CODE
71429-SY
ENTRY

Sept 2025 Entry

STUDY MODE
Full-time
DURATION

2 years

CREDIT REQUIRED

A minimum of 60 credits plus 3 training credits.

PROGRAMME INTAKE
20 senior year places (Subject to approval)
FUND TYPE
Government-Funded
  • Students will be awarded the following degree upon completion of the graduation requirements: 

    BA (Hons) in English and Applied Linguistics

     

  • The curriculum of this programme, including the credit requirements, is subject to review.

Application Deadline
Non-JUPAS Local Senior Year Admissions
2025-02-06
About Programme
Specific Notes
How to Apply
Aims & Characteristics

Programme Aims and Learning Outcomes

The Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Programme in English and Applied Linguistics (BAEAL) aims to nurture graduates with the abilities/attributes needed to become competent English language professionals and responsible global citizens in the 21st century. At the professional level, the programme aims to produce graduates with: a) a high level of competence in English; b) a sound understanding of the theoretical disciplines underlying applied English language studies and the integrated use of the language; and c) the strong ability to apply their knowledge and general linguistic skills in a variety of professional communication contexts.

 

The programme will equip students with professional/academic knowledge and skills as well as attributes contributing to all-rounded development in an integrated manner. The programme aims to produce graduates with the following attributes:

 

  1. a high level of professional communicative competence in English;
  2. a firm grounding in linguistic sciences which can be critically and creatively applied in a variety of business and management 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 to solve real-world problems effectively in local and global multilingual professional/business settings;
  5. the capability of exercising judgment 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 communication for professional purposes.

 

Characteristics

The programme offers students Work-Integrated Education (WIE) placement opportunities in Hong Kong, mainland China, and overseas.

Recognition & Prospects

Professional Recognition

The BA (Hons) in English and Applied Linguistics (BAEAL) is recognised by the Education Bureau of Hong Kong and its Standing Committee on Language Education and Research as an English Language Major Degree Programme that meets the Hong Kong government’s Language Proficiency Requirement. Registered students are eligible to apply for the Scholarship for Prospective English Teachers offered by the Education Bureau. The Scholarship for local and non-local students is HK$50,000 and HK$80,000 per year, respectively. 

 

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. Fresh graduates of the BAEAL* find employment in media and journalism, retail, human resources, public relations, marketing and advertising, publishing, education, and the civil service, where a high level of competence in English and professional communication is needed.

 

Further Studies

Some BAEAL* graduates proceed to further studies in Hong Kong and overseas in the fields of linguistics, applied linguistics, translation and interpreting, communication, and public and environmental policy studies.

 

* BA (Hons) in English and Applied Linguistics was previously titled BA (Hons) in English Studies for the Professions prior to the 2020-21 cohort

Curriculum

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 DSR 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 DSR Core Subjects 
[including 2 DSLR subjects: ENGL2003 & CBS2904]
30
Capstone Project for Language Studies 6
 
BAEAL DSR Elective Subjects 
[Three focal areas: Language Sciences, Global Communicative Competence and English for the Professions] 
15
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.

 

Discipline-Specific Requirement (DSR) 

The BAEAL strives to provide students with a solid foundation in the knowledge and skills they will need to communicate effectively in English for professional, academic, and business purposes in Hong Kong and around the world, where English is the key lingua franca. Accordingly, all subjects in the BAEAL discipline-specific curriculum for Senior Year Entry students are drawn from the BAEAL four-year curriculum. Briefly, the BAEAL discipline-specific curriculum for Senior Year Entry students has the following components:

 

(1) Major Study Core Subjects 

Major Study Core Subjects are compulsory for all BAEAL students and are organized under three focal areas: Language Sciences, Global Communicative Competence, and English for the Professions. These subjects are designed to provide BAEAL students with the solid foundation of academic knowledge and communication skills they will need to become language professionals.

The Capstone Project in Language Studies (6 credits) under the focal area of English for the Professions is compulsory for all BAEAL students. It is conducted in the final year under the supervision of ENGL academic staff. Through the Capstone Project, the learning experience students have accumulated during the BAEAL programme is consolidated in the form of a dissertation. This capstone experience helps to prepare students for professional practice, further academic pursuits, and lifelong learning, while developing their generic competencies.

Core Subjects of BAEAL Curriculum for Senior Year Entry Students

Language Sciences No. of Credits
ENGL2005 English Lexis and Semantics 3
ENGL3002 Research Methods for Language Studies 3
ENGL4013 Language Acquisition and Psycholinguistics 3
Global Communicative Competence  
ENGL2003 English for Advanced Academic Writing (DSLR) 3
CBS2904 Academic and Technical Chinese Writing (DSLR) 3
ENGL3037 English for Technical and Web-Based Communication 3
ENGL4002 English as a Global Lingua Franca 3
English for the Professions  
ENGL3006 Corpus-driven Language Learning 3
ENGL3031 Language and Intercultural Communication for the Professions 3
ENGL4001 English for Management 3
ENGL4003 Capstone Project for Language Studies 6
Total 36
Practical Training  
ENGL2007 Work-Integrated Education 3 (Training)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(2) Major Study Elective Subjects 

Elective subjects (minimum 15 credits) are likewise grouped into the above three focal areas to further broaden BAEAL students’ academic and professional vision and global outlook.

Students are reminded that credits earned from taking Global Language subjects (e.g. Spanish, German, French) cannot contribute to the fulfilment of the 15 credits requirement for BAEAL Major Study Electives.

BAEAL Elective Subjects 

Language Sciences Credits
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
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
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
ENGL3039 European Sociolinguistics 3
ENGL3041 Travelling in Europe through Signs and Space 3
English for the Professions
ENGL3038 Discourse Analysis 3
ENGL3008 Fundamentals of Organizational Communication 3
ENGL3018 Teaching English as a Service Learning Experience* 3
ENGL3029 The Language of Advertising 3
ENGL4004 Effective Communication for Public Relations 3
ENGL4005 English for Science and Technology 3
ENGL4015 Designing Courses for TESOL 3
Global Languages**
ENGL2008 Elementary Spanish I 3
ENGL2009 Elementary Spanish II 3
ENGL2012 Elementary French I 3
ENGL2013 Elementary French II 3
ENGL2014 Elementary German I 3
ENGL2015 Elementary German II 3
ENGL3016 Intermediate Spanish I 3
ENGL3017 Intermediate Spanish II 3
ENGL3032 Intermediate French I 3
ENGL3033 Intermediate French II 3
ENGL3034 Intermediate German I 3
ENGL3035 Intermediate German II 3
ENGL4023 Advanced Spanish I 3
ENGL4024 Advanced French I 3
ENGL4025 Advanced German I 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.

** Credits of subjects listed in the section of Global Languages are not eligible for satisfying the Requirement of BAEAL Major Study.

 

(3) Work-Integrated Education (WIE)

WIE (3 training credits) provides a framework for students to integrate what they have learned in the classroom with 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 organizational or a corporate context, where they apply classroom knowledge and skills in the working world. WIE assessment is based on three grades: Pass with Merit (M), Pass (P), and Failure (F). However, the subject does not contribute to students' final GPA. The WIE placement can be completed at any time during the third year of study, but no later than the Summer Term of Year Three. Students undertaking non-local WIE placements may receive partial financial subsidies from the Careers and Placement Section (CPS) of the Student Affairs Office (SAO) in the form of Offshore WIE Sponsorship (OWS).

 

More information on the subjects offered can be obtained here.

Credit Required for Graduation

A minimum of 60 credits plus 3 training credits.

Scheme/Programme Leader(s)

Programme Leader

Dr Max Diaz
 

Associate Programme Leader

Dr Christy Xuyan Qiu

Entrance Requirements
  • An Associate Degree or a Higher Diploma in a language-related discipline.
     

  • Only shortlisted applicants are invited to interviews, if necessary.

Enquiries

For further programme information, please contact:

The General Office (tel.: 3400 3497; email: egdept@polyu.edu.hk).

Student Message

Making decisions is not one of my strengths. However, the decision to pursue a BA (Hons) in English Studies for the Professions at PolyU was certainly one of my best decisions. The department offers an excellent curriculum that suited my minor in European Studies; I was able to discover not only the culture behind European art, history, and discourse but also take courses in European languages, such as Spanish, French, and German. Moreover, the department offers internship opportunities and extracurricular activities in Europe and Hong Kong, which is how I got my first-ever tickets for the Spanish Film Festival. You don’t want to miss out on these opportunities and activities if you like to explore something exotic! Pursuing this degree also allowed me to go on a summer exchange to Turkey, which broadened my areas of interest to include political science. Most importantly, the professors and instructors in the Department of English and Communication at PolyU were always friendly and supportive, and the various professional training courses they offered – such as TESOL preparation courses, discourse analysis, technical content marketing, psycholinguistics, and corpus linguistics – gave me invaluable practice in applying critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, and communication skills, which are crucial skills for a linguistics student.

 

* BA (Hons) in English Studies for the Professions was renamed BA (Hons) in English and Applied Linguistics in 2020/21.

CHANG Yun-hua (Graduate of 2021/22, BA (Hons) in English Studies for the Professions*)

When I was applying to university, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to study. I received different types of advice: focus on career prospects or on my passions, or choose a broad and undefined course of study to have room to experiment. Although I didn’t know it at the time, studying towards a BA (Hons) in English Studies for the Professions (BAESP) allowed me to do all of these things – and more. The ENGL Department’s supportive community nurtures the growth of all students, helping us to develop essential skills, such as academic writing skills and intercultural communicative competence, and providing us with a solid foundation in linguistics to ensure that we are ready for a wide array of career opportunities. In addition, my involvement in extracurricular student clubs, residential education activities, the INSPIRE mentorship programme, and the invaluable experience of going to Simon Fraser University (Vancouver, Canada) on an exchange, gave me the chance to follow my passions and discover who I want to be. Moreover, the BAESP programme offers a rich variety of electives and internship opportunities that allow students to create their own path. This allowed me to explore marketing and public relations, work on corporate communication, and hone my grammar, semantics, and research skills for further study. I am very grateful to the professors in the department who supported me every step of this way and worked hard to make our classes engaging and insightful. With the education I have received so far, I am ready to bring my dreams to life.

 

 

* BA (Hons) in English Studies for the Professions was renamed BA (Hons) in English and Applied Linguistics in 2020/21.

SHUKLA Ashima (Graduate of 2022/23, BA (Hons) in English Studies for the Professions*)
Additional Documents Required
Transcript / Certificate

Required

Interview Arrangement
Aims

-

Date of Interview
Only shortlisted applicants are invited to interviews, if necessary.
Duration

-

Medium
-
Mode
-