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Welcome to the Department of Language and Linguistics

Our Department has a 40-year tradition of excellence in English language, linguistics, teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL), English language teaching (ELT) and the teaching of modern foreign languages.

We have an international reputation for our research in theoretical and descriptive linguistics, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics and ELT. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, we were rated as having the highest proportion of Linguistics research which is “world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour” of any university in England.

Our world-leading research means that you are taught by staff who are among the most eminent scholars in their fields in the world. The quality of our teaching is reflected in the excellent scores we achieved in the student satisfaction surveys.

In Modern Languages we offer a wide range of programmes in French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish. Arabic and Mandarin Chinese. All our staff are native (or bilingual) speakers, which means that you are immersed in the kind of authentic language learning environment which is so vital to improving confidence and proficiency. Our courses have a triple focus on developing proficiency, cultural awareness and professional skills (not only translation skills, but also web and publishing skills, and film production and video editing skills). We offer a flexible curriculum which allows you to choose how many languages you want to learn (one? two? three? four?), and what pace you want to learn at (e.g. beginner through to mastery).

If you are interested in applying to do a BA, MA or PhD with us, see information for prospective students

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