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Find out what qualifications you need to get into the GDipArts and what courses you need to take to complete it.

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Language Sciences

From 2025, the Language Sciences major replaces the Linguistics and TESOL majors in the Graduate Diploma in Arts.

It’s hard to imagine human life without language. We use language for almost everything we do—from making friends and sharing stories to asking a smartphone for directions.

In Language Sciences, you’ll take a systematic and scientific approach to analysing all aspects of language. You’ll learn to analyse the structure and meaning of different languages and the social contexts in which they occur.

As you develop a solid grounding in linguistics, you’ll learn how language intersects with other fields—psychology, AI, anthropology, cognitive science, language teaching, and more.

Language Sciences is a natural choice if you’re interested in learning or teaching languages. It’s also a great subject to study if you like science, maths, and puzzle-solving.

Programme requirements

For this degree you'll need to:

  • Complete at least 120 points from 200- and 300-level courses, of which:

    • At least 75 points must be at 300 level or above

    • In exceptional circumstances you may be permitted to include courses at 400 level

    • Satisfy the subject requirements

Subject requirements

For this subject you'll need to:

Other subjects

Art History

Asian Studies

Chinese

Classical Studies

Criminology

Cultural Anthropology

Development Studies

Economics

Education

Educational Psychology

English Literature

Film

French

Geography

German

Greek

History

International Relations

Italian

Japanese

Kaitiakitanga

Latin

Māori Studies

Mathematics

Media Studies

Modern Language Studies

Music

Pacific Studies

Philosophy

Political Science

Psychology

Public Policy

Sāmoan Studies/Fa'asamoa

Sociology

Spanish

Study of Religion

Te Reo Māori

Theatre