BA English Language and Linguistics

Compulsory modules 

English Language and Society

To understand how language operates in social groups, this will provide you with a basis for further in-depth study in English language and linguistics.

Techniques and Skills for Applied Linguistics

To support your transition to university study, you’ll focus on developing your reading, writing, critical thinking, presentation, library, and technology skills in relation to the study of English language and linguistics. 

Sounds, Grammar and Meaning 

Examine language as a communication system considering sound production and perception, grammatical categorisation, and meaning. You’ll gain the knowledge and skills to analyse written and spoken data. 

Globalisation and Language  

Learn how languages spread across the world and explore debates around linguistic imperialism, political dimensions of language use, and language policies. You’ll consider the effects of technology and migration on the linguistics of regions worldwide.

Optional modules 

Introduction to Linguistics

Investigate the origin, development, and characteristics of human language. You’ll focus on topics such as language endangerment, bilingualism and multilingualism in childhood, and non-verbal communication. You’ll also explore different linguistics aspects of modern European Languages.

Approaches to Film

Critically interpret film texts and discover the conventions of fiction and non-fiction cinema. Explore cinema as a diverse, global and transcultural medium, focusing on historical and cultural contexts.

Approaches to Television

Gain a critical understanding of central issues in television texts and fiction and non-fiction programming. You’ll examine television forms and narratives, industrial contexts, digital platforms and new delivery technologies, as well as the role of the audience and public service broadcasting.

Introduction to Creative Writing

Develop your skills in creative writing across a range of genres. You will develop an understanding of how to compose, criticise, revise, and polish your work through workshop discussions and the completion of a critical essay.  

Radical Philosophy

Question your assumptions and beliefs by exploring radical philosophical claims. You’ll compare and contrast different ways of doing philosophy, such as phenomenology and deconstruction. 

Optional Language or University Wide Modules

Study a module from outside your department to enhance your understanding of history and culture. Alternatively, you can learn one of ten languages offered by the University at a level appropriate for you. 

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.

Compulsory modules

Discourse Analysis

Discover key methodological frameworks and analytical approaches to describe language and apply your knowledge to a variety of social, cultural, and political contexts. 

English Grammar and Phonology 

Develop transcription skills and knowledge of phonological systems. You’ll gain a basis for applied work in discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, child language development, and corpus-based approaches to language analysis. 

Sociolinguistics

Understand how sociolinguistic theories can help to solve practical issues such as discrimination, inequality, and political polarization. This will equip you with analytical tools that you can apply to everyday situations. 

Optional modules

Language and Digital Media

This module examines how digital media and AI are reshaping language use in everyday life. Students will learn to critically analyse real online communication using tools and theories from sociolinguistics, media studies, and discourse analysis, while gaining practical skills in digital content creation and collaborative communication.

Language and the Mind 

Critically examine how the mind acquires, stores and processes language by drawing on psychology, linguistic analysis, speech science and neuroscience. You’ll apply these theories to practice and follow methodologies in psycholinguistic research.  

Language and Gender 

Address real-world problems such as gender-based discrimination and inequalities in different settings. You’ll analyse sociolinguistic research on gendered language over the last 40 years. 

Analysing Speech 

You’ll use software to analyse and understand the acoustic and physical features of speech, helping you to develop high-level auditory phonetic analysis skills.  

Introduction to English Language Teaching

Explore important aspects of current language teaching methodology, including lesson planning, promoting and sustaining interaction, and promoting strategies for learning. You’ll examine which factors affect language learning and acquire an understanding of issues in relation to learning and teaching theory and practice. 

These are the modules we currently offer for 2024/25 entry. They may be subject to change as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they're informed by the latest teaching and research methods.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.

Compulsory modules

Language in Professional Communication 

Investigate the use of language in professional contexts, which will provide you with increased awareness of the challenges and opportunities faced by graduates entering the global workforce.

You'll also select one of the following:

Professional Communication Project

Apply your knowledge, enhance your employability and increase your confidence and communication skills by undertaking a professional placement. Opportunities could include designing promotional material, social media marketing or as a research assistant. 

OR

Dissertation

Selecting a topic within English language and linguistics, you’ll design and implement a study, read widely on your chosen subject, and critically evaluate different theories to produce an extensive piece of original research. 

Optional modules

Child Language Development 

Discover the developmental stages of language and tools to collect, encode, and analyse child language data. You’ll use a computer program for child data analysis in your own research project on child language development. 

Issues in Bilingualism 

Examine bilingualism from societal and cognitive viewpoints, considering related research questions and analysis to address practical implications for education and language policy.  

Intercultural Communication

Explore how people of different nationalities communicate with each other face-to-face and by digital means, considering what creates miscommunication and successful communication. This will help prepare you for work in diverse corporate and academic settings. 

Teaching the Language Skills

Explore current and effective methods of teaching English as a second/foreign language. Focusing on listening, speaking, reading, and writing, you’ll put to practice the academic and pedagogic ideas underpinning language teaching.

Language and Migration

Analyse the role of language in different forms of migration, including economic and forced migration. You’ll explore the debates around the impact of migration on national and international policies, how language is used in the media and education and how this affects our understandings of asylum, immigration and social cohesion. 

Multilingualism and Impairment Across the Lifespan

Study key concepts on the development and use of language in bi- and multilingual individuals across the lifespan. With reference to clinical practice, you’ll focus on children with developmental speech and communication difficulties as well as adults with acquired language disorders. You’ll consider the theoretical, methodological, and clinical implications of the latest research evidence on cross linguistic assessment.   

Philosophy of Language: Animals, Babies, Colours, and Language Death 

Engage with questions concerning meaning, language and communication. To address these, you'll engage with foundational texts in linguistics, psychology and anthropology and research informed by developments in the cognitive sciences. 

Consumption, Politics and Space

Appreciate the broad theoretical and empirical links between geography, consumption, media and the politics of sustainability and sustainable behaviour change. Develop a critical understanding of the cultural and geographical politics of contemporary society through the mediatised framings of environmental and social problems and solutions. 

Literature and Mental Health 

Discover how literature engaged with mental health in the first half of the twentieth century, a crucial turning point in psychology. You’ll consider the de-stigmatisation of mental health in the wake of World War I, the disciplines of psychiatry and psychology that emerged from it, and how literature engages with trauma, anxiety and obsession. 

These are the modules we currently offer for 2024/25 entry. They may be subject to change as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they're informed by the latest teaching and research methods.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.