Would you like to focus on how language is used in historical, contemporary, and emerging forms of media? This degree scheme will allow you to analyse how language is used in newspapers, on websites, blogs, and social media, and how language differs depending on both the medium and genre. This degree is taught by staff highly rated in teaching and research in one of the largest and highly ranked Linguistics and English Language departments in the country.You will begin your academic career with us on the core English Language module. How do you describe the English Language in terms of its grammatical and sound systems? How does it function in different contexts? How does language interact with society? As well as exploring these questions, you will explore newer and emerging fields such as conversation analysis, corporate communication, and corpus linguistics. Our Part I system allows you to select two other modules in your first year, giving you increased choice and flexibility. This might be linguistics, but it might also be a course offered by another department from across the university. This flexible system means you don’t have to fully commit to a three-year degree scheme quite yet, and you have the opportunity to review your choices throughout your degree.In the second year, you’ll move on to core subjects such as English Phonetics, The Language of Advertising and Understanding Media. You can also pick from modules such as Stylistics and Corporate communication. 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.In your final year, your options include Forensic Linguistics, Language and Identities and Language Change in English and Beyond. You’ll also write your dissertation, exploring a topic that you’re particularly interested in. This is overseen by a member of staff from our department who specialises in your particular area. Given the size of the department, our academics will be able to supervise pretty much any topic and fit your interests.