English Language and Literature

Course summary

During this course, you will develop your written and verbal communication skills to a high level, which is particularly valuable for jobs in teaching, management, law, and the media. This course is the integrated study of both English Language and English Literature. For the language side, you will study different aspects of the English Language, discover how it is put together (e.g. syntax and grammar), how the language has developed and changed over the past 600 years, and how we adapt our spoken language depending on various factors (namely, what we are talking about, who we are with, and where we are). Spoken language is also explored through the language of performance texts and by investigating spontaneous language. You will apply your knowledge of syntax and grammar from the language side to the literature side by exploring plays, novels, autobiographies, and poetry from both a language and literature perspective. For the literature side, you will also study how writers from different centuries express ideas about a range of themes. Through group work, whole-class discussions, and individual research/reading, this course will develop your oral, reading, writing, and critical thinking skills further. To enhance your understanding of the course and English in general, we also organise workshops, lectures, cinema/theatre visits, among other things.