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Languages, Cultures and LinguisticsPart of Humanities

Doris Dippold MPhil/PhD Applied Linguistics

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Hi, I'm Doris Dippold and I studied MPhil/PhD Applied Linguistics within Humanities at the University of Southampton.

Linguistics is extremely interesting and a wide subject, offering a wide array of areas to explore. A thoroughly worthwhile endeavour, and one that, if you also use all the opportunities open to you to develop your transferable skills, offers good chances to find employment both within and outside of academia.

Doris is from Germany and came to Southampton to study for a PhD in Linguistics.

My experience

I thoroughly enjoyed studying for a PhD in Southampton. Both my supervisors (supervision of my project changed after one year because my first supervisor started working at another university) were and are absolutely brilliant, leaving me a lot of freedom to explore my field on my own, but there when needed!

Although doing this degree wasn't always easy, in particular because I funded my study through a teaching assistantship, support was always at hand, and the Centre for Learning and Teaching as well as the Graduate School offered a lot of opportunities for professional development in both teaching and research, which I really enjoyed and would advise others to make use of.

Experiences of university life

One of the best aspects of university life in Southampton, in particular postgraduate study, is the fact that everything here is so international. In my postgraduate office alone there are, according to my count, representatives of more than ten different nations.

In my second year, we revived the 'Postgraduate Forum', an organisation for postgraduate students in the humanities. The forum now organises the occasional social, plus a yearly conference. And there is, of course, the conference organised by the Graduate School. So there are plenty of opportunities to get involved, meet others, and exchange ideas!

Why did you choose to study linguistics?

During most of my earlier university study, I had focused more on literature than linguistics. However, in the last year of my MA, I got extremely interested in one particular topic area, and wanted to explore it further. Furthermore, as I was already teaching German as a foreign language at that time, I wanted to explore issues of language learning and teaching from a theoretical perspective as well.

What has been the highlight?

Too many to mention all of them: my supervisors, interacting with and learning from colleagues and other students, attending conferences and meeting linguistics celebrities...

What would you say to someone thinking of studying linguistics at university?

It is an extremely interesting and wide subject, offering a wide array of areas to explore. A thoroughly worthwhile endeavour, and one that, if you also use all the opportunities open to you to develop your transferable skills, offers good chances to find employment both within and outside of academia.

 

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