BA (Hons) English Language and Linguistics (Placement Year)

Last updated: August 30, 2023 | By  
BA (Hons) English Language and Linguistics (Placement Year)

Lancaster’s degree in English Language and Linguistics gives you the opportunity to learn from award-winning staff and national teaching fellows in the Department of Linguistics and English Language, ranked fourth for Linguistics in the Complete University Guide 2016.You’ll study areas of the English language which interest you – from English in literature to English accents and dialects – alongside wider questions relating to the sound, grammar and meaning systems of different languages. You’ll gain valuable analytical skills by addressing how language relates to thought; how children acquire languages, and comparing language with animal signalling systems.You’ll begin your degree with courses including Linguistics and English Language. In your second year, you’ll study subjects such as The Structures of Language and English Sounds and Structures. You’ll complete your degree with a Dissertation and modules including Topics in Linguistic Theory and/or Contemporary Methods in English Language Studies.You will have the opportunity to spend Year 3 on placement with a public, private or voluntary organisation in the UK or overseas. This experience will boost your employment prospects and will help you to decide on your career direction and the kind of organisation in which you want to work once you graduate. You will be doing a real, responsible job – with all the satisfaction that brings. Our Placements Team will support you in finding and applying for a suitable placement that will support your professional development. Applying for a placement is a competitive process and the preparatory modules you will complete in years one and two are designed to give you the best chance of success in your placement applications. You will also be provided with dedicated workshops, 1:1 appointments with careers professionals as well as opportunities to speak with employers here on campus.During the placement year you will remain a Lancaster University student which means that you will still be eligible for a student loan, have access to facilities such as the library and receive discounts on transport and council tax. Your tuition fee will be reduced to 20% during the placement year.The placement will enhance your understanding of the connections between theory and practice and this will benefit your final year of study. This is an exciting opportunity to build up experience and transferable skills, as well as to make contacts with potential employers which will place you a step ahead in the graduate recruitment market.CareersA degree in English Language and Linguistics helps you to develop an enquiring mind with analytical thinking – some of the many transferable skills that will increase your value to a potential employer.Your degree teaches you valuable expertise that’s of particular benefit for careers in education, language teaching, speech therapy, translation, information technology, management, the mass media, creative arts, social work and counselling. A sizeable proportion of our graduates take up employment overseas.Recent Lancaster graduates have gone on to work or train as speech therapists, teachers of English overseas, teachers of English as a mother tongue, computer programmers and consultants, bankers, chartered accountants, personnel managers, journalists and social workers.