English Language and Special Educational Needs BA (Hons)

ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Are you interested in exploring language, becoming a writer, linguist or just in saving the world one word at a time?

Liverpool is truly one of the best locations you could think of, if you want to study language and its structures, and it’s not just thanks to its trademark accents and dialects. Whether it’s the bilingual signs of the first Chinatown in Europe or the Viking heritage of the Wirral, the region’s rich and complex history of languages and cultures interacting with each other creates a vibrant multilingual and multicultural landscape.
 
Our graduates have built a range of interesting careers in journalism, the legal profession, police, teaching and education, as well as going on to study at postgraduate level, courses such as teaching English to speakers of other languages or law conversion courses.
 
Our students have conducted their own final-year research in areas as diverse as the influence of autism on language acquisition in children, the language of AI-written prose, computer-mediated analyses of political speeches, the history of words for madness and many others.
 
Our language programme builds on the links with Liverpool’s cultural institutions and benefits from a unique blend of expertise of international scholars from different fields of linguistics. We pride ourselves on our:

- small-group teaching with a close personal connection to our students, helping them develop and pursue their own academic interests;

- focus on the development of critical, analytical and digital skills that are favoured by employers around the world;

- access to Special Collections, home to over 75,000 printed materials and complemented by an environmentally controlled vault that houses rare books and manuscripts from as early as the ninth century;

- commitment to helping students develop employability skills and plan for future careers;

- strong commitment to ethics and sustainability, exploring language as a tool that can change the world for better or for worse.

At Liverpool Hope University, you will become a linguist prepared to unravel the complexities of language, promote cross-cultural awareness, amplify unheard voices, and use language imaginatively to make our shared world more inclusive and environmentally sound.

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS

The Special Educational Needs course will equip you to become a passionate advocate for disability rights and equality in your chosen profession. There are more than 16 million disabled people in the UK, and graduates with expertise in special educational needs and disability are in demand in a wide range of areas including education, health, social work and social care, local government, and business. In recognising the contributions of disabled people, we encourage you to replace needs with knowledge.

A supportive team of disabled and non-disabled academics will enable you to develop the skills, knowledge and confidence you need to become a future leader in this area. You will learn about the historical, social and cultural factors that shape our understanding of special educational needs and disability. Your understanding of academic theories and models will be deepened by activities which challenge you to explore how this knowledge can be applied in professional settings. As well as tutors’ extensive professional experience, course content is informed by input from a range of guest speakers, and from our partner organisations, which include disabled-led and self-advocacy groups, education and care providers, charities, and disability arts organisations.

The Special Educational Needs course at Liverpool Hope is unique in that it is informed and enriched by the work of the Centre for Culture and Disability Studies, an internationally recognised centre of excellence in disability studies research, and the only UK research centre to focus on disability and culture. 

You can also study Special Educational Needs via a Single Honours degree with the course.