Doctor of Applied Language Sciences | Faculty of Humanities

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 Communication 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 “Understanding China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, P.R.C” 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.

For more information about application and to apply through our online admission system, please visit Study@PolyU.

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., A Master’s degree or equivalent in a related field PLUS five years post-undergraduate work experience; OR A Master’s degree or equivalent in a related field PLUS two years post-Master's work experience. English Language Requirements The English Language Requirements for those who do not have a degree from a recognised university at which the language of instruction is English are: 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 A Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) score of at least 90 for the internet-based test (with a writing score of at least 23). Comparable scores obtained from other internationally recognized public examinations may be considered. All English language test scores are considered valid for five years after the testing date. Individual cases will be considered on their own merits. Applicants may be required to attend interviews and/or tests to demonstrate they possess the required level of language proficiency needed for carrying out research in their area of enquiry.
Total Credits	48 (24 credits for coursework and 24 credits for thesis)
Intake Number	24
Tuition Fee	HK$7,250 per credit
Extension Fee	HK$18,125 per semester

We offer scholarships exclusively to outstanding students with excellent academic merits.

PolyU reserves the right to change or withdraw the scholarship at any time. In case of any dispute/disagreement, PolyU’s decision is final.

Important Notice: The Faculty of Humanities and DALS programme are not affiliated with any outside agencies or consultancies that claim to provide assistance in preparing applications, references, interviews, or vetting for recruitment procedures. The decision for selection and recruitment lies entirely with the faculty and university; any applications containing inauthentic documents will risk immediate disqualification.

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.

Our research centres include:

Meet our Programme Team

Programme Committee Chairperson 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
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
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
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
Dr William Dezheng FENG Associate Professor Department of English and Communication Research Interests Multimodal Discourse Analysis, Systemic Functional Theory, Media and Communication, Multiliteracies and Language Teaching More	Contact Information Email: will.feng@polyu.edu.hk Office: AG408 Tel: 2766 4383
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
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
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
Prof. LI Dechao 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
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
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 Email: cswjli@comp.polyu.edu.hk Office: PQ707 Tel: 2766 7297
Dr Linda LIN Senior Teaching Fellow English Learning Centre Research Interests Lexical studies, Corpus analysis and application of concordancing in teaching and learning, Academic writing, Modern technology in assisting student writing More	Contact Information Email: linda.lin@polyu.edu.hk Office: AG618 Tel: 2766 7501
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
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
Dr Jane ROBBINS Interim Director English Learning Centre More	Contact Information Email: jane.robbins@polyu.edu.hk Office: A610a Tel: 2766 7535
Prof. SIOK Wai Ting Head and Professor Department of Chinese & Bilingual Studies Research Interests Language Neuroscience, Language Development, Developmental Dyslexia, Reading Development	Contact Information Email: wai-ting.siok@polyu.edu.hk Office: AG503a Tel: 2766 7440

All teaching staff at Adjunct Assistant Professor (who are retirees or serving PolyU staff members affiliated with FH department/unit) / Research Assistant Professor/ 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/

Enquiries
For further programme information, please contact the Faculty Office
Email: rachella.li@polyu.edu.hk / cherry.pl.chow@polyu.edu.hk
Tel: (852) 3400 8219/ 3400 8213

For information on academic matters, please contact Prof. Dennis TAY (Programme Leader)
Email: dennis.tay@polyu.edu.hk
Tel: (852) 3400 3654

Programme Information Seminar