English Language (including a Foundation Year) BA (Hons)

Unlock the power of words through the investigation and analysis of the fundamental structures and theoretical principles of English language and linguistics.

Course overview

During this course, you will study the structures and theoretical principles of English and language in general, and use them to understand and analyse spoken and written English discourse in context. This may include investigating sounds, word meanings, sentence structures, discourse analytical principles, child language acquisition, and language variation and change. You will be offered a variety of assessment types, including standard essays, presentations, data collection projects, exercises, transcriptions, dissertation and even blogs. This will help to equip you with the academic experiences you need to make the most of employment opportunities following your undergraduate degree and/or postgraduate study.

Why study this course with us?

The course has been repeatedly praised by external examiners, who have noted the unusually broad range of expertise provided by the teaching team, which covers some of the most cutting-edge subjects in English language and linguistics, such as Corpus Linguistics (computer-assisted discourse analysis) and Cognitive Stylistics (how readers' minds process literary and non-literary discourse). Staff also has considerable expertise in the areas of sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, child language acquisition, models of grammar, critical discourse analysis, dialectology and comparative linguistics.

Assessment

Assessment includes online blog entries, seminar presentations, conversation and phonetic transcriptions, data collection, research and analysis, syntax trees, and short answer exercises. There are also traditional discussion essays and some formal written examinations.

Job prospects

Graduates in English Language typically secure employment in professions such as teaching, publishing, the media and communications, speech therapy, Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), advertising, public relations, journalism, librarianship, management and administration, and personnel work. Many students have gone on to postgraduate study in the discipline.