Welcome from the Head of Programme
The English Language & Linguistics programme
aims to educate you, excite you and empower you. Let’s do the
education bit first.
Everyone uses language, but not everyone knows
about it - for example, why we have certain words and phrases; how
we learn language; why our language abilities sometimes fail us;
why people might have different views about what is correct; how
language varies…
If you choose to study our English Language &
Linguistics degree, you will learn about all these aspects, and
more.
But we also want to excite you. Our staff are
real enthusiasts. We live and breathe language, and we want you to
share our passion for the subject. Of all the complimentary things
our students say about us, the most frequent comment is that our
own fascination for our subject area really comes across to
students and helps them to do well. We are a very experienced team
of people who are highly qualified academically, but also friendly
and accessible who understand the nature of learning and
teaching.
Knowing about language, and being enthusiastic
about it, is empowering. It means you are much more likely to be an
effective language user, because you understand others’ meanings
and are thoughtful about your own. To be in control of the meanings
you express is a very powerful position, regardless of whether you
exercise your language skills in workplace contexts, or in personal
relationships.
Nikki Swift - Head
of Programme
How can I study English Language & Linguistics?
English Language & Linguistics can be studied
as a Specialist degree or as a Joint Honours subject alongside:
British Sign Language, Creative Writing, Education Studies, English
Literature, Modern European Languages and Modern International
Languages.
Why study English Language & Linguistics?
This programme enables you to study language from
a broad range of perspectives, including the way speech is
articulated, how language is structured and related to meaning, and
how it relates to speakers’ intentions and purposes in social
interaction. As well as studying how speakers and writers use
language, you may also study social attitudes to language, and the
way language choices can express identities and cultural values.
English Language & Linguistics at York St John is distinctive
in its focus on real-world applications for language study,
offering you the opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge to real
language data.
You may be able to take a Cambridge ESOL
qualification in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
(CELTA), which includes teaching practice, as part of your
programme.*
*Subject to approval/validation/eligibility
What will I study?
While some modules are compulsory and are
therefore always on offer, optional modules may vary according to
student demand and staff availability. The information below is
based on what we currently offer, but we are always looking for
ways to explore new areas of language study and new questions about
language use.
Level 1
- Multilingualism
- e-communication
Level 2 & Level 3
- Accents & Dialects
- The Language of Children
- Language & Mind
- Sociolinguistics
- Attitudes to Language
- Language and Communication in the Workplace
Full module list »
What resources will I have access to?
Following the award of a Teacher Fellowship to
one of our tutors, we have been able to create a Speech Lab for the
analysis of language data. Our lab contains an impressive range of
digital resources for recording and analysing speech; phonetics
tuition tools for private use; and corpus tools for sorting and
analysing written language.
Using the facilities of the lab, our students are
able to produce highly professional pieces of work: for example,
many have submitted their assignments as electronic documents on CD
with hyperlinked sound files rather than as traditional paper-based
essays. For students wishing to use the lab, there is expert help
available from our team.
Will I get any practical experience?
During Level 2, there is a 15-day work placement
where you get practical experience of language and communication in
workplace contexts. Many students choose to get some experience in
an area where they are hoping to gain employment after they
graduate. Some examples of recent placements include work shadowing
a teacher at a school for deaf children, working as a reporter on a
local newspaper, and a placement with an international publishing
house.
If you wish to add an international dimension to
this experience, you can opt to go to Arizona and learn about life
and work in the States: our programme has a link with the Arizona
State University West. There are some costs associated with this
latter option.
What skills will I acquire?
The skills that you will learn are fundamental to
any future employment and, indeed, for everyday life. Everyone
needs to use language in order to communicate effectively, and our
programme will teach you many things, including:
- analytical skills – in understanding others’ language uses and
attitudes
- production skills – in making your own language use count
- research skills – in learning how to gather data and
material
- social and cultural skills – in being aware of language
differences
- e-skills – in knowing how to communicate online.
How will I be assessed?
You may be assessed by essay, portfolio of work,
project, presentation, online work, class test or examination. We
do try to keep examinations to a minimum throughout the degree.
Staff interests
- Christopher Hall:
psycholinguistics; second language acquisition; World
Englishes
- Andrew Merrison:
conversation analysis; sociolinguistics; semantics and
pragmatics
- Shirley Reay:
educational linguistics; intercultural communication; literacy and
oracy
- Nikki Swift:
phonetics and phonology; accents and dialects; online learning
- Rachel Wicaksono:
teaching and testing EFL; English as a Lingua Franca
- Beverly Geesin:
computer mediated communication, critical discourse analysis,
intercultural communication, language and power, privacy and
identity
- Dr Helen Sauntson:
Classroom discourse analysis; language, gender and sexuality;
language in education; gender and sexuality in education.
Can I get involved with departmental activities?
We foster an ethos of sociability as well as a
commitment to learning. We have our own programme website called
The Lingo Lounge, which is a source of information for our students
as well as a social space for planning face-to-face activities and
events. We are busy in our local area, running conferences for
schools and colleges, and inviting speakers from other Higher
Education establishments to join us. At the same time, we
collaborate with many academic colleagues internationally via our
online networks. There are study abroad opportunities for our
students in Canada, Sweden and Holland as well as the specifically
module-based option in Arizona, USA.
What sorts of jobs will our graduates get?
Graduates have gone on to a wide range of careers
in fields such as teaching, publishing and journalism, advertising
and marketing, management, IT, social work and speech and language
therapy. Around half of our graduates go on to further study.
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