English Language BA (Hons)

The first year introduces you to the major themes in the study of English Language. You will look at the way English has developed and changed over time, how it impacts on our everyday lives and how it is used in communication. To underpin your studies in these areas, you will learn how to describe the structures, sounds and meanings of English and be introduced to the writing and research skills that support your studies.   

Language and Society*

You will explore the complex ways in which language intersects with society. Your discussions will range from multilingual societies, and attitudes to language to the way language varies according to such things as class, region and gender.

Understanding Language*

Understanding Language examines the building blocks of language including Phonetics and Phonology, Grammar and Semantics. During the series of lectures for Understanding Language, you will learn about the sounds of language and how you produce them, how sounds are organised and you will learn to transcribe English sounds using the International Phonetic Alphabet. In Grammar, you will learn how words are formed, and also learn to identify the different parts of speech and how they are parsed in sentences through learning to draw tree structure diagrams. In Semantics, you will learn about how we make meaning through various linguistic devices. Phonetics is one of the most fun courses that you can learn. During this course you will learn the IPA, which will be like learning a new language.

History and Change*

This course strand will give you a great opportunity to dive back into the past and go on a journey of how English language began and how it changed over time in response to wider historical, cultural and technological changes. We will look chronologically at these changes and developments, starting before written record even began, then following the various stages of English from its oldest forms in the early Middle Ages, until arriving at the 21st century. You will learn how to identify and analyse how language features, such as words, meanings, grammar or writing systems change over time, how historical events impact on language, and how attitudes to language usage shift in response to standardisation and globalisation.

Language endangerment, policy and planning

Here you will explore the experience of multilingualism both in Britain and around the world. You will focus on issues such as the advantages of bilingualism and the ways in which governments and societies can endanger or support minority languages, such as Welsh, in multicultural and multilingual societies.

Dialectology

You will build on and develop your understanding of how a language varies according to social and geographical factors in the UK but also around the world. You will learn about the notion of ‘Englishes’ rather than simply ‘English’ and will have the chance to explore and discuss the ways in which the forms of English vary around the world.

Language in Literature

This part of the course develops your ability to describe aspects of language choice and relate those choices to the ways in which readers understand literary texts. The insights and tools of linguistics are brought to bear in explaining how readers reach interpretations or understandings of poetry, drama and prose. You will focus on areas such as grammatical structure, semantic fields and pragmatics to discuss extracts from poetry, drama and prose.

Old and Middle English

You will develop on your understanding of the history and changes in English by exploring its earliest forms. You will gain a working knowledge of Old and Middle English grammar and vocabulary and be able to translate from them into Present Day English You will also develop an awareness of historical, cultural, literary and social contexts in which various Old, Middle and Early Modern English texts have been produced. As part of your developing skill set, you will know how to utilize online resources, such as historical dictionaries, historical corpora and digitized manuscripts.

Writing workshop/Researching English Language workshop

These sessions are skills-based and will give you the opportunity to develop your own academic voice in writing for assignments and also examine the principles and forms of research in language study. 

If you opt for a combined honours programme, you will study those topics marked with *

The second year continues your journey through language by examining its use and acquisition in different social and functional contexts. The second year also in introduces a professional strand where you explore the possible ways in which our understanding of language can be applied in the workplace.

Core 1

Discourse Analysis

You will apply your understanding of the structures and properties of language to explore and understand the way in which people use texts in spoken and written communication. You will examine the details of how conversation works as well as looking at the way in which advertising, newspapers and fictional texts position readers as having particular beliefs. You will also look at where fiction and fact intersect in the examination of serial killer discourse.

Language and Mind

Making use of an extensive range of transcripts of children’s talk, you will explore theories of first language acquisition. You will develop your ability to identify language patterns across different children considering how age, gender and exceptional circumstances impact on the rate and level at which language competence is achieved.

Language and Law/TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages)

You will make a choice between 2 options based on the intersection of language knowledge and the wider professional world. Language and Law allows you to explore the ways in which language is used in court rooms, police interviews, the construction of laws and wills. This provides an excellent foundation for further study in Forensic linguistics or Law and also provides an insight into issues in policing and crime prevention. TESOL introduces you to the techniques of teaching English to speakers of other languages. You will develop both skills and understandings that allow you to plan and deliver teaching sessions for those acquiring English. This provides an excellent foundation for going on to a formal  TESOL qualification which opens doors around the world.

Researching Language

Continuing the theme of the intersection of language and professional contexts, you will explore language issues in society through a series of ‘sandbox exercises’ which take our understanding of language into a workplace scenario. For example, you may be asked to imagine how you would carry out research on the language tuition needs of newly arrived refugees. Here you will develop your teamwork abilities in preparation for a workplace environment as well as research skills in preparation for your individual research that you complete as part of your third year studies.

Core 2

If you study English Language as a Single Honours degree, you will also study:

Stylistics of Narrative

In this part of the course, you build on the skills acquired in Language and Literature and focus on the nuts and bolts of how fictional narratives are constructed. Here you will develop your skills in making linguistic observations to support literary interpretations, focusing on issues such as characterisation and point of view. You will also consider the role of the reader as well as the properties of text and consider the text as a product of a particular sociocultural context.

Processes of Language Change

This strand builds on your knowledge and understanding of the history and development of English to examine what prompts languages to change, both between different groups but also across stretches of time. You will also explore the impact of language on our built environment through the study of onomastics (naming practices) in things like street names and how this links to sociohistorical contexts.

Language Anthropology

“Linguistic anthropology is an interdisciplinary field dedicated to the study of language as a cultural resource and speaking as a cultural practice. It assumes that the human language faculty is a cognitive and a social achievement that provides the intellectual tools for thinking and acting in the world.” Lectures will introduce students to key topics in this discipline such as how is language distinctly human, and how does it relate to other forms of communication? What is the relationship between the language we speak and the way we see, understand and view the world? What is the connection between language and the culture that we live in? Throughout the course we will draw on examples of language and cultures throughout the world and consider how people actually use language, imagine language and talk about it.

Language and Identity

On this part of the course, you will address key issues in language and identity from a social psychology of language perspective, with a focus on the manner in which speakers use language as a tool to express and construct their own social identities as well as the manner in which they draw inferences about the social identities of others based purely on the way in which these others use language.

Philosophy of Language

Here you will focus on some of the key issues that underpin the study language starting with the most basic and, perhaps, the most difficult question, what is language? Your discussions will range from how language is used to mean to questioning whether artificial intelligence will ever be able to communicate in the same way that human beings do.

In the third year you will continue your examination of language in use in social contexts and the impact that language has. You will also consider the role of technology in working with language data. Alongside these topics, you will also complete a dissertation or research project which is based on your own particular area of interest and your own research.

Language and Power

Power is more than an authoritative voice in decision making; its strongest form may well be the ability to define social reality, to impose visions of the world. Such visions are inscribed in language and enacted in interaction (Gal 1991:197). In this part of the course, you will examine the ways in which language exerts or challenges the distribution of power in society and you will discuss topics as diverse as new capitalism and gender relations.

Digital Humanities

Developments in information technology have introduced groundbreaking changes to the way humanities in general and language study in particular are done. We have new methods, new tools, and new (often very 'Big') data, and therefore we can ask different questions and find out completely new things! This course will provide you with an overview of the field of Digital Humanities, particularly how it applies to language and linguistics, and introduce the wider contexts of research beyond academia. You will have the opportunity to build your own small website and present your research project in a digital fashion, which should give you new skills and ways of thinking about knowledge and how we generate and transmit it.

Honours Seminar

The course content in the final year is built on a foundation of lecturers’ research interests and you will have the opportunity to choose between 2 honours seminar programmes where you will work at the cutting edge of research with your lecturers. Topics change from year to year but have included Language and Gender, Language in the Media, Pragmatics and Religion in the Media.

Research planning

One of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of your academic journey will be your final year Research Project or Dissertation. You will select an area of language study that has particularly interested you and develop it further through your own research. This can be a daunting exercise but you will take part in research planning sessions to support your growing research skills which run alongside discussions with your assigned research supervisor.

Research Project

A one-year project completed under the supervision of a researcher in your topic area. You present a research paper drawn from your project at an internal academic conference.

Core 2

If you study English Literature as a Single Honours degree, you will also study:

Language and Humour

On this part of the course, you will examine and discuss humour and language, particularly in relation to how it ‘works’ and the contexts in which it occurs. You will look at linguistic and other theories that attempt to account for why things are funny as well as looking at the linguistic mechanisms that create humour. Humour comes in all kinds of forms, slapstick, wit, mime, cartoons etc, but you will focus on the use verbal humour. This lecture/seminar series culminates in a debate where you will divide into opposing teams to argue for and against the motion that humour should be censored in the public sphere. 

World Englishes

The aim of this element is to provide you with a more advanced knowledge of the spread of English and how it has contributed to language variation and change. You will learn to apply the most significant theoretical frameworks to spoken and written language and to provide scientific explanations for development of new varieties and dialects. 

Intercultural Communication

Technological advances mean that we are living in an ever-shrinking world where intercultural communication is a major factor in our lives, particularly in the business world. This part of the course introduces you to concepts and theories around the advantages and problems of communication across cultures. You will explore how our understanding of language needs to sit within our understanding of global contexts and culturally diverse communication events. 

Honours Seminar 

As with the Core 1 programme, Core 2 allows you to work with lecturers on their research specialisms and therefore, work at the leading edge of research in that field. The choice of honours seminars can change from year to year but has included topics as diverse as the investigation of language and the brain in psycholinguistics and the immensely complex area of language, gender and sexuality. 

Dissertation

A one-year project completed under the supervision of a researcher in your topic area. You present a research paper drawn from your project at an internal academic conference.