English Language and Literature

Gain in-depth knowledge of the English language and its cultural impact on this BA English Language and Literature degree. Discover how English emerged, how it continues to change, and how it varies across its millions of speakers. You’ll explore writing in varieties of English from the early medieval period to the present day, as well as from around the world.

You’ll combine both literary and linguistic approaches to the subject on this flexible course.

You’ll study topics such as:

• the history and development of the English language
• the cultural significance of English and its unique global status
• phonetics, language acquisition and the psychology of language (psycholinguistics)

Optional modules mean you can adapt the course to match your interests. Topics you can choose to study include:

• the Renaissance
• 18th or 19th century writing
• Arthurian literature
• children’s literature

You’ll learn from expert academics and graduate ready for a career across industries like:

• education
• mass media
• advertising and marketing
• speech therapy
• writing and publishing

You’ll also be able to make use of our Lifelong Learning programme, which provides extracurricular teaching of some 12 languages.

Our degree programmes are informed by research carried out in our leading Research Centres, including the Centre for Linguistics, Language Education and Acquisition Research and the Centre for Global Englishes.