Sept 2027 Entry
2 years
A minimum of 60 credits plus 3 training credits.
Students will be awarded the following degree upon completion of the graduation requirements:
BA (Hons) in English and Applied Linguistics
What's New
- Undergraduate
- Taught Postgraduate
- Undergraduate
Programme Aims and Learning Outcomes
The Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English and Applied Linguistics (BAEAL) aims to equip graduates with the abilities and attributes necessary to become competent English language professionals and responsible global citizens in the 21st century. The programme aims to produce graduates with (a) a high level of proficiency in English; (b) a good understanding of the theoretical disciplines underlying applied English language studies and integrated language use; and (c) a strong ability to apply their knowledge and general linguistic skills in a variety of professional communication contexts.
The programme provides students with professional/academic knowledge and skills as well as attributes contributing to all-round development in an integrated manner. Graduates are equipped with the following attributes:
1. a high level of professional communicative competence in English;
2. a firm grounding in applied linguistics and communication which can be critically and creatively applied in a variety of professional contexts;
3. an awareness and understanding of intercultural communication in multilingual settings that enhances their global outlook and cultural appreciation as socially responsible global citizens;
4. an ability to apply strong communication skills and technical acumen to solve real-world problems effectively in local and global multilingual professional settings;
5. the capability of exercising judgement and developing intellectual curiosity to work both independently and as part of a team;
6. an awareness of the need for and a commitment to life-long learning; and
7. the potential to become future ethical leaders and entrepreneurs excelling in professional communication.
Programme Characteristics
The programme offers students Work-Integrated Education (WIE) placement opportunities in Hong Kong, Chinese Mainland, and overseas.
Career Prospects
Graduates of the Department of English and Communication are successful in their careers and excel in various industries and professions in Hong Kong. New graduates find employment in media and journalism, retail, human resources, public relations, marketing and advertising, publishing, education, or civil service, where a high level of competence in English and professional communication is needed.
Further Studies
Some graduates continue their studies in Hong Kong and overseas in the fields of linguistics, applied linguistics, translation and interpreting, communication, and public and environmental policy studies.
Students who directly enter Year 3 based on their previous academic results in an Associate Degree/Higher Diploma programme will in principle follow the BAEAL Year 3 study pattern. However, due to their special status, they may be required to follow a tailor-made progression pattern specially designed to enable them to graduate within the normal time frame. In such cases, students are provided with their progression pattern upon registration.
Students admitted to an Articulation Degree or Senior Year curriculum, which is already a reduced curriculum, are normally not given credit transfer for any required GUR subjects and Major subjects within the BAEAL curriculum. They must complete at least 60 credits to be eligible for the award.
To satisfy the English Major requirement, students are required to earn a minimum of 51 credits from subjects offered by the BAEAL. The number of credits at each level may vary slightly depending on the elective subjects studied, but all students must complete at least 21 BAEAL credits at Level 4 to complete the English Major Requirement.
BAEAL Credit Requirements for Graduation: Senior Year Entry Students
| Component | No. of Credits |
| General University Requirements [0-9 credits for the Language and Communication Requirements*; 3 credits for Service-Learning; 6 credits for two CAR subjects and Essential Components of General Education (non-credit bearing)] |
9-18 |
| BAEAL Major Core Subjects [including 1 DSLR subject: ENGL2003] |
18 |
| Capstone Project for Language Studies | 6 |
| BAEAL Major Elective Subjects [Three focal areas: Language Sciences, Global Communicative Competence and English for the Professions] |
27 |
| Total No. of Academic Credits | 60-69 |
| Work-Integrated Education | 3 |
| Total No. of Training Credits | 3 |
* Decided on a case-by-case basis according to the academic results of previous AD/HD studies
General University Requirement (GUR)
The GUR for Senior Year Entry students normally includes: (1) the Language and Communication Requirement (LCR); (2) the Service-Learning Requirement; (3) the Cluster Area Requirement (CAR), which includes 3 credits from CAR (M) Chinese History and Culture, 3 credits from specially-designed CAR (A) Human Nature, Relations and Development with English-Language and English Reading and Writing Requirements, and the fulfilment of Chinese Reading and Writing Requirements; and (4) the Essential Components of General Education.
Major (24 + 3 training credits)
The BAEAL programme strives to provide students with a solid foundation in the knowledge and skills necessary to communicate effectively in English for professional, academic and business purposes in Hong Kong and around the world in regions where English is the key lingua franca. Accordingly, all subjects in the BAEAL Major curriculum for Senior Year Entry students are drawn from the BAEAL four-year curriculum. Briefly, the BAEAL Major curriculum for Senior Year Entry students consists of the following components.
(1) Major Study Core Subjects
Major Study Core Subjects (24 credits), which include a Discipline-specific language requirement - English (3 credits), are compulsory for all BAEAL students. These subjects are designed to provide BAEAL students with the core academic knowledge and communication skills needed to become language professionals
The Capstone Project in Language Studies (6 credits) is compulsory for all BAEAL students. It is conducted in the final year under the supervision of ENGL academic staff and requires students to consolidate the learning they have accumulated during the BAEAL programme in the form of a dissertation. This prepares students for professional practice, further study and lifelong learning while developing their generic competencies.
Core Subjects of BAEAL Curriculum for Senior Year Entry Students
| DSLR | No. of Credits | |
| ENGL2003 | English for Advanced Academic Writing (DSLR) | 3 |
| Core | ||
| ENGL2005 | English Lexis and Semantics | 3 |
| ENGL3002 | Research Methods for Language Studies | 3 |
| ENGL3031 | Language and Intercultural Communication for the Professions | 3 |
| ENGL4001 | English for Management | 3 |
| ENGL4002 | English as a Global Lingua Franca | 3 |
| ENGL4003 | Capstone Project for Language Studies | 3 |
| Total | 24 | |
| Practical Training | ||
| ENGL2007 | Work-Integrated Education | 3 (Training) |
(2) Major Study Elective Subjects
Elective subjects (minimum 27 credits; with at least 3 subjects/9 credits from Level 4) are grouped into three focal areas: Language Sciences, Global Communicative Competence, and English for the Professions to further broaden BAEAL students’ academic and professional vision and global outlook.
BAEAL Elective Subjects
| Language Sciences | Credits | |
| ENGL3006 | Corpus-driven Language Learning | 3 |
| ENGL3014 | Literature in English: An Introduction | 3 |
| ENGL3036 | Solving Crime through Linguistics | 3 |
| ENGL3040 | Language Matters: Navigating Social Issues through Linguistic Inquiry | 3 |
| ENGL4007 | Multimodal Analysis of Advertisements | 3 |
| ENGL4009 | Meaning in Professional Interaction | 3 |
| ENGL4011 | Advanced English Grammar | 3 |
| ENGL4013 | Language Acquisition and Psycholinguistics | 3 |
| ENGL4014 | Literature in English: An Advanced Course | 3 |
| ENGL4017 | Critical Language and Cultural Studies | 3 |
| ENGL4018 | Language and Gender | 3 |
| ENGL4021 | Clinical Linguistics | 3 |
| ENGL4022 | Quantitative Literacy for Language Professionals | 3 |
| ENGL4026 | Language and Social Data Analytics | 3 |
| Global Communicative Competence | ||
| ENGL3011 | Content Design for Social Media | 3 |
| ENGL3012 | Creative Writing in New Media | 3 |
| ENGL3016 | Intermediate Spanish I | 3 |
| ENGL3017 | Intermediate Spanish II | 3 |
| ENGL3020 | Aspects of European Public Discourse | 3 |
| ENGL3023 | Introduction to European Visual Art | 3 |
| ENGL3030 | Introduction to the History of Europe: a Trade Perspective | 3 |
| ENGL3032 | Intermediate French I | 3 |
| ENGL3033 | Intermediate French II | 3 |
| ENGL3034 | Intermediate German I | 3 |
| ENGL3035 | Intermediate German II | 3 |
| ENGL3037 | English for Technical and Web-Based Communication | 3 |
| ENGL3039 | European Sociolinguistics | 3 |
| ENGL3041 | Travelling in Europe through Signs and Space | 3 |
| ENGL4023 | Advanced Spanish I | 3 |
| ENGL4024 | Advanced French I | 3 |
| ENGL4025 | Advanced German I | 3 |
| English for the Professions | ||
| ENGL3008 | Fundamentals of Organizational Communication | 3 |
| ENGL3018 | Teaching English as a Service Learning Experience* | 3 |
| ENGL3029 | The Language of Advertising | 3 |
| ENGL3038 | Discourse Analysis | 3 |
| ENGL4004 | Effective Communication for Public Relations | 3 |
| ENGL4005 | English for Science and Technology | 3 |
| ENGL4015 | Designing Courses for TESOL | 3 |
* Completion of ENGL3018 can meet the GUR service-learning requirement. Students passing this subject will be regarded as having fulfilled the credit requirement of the particular type of subject concerned. Nevertheless, the subject passed will only be counted once in fulfilling the credit requirements of the award, and the students will be required to take another subject in order to meet the total credit requirement of the programme.
(3) Work-Integrated Education (WIE)
WIE (3 training credits) provides a framework for students to integrate what they have learned in the classroom into real-world practice, supporting their development into well-rounded individuals with professional competence. Students typically meet the WIE requirement by completing an internship in an organisational or corporate setting, where they apply the knowledge and skills they have learned in class in a real-world environment. WIE is assessed using one of three grades: Pass with Merit (M), Pass (P) and Failure (F). However, this grade does not contribute to a student’s final GPA. The WIE placement can be completed at any time during the second or third year of study, but no later than the summer term of Year Three. Students undertaking non-local WIE placements may be eligible to receive partial financial subsidies from the Careers and Placement Section of the Student Affairs Office in the form of Offshore WIE Sponsorship.
More information on the subjects offered can be obtained here.
A minimum of 60 credits plus 3 training credits.
Programme Leader
Dr Max Diaz
Associate Programme Leader
Prof. Christy Xuyan Qiu
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An Associate Degree or a Higher Diploma in a language-related discipline.
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Only shortlisted applicants are invited to interviews, if necessary.
For further programme information, please contact:
The General Office (tel.: 3400 3497 / 2766 7652; email: egdept@polyu.edu.hk).
I have always wanted to excel in English, and I aspired to pursue an English major since my school days. When I enrolled on the BA in English and Applied Linguistics (BAEAL), I thought it would be a traditional English studies degree. After four fruitful years as a BAEAL student, I have come to appreciate the academic rigour and range of resources at the Department of English and Communication.
What distinguishes BAEAL from other English programmes is the practical orientation that prepares students to use English skillfully in various professional contexts. I did not realise my language studies on BAEAL were to be transformed by technology in a way that would make me a tech-savvy communicator. I have been equipped with skills that are increasingly vital to this tech-driven world, such as language processing using specialised computational software.
Beyond studies, scholarship application opportunities offered by the Department have been valuable not just financially but also for cross-sector networking. Through the exchange semester at the University of Maryland, I learned to be more open to various cultures and to become more mature when facing challenges.
I’m embarking on the journey I envisioned, prepared and confident,
My decision to pursue a BA (Hons) degree in English and Applied Linguistics was based on a general interest in language study when I was applying to university. Now, upon graduation, I realise that four years at PolyU ENGL offered tremendous help for my personal development and transformed my broad interest into a genuine love and passion for applied linguistics, which I now know is where I want to build my future.
Some of my best moments were in the classroom. Through lectures, seminars, group discussions, and interactive projects, we learned to approach problems critically, collaborate effectively, and better understand the world through the lens of language and communication. This programme provided us with a strong foundation in both theory and practice. Moreover, what I’ll never forget is the support from instructors and professors that went beyond the classroom. The faculty members are amazingly supportive, providing academic advice and research supervision.
Another important aspect that I came to appreciate was the many opportunities offered, including internship positions, student assistant jobs, undergraduate conferences, and exchange opportunities. These experiences have provided unforgettable moments that have shaped my academic life.
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