Teacher Discussion Forums

Hi all

I have been offered a place on the Doctor of Applied Linguistics programme at Macquarie University in Australia.

http://www.ling.mq.edu.au/postgraduate/ ... ppling.htm

Does anyone know how respected this qualification might be, and also if it is likely to be as useful as a PhD in gaining employment at a university?

Thanks

Sifu

If you are a doctor, doesn't that mean you can call yourself a PhD?

I suppose that this kind of thing is quite a new concept, and attitudes towards higher level education are changing fast. I'd be surprised if anyone can give more than a vague answer to such a question - of course, it may be useful for a number of things. However, many people in positions of influence are fairly ignorant about the various programmes offered around the world, I'm sure, and being Australian and unorthodox is hardly a bonus. I'd swap it for a doctorate from Harvard, wouldn't you?

Hi

If you have a PhD you can call youreself Dr, but it doesn't necessarily work the other way. For example, you may be a Doctor of Education, then you'd be an EdD, not a PhD.

The Macquarie award entitles you to the letters DAppLing, and also to use the title Dr, but it's not a PhD. The Masters award, the MAppLing is quite common, but I don't know of any other DAppLings around.

I'm not worried about the reputation of Macquarie, as they are highly respected in the field of Applied Linguistics, but am unsure whether the award of Doctor of Applied Linguistics would be seen as inferior to a PhD, even though the requirements are steep: part-time it takes 2 years of assessed coursework and research training, plus an 80,000 word thesis over 4 years, examined by the same criteria as the Macquarie PhD thesis. On paper it looks just as rigorous as a PhD, but I'm wondering how it'd be viewed by university employers.

Yes, a Harvard PhD would be nice, but I'm not interested in working in the US so can get by without it . My main targets are the UK and Far Eastern (Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan) university sectors.

Cheers

Sifu