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English Language and Linguistics | www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics | E admit@essex.ac.uk | T +44 (0)1206 873666


A course in English language, then, makes us think about how we acquire or learn language, how it’s changed, how it’s used, what it’s made of, how we teach it, how we understand it, what happens when it goes wrong and how it differs from one place to another.


Fourth in the UK for research.


Why study English language?


Although English is one of the most important and widely spoken languages in the world, it comes in a variety of different forms. On our English language courses, we look at what the English language can tell us in all its many guises. We look at how English is used in the media and in the marketplace, in courtrooms and in conversations (and ask what this tells us about the society in which we live). We look at how young children acquire English as their first language (and ask what this tells us about how a small child’s mind works). We examine how second language learners pick up English (and ask whether they do so in the same way a child acquires English). We look at language disorders, both in children and adults (and ask what this tells us about how the human mind processes language). We look at English to answer some of the fundamental questions we have about how we communicate as human beings.


The answers to these questions enable us to explore connections between language and a wide range of other subjects such as psychology, history, sociology, and literature, to name but a


116 | Undergraduate Prospectus 2012


few. In examining the structure of English, we can see its historical relationships with other languages. In exploring the differences between first and second language acquisition, we can address the psychological question of how the ability to speak is wired in the brain, and whether that ability diminishes as we get older. In researching how men’s language differs from women’s, we can investigate the sociological concerns of power, identity and difference.


Language – whether spoken language or sign language – is something we all share. Studying English language, therefore, helps us not only to unpick many of the things we take for granted in everyday life – how we have a conversation, how we behave politely (or not), how people can produce extremely complex sentences in their own language but may struggle to produce a simple one in another language – but also to appreciate some of the many real-world uses to which language research is applied: in teaching (both first and second languages), in speech therapy (to attempt to repair language problems), in forensics (where language profiles are often used in the identification of suspects), in international trade (to facilitate cross-cultural communication), and so on.


Why come to Essex? English language is taught within the Department of Language and Linguistics, which was founded over four decades ago and comprises 35 members of teaching staff. We have an international reputation for our research excellence in theoretical linguistics, descriptive linguistics (particularly in relation to aspects of the structure of English), sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, first and second language acquisition, language disorders, and English language teaching. In the most recent Research Assessment Exercise (2008), we were ranked fourth in the UK for linguistics, with a quarter of our research rated as ‘world-leading’. We were ranked ninth in the UK in the 2010 National Student Survey (see page 5 for further details).


Our staff have published some of the leading textbooks in their fields (eg Andrew Radford’s An Introduction to English Sentence Structure, Andrew Spencer’s Morphological Theory, Roger Hawkins’ Approaches to Second Language Acquisition, Phil Scholfield’s Quantifying Language and Andrew Radford, Martin Atkinson, Harald Clahsen and Andrew Spencer’s Linguistics: An Introduction).


At Essex, then, you’ll be taught by people with an international reputation who are at the forefront of research in a wide range of areas of language study. The fact that we are also responsible for some of the best-known textbooks in our areas of specialisation indicates that we are especially committed to teaching as a vital part of higher education. All of this makes Essex a stimulating and exciting environment in which to study. At the same time, it is a very welcoming institution; our staff have a reputation for being open, friendly and approachable.


We also believe that one of the best ways to learn about the English language is to research it yourself – many of our modules incorporate student-led research


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