BA German Studies and English Language

Description:

This programme is an ideal choice if you are interested in language, its uses and varieties, and if you are considering a career working with language or as a language teacher in the UK or abroad. The degree offers many opportunities for interconnections between the two subjects. Students can choose to study various modules which focus on the use of the German language in business, in texts, in political discourse and in historical documents. The year abroad offers further opportunities for developing personal research interests through studying at a university in a German-speaking country or working, and preparing a dissertation.

Year 1

Compulsory modules:

In German Studies:
German Language (at advanced, intermediate, or beginners level)
Icons of Modern Germany

In English Language:
Sounds, Grammar and Meaning
English Language and Society

Optional modules:*

In German Studies:
The Inner Life of the German Language
Interpreting Historical Documents
Literary Reflections of Historical Events
The German Nazi Past and the Present

In English Language:
English Language in Use

Year 2

Compulsory modules:

In German Studies:
German Language

In English Language:
English Grammar
English Phonology
Research Methods
Sociolinguistics

Optional modules:*

In German Studies, modules worth 40 credits chosen from a list of topics including:
German for Business
Bertolt Brecht and the Drama of Revolt
Words in Action? An Introduction to linguistic pragmatics
East German Cinema
War, Hell and Family: Catastrophe in the Romantic Period
Feminism, Gender & Class in 19th century Germany
The World of Words: German Lexicology
Women and Biography in GDR Literature
Changing Media, Changing Texts

In English Language, one module chosen from a list of topics including:
Child Language Development
Language and the Mind
From Saxons to Shakespeare
Approaches to Spoken Discourse
English in the World

Year 3 (spent in a German-speaking country)

You will have the option to spend three terms:

studying at a German or Austrian university
OR as a teaching assistant at a German school
OR on a work placement with a German firm

Dissertation
German oral exam

Year 4

Compulsory Language Modules to be chosen from:
Translation into German and English
or
German Structure and Composition

Optional modules:*

In German Studies a choice of "cultural" modules from a list of topics including:
Writing the East: Literature of the GDR
Cinema of the Weimar Republic
Migration in Germany
Language in Politics
Nineteenth-century Vienna

In English Language, a choice of optional modules including:
Second Language Teaching and Learning
Core Issues in English Language Teaching
Language Pathology
Philosophy of Language
Language and Gender

*Not all optional modules will necessarily be available every year.