Has anyone seen Birmingham's modular PhD in English Language and Applied Linguistics? I stumbled upon it not too long ago and thought the format was fascinating. Instead of writing one big, long dissertation, you break up the writing into three different "modules." There is no taught component in the program, although extensive research training is provided. Per their website: PhD English Language and Applied Linguistics via distance learning - Postgraduate degree study - University of Birmingham
Sounds like Leicester's DSocSci. Module 1: 4 papers, 4,000 words each Module 2: 4 papers, 5,000 words each Thesis proposal: 5,000 words Thesis: 50,000 words.
When I lived in Japan, their MA was popular with expat English teachers. It looks like they expanded it to a PhD. I knew one guy doing the EBS MBA and the Birmingham MA at the same time with the goal of opening their own language school, or managing a major chain of language schools. I thought about it briefly myself also, but the EBS exams were enough to keep me occupied.