M.A. seminars 2025–2027 (selected full-time programmes)

What is this list?

This is a list of M.A. seminars we intend to launch in some of our full-time M.A. programmes whose first year of study is 2025; that is, the seminars are planned to start in 2025 and end in 2027, at the end of the two-year M.A. programme.

What about these seminars?

Part of the admissions procedure for selected full-time M.A. programmes is an interview. The interview you take part in is with a small committee of our teachers headed by your prospective M.A. thesis supervisor, the teacher whose seminar you intend to join upon becoming a student in the programme. At some point between your registration for the given programme—see the easy step-by-step instruction linked to here—and the day of the interview we may contact you to ask about your preferred M.A. seminar. Your task is easy: browse this list in search of seminars which are offered for the programme in which your are enroling and, if there are more than one seminar, let us know, when asked, which seminar is your favourite. We will take note of it and ensure your interview is with the right committee.

Please note: We do not guarantee that upon admission to the programme you will be able to join the preferred seminar. Enrolment into a particular seminar is subject to conditions such as the total number of candidates, the overall result of your enrolment process, and others.

How to navigate the list?

The list is sorted by the full-time M.A. programme to which the seminars apply. As you scroll the page down or click on the links in this paragraph, you will note headings with the names of the programmes:

Underneath each such heading you will find the seminars planned for the given programme, sorted by the name of its instructor, with a detailed description of each seminar.

Notes

Starting in 2024 the full-time M.A. programme in English Philology (Filologia angielska) does not require the candidates to select their preferred M.A. seminar prior to being admitted to the programme. Therefore, candidates for the programme do not need to browse this page—follow this link instead. (For information on the 2025–2027 M.A. seminars in the extramural programme in English Philology, follow this link.)

This page does not cover seminars in the Dutch Studies programme.

Creative and Specialized Translation

Tłumaczenie kreatywne i specjalistyczne

For description of the programme, follow this link (to our website in Polish).

TBA

dr Olha Lehka-Paul

(In)visibility of translations: Empirical approaches to translation reception

dr Olga Witczak

Translated content is everywhere. Often, translations sneak up on us unnoticed while we read books, browse news outlets, scroll social media, watch movies/TV, and play video games. Sometimes these translations are not made by humans.

In this seminar, we focus on empirical approaches to reception of translated content: both written texts and audio-visual materials, done by humans and/or generated by machines.

The master theses written in this seminar will have theoretical and practical components (e.g., reception surveys or behavioural experiments with translated materials). The projects will study the cognitive and affective aspects of translation reception. Importantly, we will focus on the potential applications of the results, for example by developing best practices or methods for translator training.

Topics covered will include reception of audiovisual translation (subtitling, voice-over, dubbing, video games), written translation (e.g., literary, functional texts), machine translated (and post-edited) texts, among others. Students will need to choose and compile their own research materials (e.g., literary texts, multimedia content) and design their empirical projects.

Candidates are expected to have a keen interest in translation, especially in topics mentioned above. Students will select their own MA topics in line with their translation-related interests and within the scope of empirical translation studies.

Selected reading

  • Arenas, Ana Guerberof and Antonio Toral. 2023. “To be or not to be: a translation reception study of a literary text translated into Dutch and Catalan using machine translation” [external link] (date of access: 17 Jul. 2023).
  • Biel, Łucja. 2021. “Postedycja tłumaczeń maszynowych”, Lingua Legis 1, 29.
  • Chen, Sijia. 2024. “Effects of subtitles on vocabulary learning through videos: An exploration across different learner types”, The Journal of Specialised Translation 42, 42: 257-276.
  • Flis, Gabriela and Agnieszka Szarkowska. 2024. “Voice-over country? Okay, Boomer. How young viewers are disrupting the AVT landscape in Poland”, The Journal of Specialised Translation 42, 42: 193-216.
  • Franco Aixelá, Javier and Christian Olalla-Soler (eds.). 2022. 50 Years Later. What Have We Learnt after Holmes (1972) and Where Are We Now? Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Servicio de Publicaciones y Difusión Científica. [external link] (date of access: 25 July. 2025).
  • Gao, Bin and Zhourong Shen. 2024. “More than just non-professional translators: The public perception of Chinese fansubbers in an English as a Lingua Franca world”, The Journal of Specialised Translation 42, 42: 84-102.
  • Hu, Ke, Sharon O’Brien and Dorothy Kenny. 2019. “A reception study of machine translated subtitles for MOOCs”, Perspectives 1-18.
  • Kotze, Haidee, Berit Janssen, Corina Koolen, Luka Van Der Plas and Gys-Walt Van Egdom. 2021. “Norms, affect and evaluation in the reception of literary translations in multilingual online reading communities: Deriving cognitive-evaluative templates from big data”, Translation, Cognition & Behavior 4, 2: 147-186.
  • Mellinger, Christopher D. and Thomas A. Hanson. 2017. Quantitative research methods in translation and interpreting studies. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
  • Pavesi, Maria and Pablo Zamora. 2022. “The reception of swearing in film dubbing: a cross-cultural case study”, Perspectives 30, 3: 382-398.
  • Qiu, Juerong and Anthony Pym. 2024. “Fatal flaws? Investigating the effects of machine translation errors on audience reception in the audiovisual context”, Perspectives 1-17.
  • Szarkowska, Agnieszka, Jorge Díaz Cintas and Olivia Gerber-Morón. 2021. “Quality is in the eye of the stakeholders: what do professional subtitlers and viewers think about subtitling?”, Universal Access in the Information Society 20, 4: 661-675.
  • Walker, Callum. 2021. “Investigating how we read translations: A call to action for experimental studies of translation reception”, Cognitive Linguistic Studies 8, 2: 482-512.

Polish-English Conference Interpreting

Tłumaczenie konferencyjne polsko-angielskie

For description of the programme, follow this link (to our website in Polish).

AI-mediated multilingual communication

prof. UAM dr hab. Agnieszka Chmiel

Will automatic speech translation make interpreters obsolete? Can users of speech translation systems trust AI as an interpreter? Can interpreters benefit from AI in the booth? In this seminar, we will follow the latest technological developments in the area of automatic speech translation and computer-assisted interpreting. We will examine how technology is shaping the interpreters’ practice and how users engage with technology in AI-mediated multilingual communication. We will look at technology-induced changes both in monologic and dialogic contexts, i.e. in conference and dialogue interpreting. Participants of this M.A. seminar will be guided to conduct experimental studies to explore AI-mediated multilingual communication by focusing on interpreters or users of interpreting services. This seminar is available to students enrolled in the Polish-English Conference Interpreting programme.

Language, Mind, Technology

For description of the programme, follow this link.

Crossing Phonetic Boundaries: Experimental Approaches to Non-Native Speech

prof. UAM dr hab. Anna Balas

If you have ever wondered why humans perceive the world as they do and why speech in second or third languages differs from that of native speakers, I invite you to explore an MA thesis focused on phonetics and phonology, particularly the perception or production of non-native speech. I am committed to supporting you in all stages of research planning, including formulating precise research questions and selecting from a range of methodologies – such as behavioral tests, training paradigms, gamification, audio-visual experiments, EEG, etc. – to study non-native speech perception and production. I am equipped to guide your choice of experimental group and stimuli selection, whether from natural sources, synthesized data, or generated by AI. Additionally, I will provide constructive feedback throughout the writing process and welcome the exploration of related interdisciplinary topics spanning linguistics, psychology, language education, and neuroscience. I encourage proposals for research studies that investigate practical applications and real-world implications of native and non-native speech processing.

My research interests include second and third language acquisition of speech, especially phonetic cross-linguistic similarity. Most of my papers focus on non-native speech perception, but I have also investigated speech production and the link between the two. I have been leading a project on multilingual speech perception among listeners with L1 Ukrainian, L2 English and L3 Polish funded by the National Science Center, Poland and another one, ID-UB International Research Team, where a couple of researchers from the Adam Mickiewicz University and the University of North Carolina Wilmington co-operate to examine methodological issues in non-native speech perception research. I have also been involved in outreach activities at the Bilingualism Matters@Poznań branch, promoting bilingualism, language awareness and research-based language policy among teenagers, teachers and policy makers.

References

Seeing Language, Reading Minds: Eye-tracking in Bilingualism and Multilingualism

dr Agnieszka Lijewska

How do bilingual and multilingual readers navigate the intricate process of understanding written language? This M.A. seminar takes a close look at the psychological and linguistic mechanisms that underlie reading in a first language (L1) and in additional languages (L2, L3, and beyond). A central focus will be on the bilingual and multilingual mind: how do multiple languages interact during reading, and what does this reveal about cognitive flexibility, attentional control, and emotional processing? To answer these questions, students will engage with eye-tracking, a cutting-edge method that allows researchers to record and analyze readers’ eye movements in real time. By examining patterns such as fixations and saccades, eye-tracking provides a unique window into the hidden processes of comprehension and offers powerful tools for investigating how readers manage the challenges of switching between or balancing multiple languages.

The seminar will explore questions at the heart of bilingual/multilingual research: Do bilinguals read differently in their L1 than in their L2/L3? How does emotional content affect reading in each language? Does the linguistic distance between languages shape the efficiency of comprehension? And which cognitive or linguistic factors help multilinguals become faster, more effective readers? Situated at the intersection of linguistics, multilingualism, and psychology, the course will encourage students to engage critically with both theoretical frameworks and empirical findings. They will also gain hands-on experience with world-class eye-tracking equipment, acquiring practical skills for designing and carrying out their own projects. With guidance and freedom to pursue individual interests, participants will work toward developing original studies that can form the basis of their M.A. theses, contributing to our understanding of how the bilingual and multilingual mind processes language.

Selected bibliography

  • Conklin, K., Pellicer-Sánchez, A., & Carrol, G. (2018). Eye-Tracking: A Guide for Applied Linguistics Research. Cambridge University Press.
  • Godfroid, A. (2019). Eye Tracking in Second Language Acquisition and Bilingualism: A Research Synthesis and Methodological Guide (1st ed.). Routledge.
  • Godfroid, A., & Hui, B. (2020). Five common pitfalls in eye-tracking research [external link]. Second Language Research, 36(3), 277–305.
  • Rayner, K., Pollatsek, A., Ashby, J., & Clifton Jr, C. (2012). Psychology of Reading. Psychology Press.
  • Rayner, K., Schotter, E. R., Masson, M. E. J., Potter, M. C., & Treiman, R. (2016). So Much to Read, So Little Time: How Do We Read, and Can Speed Reading Help? Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 17(1), 4–34.