The main advantage of studying by distance learning is the flexibility. Our distance learning programmes have multiple start dates throughout the year so it gives you the option of choosing when to commence your studies with us – in this case, April or October. You can study at home, in your own time and at your own pace, so you can combine achieving a qualification with work or family commitments.

Career changing

A qualification from the University of Birmingham can be the springboard to promotion with your current employer, the platform from which to launch a new career or simply a way to become more effective in your current role.

Studying by distance learning has the benefit of allowing you to develop your career without having to leave employment. It also means that you can apply new knowledge and insights to your working life while you are still studying; many students choose to tackle work-related topics in their dissertations.

And of course, studying at the University of Birmingham is a rewarding and enriching experience that brings about significant personal development.

Support

Although self-study is central to doing a programme distance learning support is always available from tutors at the University.  Our programmes are designed to keep you in touch with fellow students and tutors. The 'virtual learning environment' provides a focal point and helps provide a structure for your learning.

Materials

Our study materials are produced by academic staff in the specialist areas and are available online through the University's 'virtual learning environment'. They contain aims and objectives, reading lists, summaries of readings, activities and commentaries, discussion and reflection tasks, indexes and details of assignments required. On joining you are provided with a course handbook that introduces you to the team, provides details of their roles and expertise and gives all the contact information you will need including email addresses so that if you have any difficulties or questions you will know who to contact for help and guidance.

Personal tutors

In addition to the full-time Birmingham based tutors you will be assigned a personal tutor. Personal tutors are available to answer questions regarding the content of your programme, and also to give advice and provide clarification if you don't understand something, for example what an assignment question demands.

You will study five core modules:

Introduction to Translation Studies and Lexis

• Introduction to Translation Studies. This introduces key concepts in the theory and practice of translation. It concentrates on general issues that arise when a text is rendered into another language. The process and product of translation are considered in relation to social and cultural contexts. The theoretical background is exemplified by a variety of translated texts from different languages.

• Introduction to Translation Technology. This will familiarise you with the technology available to enhance the day-to-day work of translators. You will learn both theoretical and practical aspects of translation memories and machine translation, as well as discovering the possibilities for online terminological and text resources exploitation. This, combined with a clear view of the role of translation in the localisation industry, will equip you with the tools to work in the world of language services.

Corpus Linguistics and Research Methods in Translation

• Corpus Linguistics. The University of Birmingham has a worldwide reputation for work in Corpus Linguistics, and is the home of 450 million-word Bank of English corpus. This provides access to data which helps researchers to answer important questions about language. For example: What are the 500 most frequent words in the language? Are they the same for spoken and written English? Is the use of any largely confined to negative and interrogative clauses (as many grammars would have us believe)? The aim of this module is to help you become familiar with corpus analysis techniques so that you can carry out your own corpus research projects and/or use corpora in your day-to-day work.

• Research Methods in Translation. The main aim of this module is to show you the different types of research projects that can be undertaken within the field of Translation Studies. It looks at ways of examining and comparing source and target texts, and shows how both qualitative and quantitative comparisons can provide important insights into the question of quality control in translation. The theoretical background is exemplified by a variety of translated texts from different languages.

Understanding Text (Functional Grammar)

The module introduces the key elements of the influential linguistic theory known as Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), an approach developed since the 1960s by the British-born, Australian linguist, Michael Halliday and his colleagues. Under this approach, language is analysed as a form of social interaction, and the grammatical description of the language is formulated so as to account for its communicative functionality within particular social and cultural contexts. This will focus on how systemic linguistics can be applied to a variety of text analysis tasks relevant to different fields such as language and literacy teaching, translation studies, English for special purposes, the language of classroom interaction, media and cultural studies, and critical discourse analysis.

Written Discourse and Translation and Discourse

• Written Discourse. You will consider the relationship between language, other semiotic signs and society. You will be introduced to theories of discourse analysis and focuses on detailed textual analysis. This will enable you to develop a critical understanding of the key concepts involved in Discourse Analysis and of how language reflects, mediates or - arguably - creates our everyday reality. You are also introduced to two very important developments in Discourse Studies: Critical and Multimodal Discourse Analysis. By exposing you to current approaches to interaction, you should improve your own production, both oral and written. We also hope you will be able to apply some of the theoretical input acquired to your own data.

• Translation and Discourse. This considers the problems facing translators at the level of discourse when they attempt to render a text into another discourse community. It looks at features of the linguistic structure of English above the sentence to see what constraints the language presents to a translator. A range of literary and non-literary text types are examined to see what kinds of options are forced on the translator by differences between two linguistic systems.

Sociolinguistics and Socio-translation

• Sociolinguistics. This examines ways in which language varies according to social context (that is, broadly speaking, according to who is speaking / writing, to whom, where, and for what purpose) and the relationships between different language varieties. The role of English as an international language is discussed, along with the functions of different languages in societies where two or more languages are used, and relationships between cultures and languages. Connections between language and ideology, and language and gender, are explored, along with other ‘micro-level’ topics including accent, dialect, and register. You are encouraged to undertake comparative work related to language in the society in which you live.

• Socio-translation. This looks at current issues of translation and society which have developed as a result of the study of translation as cross-cultural communication. The study of translation in social practices takes into consideration the role of the translator in the transmission of identities, in shaping images of communities and in the spread of political and religious ideologies. Activities in this unit are designed to encourage you to explore the possibilities open to the translator as mediator and to encourage comparative studies in areas like: identity construction, post-colonialism, gender and sexuality, and language policy.

Finally, for your optional module, you can choose:

•  Translation Project

Or two of the following:

• Professional Contexts of Translation
• Second Language Acquisition
• Classroom and Spoken Discourse
• Pedagogic Grammar
• Language Teaching Methodology
• ELT Management

Fees up until 30 June 2013:

• £880 per module
• £2,640 for the dissertation

Fees from 1 July 2013:

• £910 per module
• £2,730 for the dissertation 

Learn more about fees and funding

Scholarships and studentships

Scholarships to cover fees and/or maintenance costs may be available.
For further information, visit the College of Arts and Law scholarships page or email financialsupport@bham.ac.uk

International students can often gain funding through overseas research scholarships, Commonwealth scholarships or their home government.

When clicking on the Apply Now button you will be directed to an application specifically designed for the programme you wish to apply for where you will create an account with the University application system and submit your application and supporting documents online. Further information regarding how to apply online can be found on the How to apply pages

Apply now