BA English Language

Students on Square 3 This is a 3-year degree which enables you to combine a range of options dealing with sounds, structures meaning and use in English with a further range of options looking at accents and dialects of British English, at varieties of English spoken round the world, at how English has changed and is continuing to change over the course of time, at how English is used in conversation and in the media, at how children acquire English and so on. It is suitable both for students who have an A-level in English, and for those who don’t. In each year of the degree, you take four modules. Details of the structure of each year are given below. (Click on relevant module titles for further details of individual modules).

Your First Year

Your first year is a foundation year in which you learn about linguistic techniques used to analyse a variety of aspects of the structure, use, acquisition and processing of English (and can additionally choose to take an option in teaching English as a foreign language, if you wish). You take the following four modules:

Module	Brief details
Foundations of Linguistics	Introduction to linguistic techniques used to analyse sounds, structures, meaning and use in English
Foundations of Sociolinguistics	Introduction to techniques used to study how factors such as social class, age, sex, ethnicity etc. affect the way we speak English
Foundations of Psycholinguistics	Introduction to techniques used to study how we acquire and process words and sentences
Skills for the Linguistics of English or Foundations of Teaching English as a Foreign Language or Advanced English or LA option	You can take Skills for the Linguistics of English, or Foundations of Teaching English as a Foreign Language, or an option in a Modern Language

Your Second Year

Your second year is a consolidation year in which we build on and extend the foundation acquired in your first year while also preparing you for the specialist options you are to take in your final year. You take four modules (or more if your selection includes half-options) chosen from the set of options specified below:

Module	Brief details
Sociolinguistics	A look regional and social dialects, language in public arenas (e.g. courts, healthcare), discourse, bilingualism and code-mixing etc.
Researching Language Variation	A hands-on module in which you devise, conduct, analyse and present a research project on speech in the local community
One second-year Linguistics options or Modern Languages Option	Click on the link for details of the range of English Language/Modern Languages options available
One second-year Linguistics options or Modern Languages Option or Outside Option	This could be another English Language option, or an English Language Teaching option, or a Linguistics option, or a Project, or an option in a Modern Language or another subject or an outside option

Your Final Year

Your final year is a specialisation year in which you choose a range of specialist options, and take four modules (or more if your selection includes half-options) chosen from the set of options specified below:

Module	Brief details
Three final-year English Language options	Click on the link for details of the range of English Language options available
One final-year Linguistics options or Modern Languages Option or Outside Option	This could be another English Language option, or an English Language Teaching option, or a Linguistics option, or a Project, or an option in a Modern Language or another subject or an outside option

>> Entry Qualifications and Further Information (University Course Finder Information)

For details of other undergraduate degrees offered by the Department of Language & Linguistics, see BA Programmes.