An MPhil and PhD in Applied Linguistics are offered in the Department of Language Studies and validated by the University of Kent. These degrees are co-ordinated by Professor Adrian Holliday, who is also Head of the Graduate School, which provides cross-institutional support and facilities for research students within an interdisciplinary community. In the Applied Linguistics programme there is a major emphasis on critical qualitative research into social and cultural issues in language education; but there is also interest in grammar, discourse and pragmatics. There is a small, cohesive and friendly community of about ten full-time and twelve part-time students in the Department. There is a strong pastoral ethos, where full-time students can see their supervisors regularly and part-time students can have regular email contact. There is an open-agenda student discussion group held in Adrian Holliday's office every Thursday lunch-time. The Qualitative Research Discussion Group provided a focus for more formal discussion twice per term.

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