If you are interested in the English language itself - how we use language for different purposes, how speech differs from writing, and whether gender makes a difference to language-use, then this will be the right course for you. Using a variety of spoken, written multi-modal forms, you will explore the ways in which language-use is adapted according to different contexts and analyse how a range of writers and speakers use English for their own specific purposes. From adverts, to social media exchanges to articles, we focus on how and why language cannot be separated from the society in which we live.
You will also explore a diverse range of topics, including how we shape our identities according to gender, dialect, ethnicity/diversity & power, occupation and class, while developing the skills of analysis, grammar and writing. Students also learn about how the English language has evolved over the last 450 years and the ways in which children acquire speech and literacy.
During the course, you will have the opportunity to produce a variety of creative writing coursework from short stories, to monologues, reviews and memoir, worth 20% of the final grade. In the second year of the course, you also collect your own data to undertake an Investigation unit, based on a specific linguistic area.