language related health care, as well as in a wide range of content industries and the knowledge economy. A critical understanding of how language is processed in the mind as well as language processing technologies is an essential part of a professional’s competence. The focus area is suited for professionals whose work is related to one or more of the following academic fields: Communication Disorder and Speech Therapy, Digital Humanities, Health Informatics, Natural Language Processing and Neuro-cognitive Linguistics.
Remarks: Starting from the 2022/23 intake cohort, students enrolled on taught postgraduate programmes are required to complete a 3-hour online module plus 3 hours of self-study on “National Education” and pass the assessment (multiple attempts allowed) in the form of multiple-choice questions online, normally within their first year of studies, as a graduation requirement. The Faculty may, based on the students’ previous studies, consider granting waiver of the National Education Requirement.
Programme Code/Duration |
03002-DFF (for 4-year full-time) OR 03002-DPT (for 5-year part-time) Students who wish to extend their studies beyond normal duration can submit such request to the Faculty of Humanities for consideration, as appropriate (applicable as from the 2020/21 intake cohorts). |
Entrance Requirements |
In addition to meeting the academic entrance requirements, applicants are required to have substantial and relevant work experience, i.e.,
English Language Requirements
An overall score of at least 6.5 (all sub-scores should be at least 6.0) in International English Language Testing System (IELTS); OR
Comparable scores obtained from other internationally recognized public examinations may be considered. |
Total Credits | 48 (24 credits for coursework and 24 credits for thesis) |
Intake Number | 24 |
Tuition Fee | HK$6,900 per credit |
Extension Fee | HK$17,250 per semester |
We offer scholarships exclusively to outstanding students with excellent academic merits and teaching assistantships to qualified candidates.
PolyU reserves the right to change or withdraw the scholarship at any time. In case of any dispute/disagreement, PolyU’s decision is final.
The Faculty of Humanities collaborates with a number of internationally prestigious institutions as professional and academic partners to ensure that students can benefit from contributions overseas as well as local scholars, researchers and practitioners through formal and informal exchange initiatives.
- International Research Centre for the Advancement of Health Communication
- Research Centre for Chinese History and Culture
- Research Centre for Language, Cognition, and Neuroscience
- Research Centre for Professional Communication in English
- The PolyU - Peking U Research Centre on Chinese Linguistics (in collaboration with Peking University)
Programme Committee Chairman![]() Prof. ZHU Xinhua Professor Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies Research Interests Cognitive processes of reading in alignment with curriculum and assessment, Construct of integrated writing in Chinese as a first language, Oral interactional competence focusing on strategy use, Establishment of assessment standards to promote ability-oriented curriculum, and Assessment for learning (AfL) especially teaching students higher-order thinking skills. More |
Contact Information Email: ctxhzhu@polyu.edu.hk Office: AG505 Tel: 3400 3840 |
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Programme Leader![]() Prof. Dennis TAY Professor Department of English and Communication Research Interests Cognitive linguistics, Healthcare communication, The language of psychotherapy, Data analytics and statistical modeling of discourse More |
Contact Information Email: dennis.tay@polyu.edu.hk Office: AG413 Tel: 3400 3654 |
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![]() Prof. CHAN Shui Duen Professor Department of Chinese & Bilingual Studies Research Interests Chinese language (including Putonghua) teaching and assessment, Language-in-education policy, Teaching Chinese as a second language, Chinese register study, Bilingual communication, Sociolinguistics More |
Contact Information Email: shui.duen.chan@polyu.edu.hk Office: AG510 Tel: 3400 3271 |
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![]() Dr CHEUNG Kay Fan Andrew Associate Professor Department of Chinese & Bilingual Studies Research Interests Simultaneous interpreting, Consecutive interpreting More |
Contact Information Email: andrew.cheung@polyu.edu.hk Office: AG513 Tel: 2766 7448 |
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![]() Dr Nate Ming CURRAN Assistant Professor Department of English and Communication Research Interests Intercultural Communication, Gig Economy, Cosmopolitanism, Motivations for Language Learning More |
Contact Information Email: nate-ming.curran@polyu.edu.hk Office: AG410 Tel: 2766 6094 |
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![]() Prof. Eric FRIGINAL Head and Professor Department of English and Communication Research Interests Workplace Communication, Social Media Discourse, English for Global Aviation, Language, Discourse, and Policy (micro and macro contexts), Identity Construction, Migration, Diaspora Discourse of Multimodal and Multicultural Workplaces, Global Call Centers, Maritime Communication More |
Contact Information Email: eric.friginal@polyu.edu.hk Office: AG401a Tel: 2766 7352 |
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![]() Dr Victor HO Associate Professor Department of English and Communication Research Interests Pragmatics, Metadiscourse, Discourse analysis, Professional communication, English for academic/specific purposes More |
Contact Information Email: victor.ho@polyu.edu.hk Office: AG429 Tel: 2766 7539 |
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![]() Prof. Guangwei HU Associate Dean of FH and Professor Department of English and Communication Research Interests Academic Discourse, Academic Literacy, (Early) Biliteracy Acquisition, Language Assessment, Language Policy, Language and Literacy Education, Research Methods and Methodologies, Second Language Acquisition, Second Language Writing More |
Contact Information Email: guangwei.hu@polyu.edu.hk Office: AG430 Tel: 2766 7564 |
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![]() Prof. HUANG Chu-ren Chair Professor Department of Chinese & Bilingual Studies Research Interests Computational Linguistics, Lexical Semantics, Ontology, Corpus Linguistics, Language Archives More |
Contact Information Email: churen.huang@polyu.edu.hk Office: GH513 Tel: 2766 4832 |
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![]() Prof. LI Chor Shing David Head and Professor Department of Chinese & Bilingual Studies Research Interests Bilingual interaction, Chinese-English code-switching, Cantonese-English code-mixing (translanguaging), tense and aspect, Chinese-English contrastive grammar, EFL (English as a foreign language) learning difficulties and correction strategies, Hong Kong language-in-education policy, Chinese as a lingua franca in Greater China, Cantonese as an additional language, pragmatics and intercultural communication, Hong Kong English, World Englishes, globalization and English-medium university education More |
Contact Information Email: david.cs.li@polyu.edu.hk Office: AG503a Tel: 2766 7440 |
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![]() Dr LI Dechao Associate Professor Department of Chinese & Bilingual Studies Research Interests Corpuses-based translation studies, Corpus-based interpreting studies, Empirical approaches to translation process research, Experimental approaches to translation quality assessment, History of translation in the late Qing and early Republican periods, Literary translation studies, PBL and translator/ interpreter training, Translation and critical discourse analysis, Translation and narratology, Translation in bilingual corporate communication context More |
Contact Information Email: dechao.li@polyu.edu.hk Office: AG518b Tel: 2766 7458 |
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![]() Prof. LI Ping Dean of FH, Sin Wai Kin Foundation Professor in Humanities and Technology and Chair Professor of Neurolinguistics and Bilingual Studies Department of Chinese & Bilingual Studies Research Interests Bilingualism, Reading Comprehension, Brain Basis of Language Learning, Cyber-enabled Technology and Cognitive Computing More |
Contact Information Email: ping2.li@polyu.edu.hk Office: GH801a Tel: 3400 8210 |
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![]() Dr LI Wenjie Maggie Associate Professor Department of Computing Research Interests Natural Language Processing, Social Media Mining, Text Mining, Information Retrieval, Extraction and Summarizationt More |
Contact Information |
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![]() Dr LIU Kanglong Assistant Professor Department of Chinese & Bilingual Studies Research Interests Empirical Approaches to Translation; Corpus-based Translation Studies; Translation Teaching More |
Contact Information Email: kl.liu@polyu.edu.hk Office: AG518d Tel: 2766 7451 |
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![]() Dr NGAI Sing Bik Cindy Associate Professor Department of Chinese & Bilingual Studies Research Interests Bilingual Communication in the Corporate Context; Crisis Communication; Leader Communication and Intercultural Communication in New Media; Chinese Theatre Study and Translation More |
Contact Information Email: cindy.sb.ngai@polyu.edu.hk Office: AG520b Tel: 2766 7465 |
All teaching staff at Adjunct Assistant Professor (who are retirees or serving PolyU staff members affiliated with FH department/unit)/ Principal Lecturer/Senior Teaching Fellow or above of FH may be appointed as supervisors for DALS students. The students are welcome to visit the websites of the following contributing departments for further information about our academic staff:
Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/cbs/people/academic-staff/Department of English and Communication: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/engl/people/academic-staff/
English Language Centre: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/elc/people/academic/
Department of Computing: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/comp/people/academic-staff/
For further programme information, please contact the Faculty Office
Email: cherry.pl.chow@polyu.edu.hk
Tel: (852) 3400 8213
Fax: (852) 2363 8955
For information on academic matters, please contact Prof. Dennis TAY (Programme Leader)
Email: dennis.tay@polyu.edu.hk
Tel: (852) 3400 3654