Learning outcomes

The master’s programme of Linguistics and Literary Studies builds on the basic competences, skills and attitudes that the students have acquired in the bachelor’s programme of Linguistics and Literary Studies and offers an in depth training that is closely connected with current scientific research.

The students acquire the following core competences in the Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies:

• they possess the necessary skills to independently collect, select and process data and to critically interpret documents in function of a research topic and this using the current methodological approaches in their area of expertise.
• they are familiar with the main primary and secondary literature, the main theories and basic notions of their area of research and be able to develop a point of view based on them.
• they are able to reflect on the structure and the use of the studied languages and possess the necessary language and communicative skills to report orally and in writing on their research but also to effectively participate in discussions in their area of expertise and defend their position.
• they are able to evaluate the social relevance and the scientific content of their research and be able to independently follow and evaluate evolutions within their scientific discipline and within the broader cultural, political and social context.

In order to acquire these core competences, the master students follow a programme in one or two languages and their associated literature. They draw their own scientific path and opt for a focus on the study of linguistics or literature. The master thesis is an important part of the programme as it requires the student to apply and integrate the above mentioned competences.

The above-mentioned core competences are developed further into 16 competences representing a whole of knowledge, skills and attitudes.

1. Masters are able to independently gather and select professional scientific literature, and also to gather, select and process data in function of research (primary literature, documents, corpora, questionnaires, etc. depending on the domain of research).

2. Masters are able to situate texts and other documents in their context (historically, ideologically, stylistically), to recognise the type of text or document and to take this into account when interpreting it.

3. Masters know the current methodological approaches within their domain of research and are able to apply them autonomously.

4. Masters have the necessary knowledge about literature and publication habits in their subject area (magazines, websites and other digital sources,…).

5. Masters are familiar with the main theories in the subject area, current ones as well as less current ones and are able to easily use the basic notions in their domain of research and can develop a personal point of view about the domain studied.

6. Masters are familiar with the most important primary literature within their subject area (literary texts, texts by linguistic or other authors).

7. Masters are familiar with the most important current relevant questions in the subject area.

8. Masters can place their own subject area in relation to other relevant scientific domains and actively look for connections with these domains.

9. Masters have basic insights in the structure and functioning of the language in which they write the master thesis and are able to reflect on the structure and the use of language.

10. Masters have acquired linguistic and communication skills to report, both orally and in writing including electronic reporting.

11. Masters have acquired linguistic and communication skills to write argumentative texts and to effectively participate in discussions about their subject area and to defend their own position convincingly.

12. Masters have acquired linguistic and communication skills to formulate a scientific question as clearly and accurately as possible as a starting point for their own research.

13. Masters have developed considerable powers of analysis and interpretation.

14. Masters have a critical attitude towards the scientific quality and social relevance of their own research.

15. Masters have a critical attitude towards the developments in the domains of research and in the relevant scientific and cultural context.

16. Masters have a critical orientation in a broad cultural, political and social context.