Why study English Language? Have a look at the questions below. If you answer ‘yes’ to all or most, then this is the subject for you: • Are you interested in how language is never the same, but always changing? • Are you curious about how language links to gender, technology and power? • Are you keen to discover how children learn language so quickly? • Do you ever wonder why – or if – accent and dialect matter? Features of the course: Expect your linguistic journey to be both varied and challenging. The course explores the English language from all angles, from delving inside the grammar to see how it works, to ranging through the modern, technical, and historical, traditional world to explore its multiple influences. Along the way you will learn about areas such as: • The impact of technology on language (text speak, anyone? Or what about why our spelling system looks the way it does?) • The way accent and dialect are used and perceived (‘gan yam, anyone?’) • How different genders use language, and how those in power use it to control • About issues which are current both in the popular press and linguistic forums (did you know that teenagers write school essays in ‘text speak’? No, neither did we, but the press does!) Finally, you will complete an independent study (coursework), investigating an area of language study that interests you. This can be anything you have touched on through the course.