Liberal Arts and Sciences: English Major

The English Program at DEREE offers students a choice of studying literature (English and American Literature pathway) or an interdisciplinary combination of literature with linguistics (English Literature with Linguistics pathway).

The program focuses on how language and literary texts are structured, and how readers and listeners alike develop and use a range of interpretive strategies to make sense of particular works and/or discourses. In the English and American Literature pathway, students learn to interpret literature through close reading of individual texts; to explore and examine the wider historical, political and social contexts in which literary works and/or theories were produced and formulated; and to develop informed perspectives on authors, works, movements and theories significant within an academic context and relevant to broader cultural issues.

In the English Literature with Linguistics pathway, students learn about the systematic and analytic study of language – from the sounds and gestures of speech up to the organization and structure of words, sentences, and meaning; students also delve into the use and application of language and language theories in a wide range of interdisciplinary contexts, such as philosophy, psychology, anthropology, pedagogy and literature.