In the life of an English Language student, you get asked a lot of questions about what you actually do.
People confuse it with literature and when told it’s completely different, they’re left bewildered.
Let’s take a look at some FAQs about the English Language degree lifestyle and my answers…
You do drama and what, sorry?
English Language.
So that’s like reading books and stuff, yeah?
Nope.
Sooo, what do you do then?
Linguistics.
Ah cool, what language you learning then?
English…
Right… so what do you learn about English?
We learn about spoken and written English.
Sounds cool, what else?
We learn about language in texting, on social media and all modes of technology too.
Idk why that’s relevant, but that’s gr8.
– Idk is initialism for I don’t know
– Gr8 is homophonic representation for great
We learn it because there are many ways people talk to each other on the internet and it’s similar to spoken language.
Plus, we debate why people who use this type of speech. Are they short for time? Are they lazy? Are they educated? Are they being creative? Are they trying to be cool? What is the age of people using this? What gender uses this the most?
All of this is taken into account when analysing language.
Alright. Alright! Calm down, nerd. Why does it matter what gender uses it?
Well, we look at recorded speech (transcripts) of male/female interactions and observe the differences.
We then apply different theories to understand why they use certain features.
Believe or not, different genders do, in fact, talk differently – Look up Lakoff and Tannen.
Nah, I’m good. All I wanted to know is what you do in an average lecture.
Listen and discuss theories, learn and write phonetic symbols, learn about different dialects and trying speaking in various accents.
My favourite dialects Multicultural London English, which is the speech of some inner-city youth in London, but has spread to many parts of England.
Hmmm, so you’re gonna be a teacher?
No.
Well, no offence, but how is knowing this going to get you places?
Over the three years, you’ll develop clear written expression, immense research skills and because you know the terminology and the attitudes/reactions when used, you can use them in creative ways.
This is especially prevalent in the text on posters because we understand the techniques used and the purpose it’s trying to achieve.
Therefore, we could get creative jobs in media, publishing and advertising as we know the psychology behind language, m8.
Ok, I understand now. Thank you, Christopher.
My pleasure.
Worcester Student Life 