YOUR FUTURESTARTS WITH HOPE

LIVERPOOL HOPE UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES

ENGLISH LANGUAGE

2

English Language Fact File021015

Faculty:Arts and Humanities

Department:English

Campus Location:Hope Park

Entry Requirements:The standard offer level is between 260-300 UCAS points, including a minimum of two A/A2 Levels or equivalent. In addition, applicants require an A2 Level (or equivalent) in English Language, English Literature or Literature/Language. Applicants with other humanities subjects may also be considered.

UCAS Code: Q310

Duration: Three years

Year of Entry: 2016

Fees: The tuition fees for home and EU students for 2016/17 are £9,000 for full-time undergraduate courses.

Degree:BA Single and Combined Honours

You may also be interested in...• Drama and Theatre Studies• English Literature• Media and Communication

Contact Details:Student Recruitment

+44 (0) 151 291 3111 enquiry@hope.ac.uk

Course Combinations:English Language and Accounting UCAS code NQ43English Language and Business Management UCAS code NQ32English Language and Childhood & Youth UCAS code LQS3English Language and Criminology UCAS code LQ3HEnglish Language and Dance UCAS code WQ35English Language and Drama & Theatre Studies UCAS code QW34English Language and Education UCAS code XQH3English Language and English Literature UCAS code Q301English Language and Geography UCAS code QF38English Language and History UCAS code QV3CEnglish Language and Law UCAS code QM31English Language and Marketing UCAS code QN51English Language and Media & Communication UCAS code QP3HEnglish Language and Philosophy & Ethics UCAS code QV35English Language and Politics UCAS code LQ23English Language and Psychology UCAS code CQ83English Language and Social Policy UCAS code QL34English Language and Special Educational Needs UCAS code LQ5HEnglish Language and World Religions UCAS code QV31

All Combined Honours result in a BA degree.

3

The degree in English Language at Liverpool Hope has been specially designed with a focus on the role of language in society and to give you an overview of the historical development of English. In the first year you will study the linguistic systems underlying English as well as the relationship between language usage and context, both within interpersonal situations and within society at large. You will then examine the interface between language and power, language and politics and language and the media. In your final year, the focus is on sociolinguistics.

Throughout your three years, you will be taught by staff with a wide range of strengths in diverse research areas from multilingualism to discourse analysis. You will be taught in lectures, seminars, and in small tutorial groups. In your final year, you will have the opportunity to develop an independent project; this will be supervised by teaching staff with a strong research profile. We pride ourselves on offering a challenging and stimulating degree with a wide range of innovative teaching and assessment methods. Our distinctive commitment to small group

teaching allows us to help each individual student to develop sophisticated analytical and communication skills through working both independently and in groups. A high proportion of our students attain a first class or a 2:1 degree and having attained highly valued skills are eligible to pursue a wide range of careers after graduation.

The English Department at Liverpool Hope is committed to research excellence and top-quality teaching. We offer a diverse and intellectually stimulating curriculum. We provide our students with a warm, supportive and collegial environment that supports each individual student to reach their full potential.

The English Department at Liverpool Hope University values each student as an important member of our scholarly community. With a strong commitment to small-group teaching and the personal development of all of our students, we strive to support each individual student in the pursuit of academic excellence.

Course Introduction

Level C (Year One) Foundations in English Language

During Year 1, all English Language students will study the following:

• In Year 1 lectures on Language in Society and the History and Development of English you will be introduced to language variation from different perspectives including social, regional and historical

• The hands-on approach encouraged in The Structure of Language workshops will help you to understand how language works as a system. You will gain detailed knowledge of the grammatical and phonological structures of English

• There is a range of assessment methods in Year 1, from the traditional (essay and examination) to the innovative (quizzes and puzzles), which help you to build skills incrementally with on-going support provided in weekly tutorials.

During year 1, Single Honours English Language students will also study the following:

Introducing Stylistics

This lecture and seminar strand enables you to build on work covered in the Structure of Language workshops. You will be introduced to the basic principles of stylistics allowing you to explore the ways in which language can be used for artistic purposes, thus enhancing your appreciation of fictional texts.

What you will study

4

Language in Context

This seminar strand supplements Language and Society and the History and Development of English strands by providing further contextualisation though audio and visual materials such as Bragg’s The Adventure of English and Fry’s Planet Word. You will explore language variation in a range of contexts and examine the social, historical and political factors that precipitate variation.

Level I (Year Two) Explorations in English Language

During Year 2, all English Language students will study the following:

• In Year 2 you will investigate the relations between language, action, knowledge and situation in Language, Ideology and Power and Studies in Media Language. At this level you will develop analytical skills as you explore the forms of language found in media discourse. In Practical Applications, you will study Child Language Acquisition and Corpus Linguistics

• The teaching strategies in Year 2 help you to develop the research and project planning skills needed for longer and more complex academic projects available in Year 3

• There is a range of assessment methods which allow you to further develop skills such as conversation analysis, poster presentation and synoptic examination.

5

During Year 2, Single Honours English Language students will also study the following:

The Stylistics of Narrative

You will be introduced to up-to-date methods and theories of stylistics to enable you to appreciate and analyse the relationship between language choice, meaning and effect in literary texts.

World Englishes

You will examine the linguistic, social and cultural implications of the global spread of English and explore data from a wide range of Englishes.

Level H (Year Three) Advanced Study of English Language

During Year 3, all English Language students will study the following:

• In Year 3 lectures in Sociolinguistics and Research Methods you will engage with contemporary research and develop your skills of critical and evaluative thinking more fully. Building on the knowledge and skills developed over the previous two years, you will interrogate the relationship between language and society through detailed study of contemporary sociolinguistic case studies. In addition, you will study Special Topics in Sociolinguistics which cover the research specialisms of members of staff. Currently the Special Topics are Language, Gender and Sexuality and Language and Culture

• You will learn to contextualise and critique different methods and techniques in sociolinguistic research, thus enabling you to develop an understanding of current research methods and the applicability of these to your own research projects.

• At this level you will pursue a sustained, supervised independent research project and will have the opportunity to present your findings at an Honours conference.

During Year 3, all Single Honours English Language students will study the following:

Multilingualism and Language Policy

This lecture and seminar strand extends the sociolinguistic strand permeating all levels of the programme. You will investigate how present-day sociolinguistic theories can be applied in order to gain a better understanding of the key issues in individual and societal multilingualism. You will learn how multilingual societies function at societal and institutional levels and how national language policy and planning influences people’s multilingual abilities.

TESOL

This seminar strand provides you with a sound basis for a career in teaching English as a foreign language. Having learned how language works both structurally and in its various social and cultural contexts, you will explore the theories, approaches and methodologies related to teaching and learning English.

6

The Psychology of Language

You will gain insights into how the multi-layered, dynamic nature of identities is realised through linguistic behaviour and reflected in the perception of languages and linguistic varieties. In addition you will learn about cognitive processes such as attention, memory, language processing, perception and problem-solving.

All level 3 students attend a tutorial strand in the first term which helps them to develop and implement their research and project planning skills as they pursue their independent research projects.

Single Honours students receive one-to-one supervision as they conduct sustained, supervised independent study in the form of a dissertation

The following is a selection of dissertation titles in 2015:

• ‘Mummy teached me how to talks’: How mothers modify their language to aid child language acquisition

• How does gender affect understandings of the term ‘sexual assault’ and how are women and men portrayed in discussion around this subject?

• ‘I’m not posh! I’m just southern’: An investigation into the attitudes and preconceptions towards British accents and potential links to intelligence

• The use of AAVE in The Wire and how it is stereotyped through the use of African-American characters

• South Africa, a linguistic identity rainbow: An investigation into the language, ethnicity and identity of two students

All year 3 students have an opportunity to showcase their research project or dissertation at an Honours Conference.

7

Employability and Career OpportunitiesA degree in English Language opens many doors. As many employers advertise vacancies to graduates without specifying a degree subject, English Language graduates can enter a wide range of careers. Many of our graduates go on to employment in fields such as publishing, education, journalism, broadcasting, marketing and public relations. The subject specific knowledge gained also provides grounding for careers in language therapy and forensic linguistics, with further training.

Throughout your degree, you will have the opportunity to explore career options and opportunities for further study based on the critical skills developed during your English Language degree. You will acquire many highly valuable skills throughout the course of your degree; these include a sophisticated level of analytical thinking,

highly developed communication skills, excellent organisational skills and advanced writing skills all of which significantly enhance your CV. To many employers, these skills are highly sought after and are often more important than the actual subject of your degree. An English Language degree also provides an excellent basis for postgraduate study and many of our students choose to pursue our expanding range of MA programmes at Liverpool Hope, including the MA English Language and Linguistics.

8

• In the National Student Survey, over 90% of English students said the course was intellectually stimulating, and that staff are enthusiastic about what they teach

• Our external examiner praised the use of “in-depth specialist courses” that “speak to the research and teaching interests of the members of the teaching team”. She commented: “The range of courses on offer and their coverage of the discipline are impressive”

• Your tutors co-ordinate and take part in Departmental research seminars and participate in international conferences, most recently in New Zealand, Canada and Brazil

• The Department has hosted events for The British Association of Applied Linguistics Special Interest Group on Language and Gender and for the Higher Education Academy’s English Subject Centre. In 2014, the Department hosted the UK’s Linguistics Olympiad, a competition for secondary school pupils in which they have to solve linguistic data problems

Why study this subject at Liverpool Hope?

• The English Department regularly hosts extra-curricular events and activities, conferences and visits, for example, to the British Library. To foster a sense of multiculturalism, visits have included trips to a local mosque and synagogue

• The English Department frequently invites visiting speakers, most recently Professor Paul Baker who gave a lecture titled ‘A Corpus Investigation into how heterosexual men construct gender in personal advertisements comparing Australia, India and Singapore’

• The department supports students’ initiatives, for example, an English Society, writing workshop and reading group. You will be invited to share your interests in a lively research community

• In 2013-14 over £30,000 was spent on new books and online library resource for the English Department.

9

Graduate Profiles

Jacque Linton

I thoroughly enjoyed my time studying English Language at Liverpool Hope and would definitely recommend it to any prospective students.

One thing that appealed to me was that the course seemed to be set out to encourage independent research. There are small projects in the second year which help to prepare you for your dissertation in the final year.

Another major reason for choosing Hope is the department staff. All are active researchers, they are aware of the most recent work in their fields and use examples from their own work where it applies. More importantly, the tutors are friendly and can be easily approached if you have questions or want to discuss anything.

Carmel Middleton

Hope offered me the combination of subjects which I most enjoy. My initial, mature student fears were allayed by Hope’s friendly, open accessibility to students of all ages and cultures. I now own a property business and travel extensively, but aim to return to Hope to continue my studies.

Dr Salman Al-Azami, Senior Lecturer

Dr Salman Al-Azami did his PhD in Linguistics and specialises in bilingualism, language in education, religion in the media,

South Asian popular culture, and language and multiculturalism. He teaches World Englishes and Mulitilingualism in second and third years respectively and shares first year teaching with colleagues. His publications include a number of articles in reputed journals and two monographs. He is currently writing his third book on language, religion and the media.

Professor Cynthia S. Hamilton, Head of Department

Professor Cynthia S. Hamilton has served on the Executive Committee of the British Association

for American Studies and the Board of the Collegium for African American Research. She is a General Editor for FORECAAST (Liverpool University Press). She has been a Senior Visiting Fellow, Rothermere American Institute (Oxford) and a Peterson Fellow, American Antiquarian Society. In 1997, she received the Arthur Miller Prize. Her work examines the dynamics of popular literary genres.

Dr Manel Herat, Lecturer

Dr Manel Herat received her PhD from the University of Leeds. Her primary research interests are in the psychology of language and

Englishes around the world. Her published work focuses on aspects of English and language use in Sri Lanka. Her articles have appeared in Language Variation and Change, Leeds University Working Papers, California Linguistic Notes and in edited collections. Her current research focuses on the interface of Buddhist philosophy and linguistic theory. She is also interested in the interface between language and cognition.

Dr Ruth Kircher, Lecturer

Dr Ruth Kircher’s research is in the fields of sociolinguistics and the social psychology of language, and she

is particularly interested in societal multilingualism and related phenomena such as language attitudes, social identities, the endangerment of minority languages, and language policy and planning. Her teaching at both BA and MA level is in these areas. She has degrees from the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg in Germany, the University of Durham and the University of London, and she has published articles in the Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics and the Journal of French Language Studies as well as chapters in several edited volumes. She is currently working on a monograph titled Social Identities and Language Attitudes in Quebec: Implications for Language Policy and Planning.

Academic Staff Profiles

10

11

Dr Linda McLoughlin, Senior Lecturer

Dr Linda McLoughlin teaches the third level course Sociolinguistics and the MA Language and Linguistics. Her research

straddles critical discourse analysis and sociolinguistics and is primarily focused on language, gender and sexuality. She has published a monograph entitled The Language of Magazines, which uncovers the ideological messages permeating magazine texts. She has degrees from Lancaster, Edge Hill and the University of Liverpool.

Dr Lisa Nahajec, Lecturer

Dr Nahajec returned to education as a mature student and completed her BA (Hons), MA and PhD at the University

of Huddersfield. Between 2007 and 2012 she taught on a variety of modules at the University of Huddersfield and Coventry University around the stylistics of literary texts. Dr Nahajec currently teaches on the Level I Language, Ideology and Power and Studies in Media Language course elements. Her research focuses on the pragmatics of linguistic negation (not, no, never, none) and its literary and ideological effects in written texts. She has published on negation in

poetry and has a forthcoming chapter on negation and characterisation in Ben

Elton’s Stark and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Dr Nahajec

is currently working on a monograph on negation and

ideology in non-fictional texts.

Liverpool Hope UniversityHope ParkLiverpool L16 9JD

t: 0151 291 3111e: enquiry@hope.ac.ukwww.hope.ac.uk

If you require this document in another format please contact us.The University reserves the right to make variations to the content or methods of delivery of courses.