English Language (Honours)

Overview

You’ll learn what distinguishes machine language from human language and how people adapt and change their ways of communicating in multilingual and multicultural contexts. 

You’ll investigate how language works from written texts and conversations down to words and the smallest units of sounds, through words, conversations and written texts. You’ll also explore English as a creative medium to express humour, thoughts and emotions. It’s not, however, designed to teach English to speakers of other languages.

Key features of the course

• Explores the history of English, its contemporary diversity, its role as a global language and its use in various parts of the world.

• Engages in debates surrounding the historical and contemporary position of English in relation to other languages.

• Teaches strategies that promote critical evaluation of texts in relation to the social, artistic and cultural contexts they’re produced in.

• Develops you as a competent communicator: able to synthesize information, assemble logical arguments and write coherently.

• Reveals how the English language works, and how the choice of words and grammar affect the message.

Career relevance

Study of the English language requires an understanding of the diverse national and cultural environments in which it is used as well as the historical and political circumstances around its development and spread around the world. The breadth of study and understanding of social, cultural and political influences on communicative contexts create graduates who are critical global citizens able to evaluate information relevant to a variety of national and international interactions. 

This makes this English Language (Honours) degree at The Open University UK relevant to a wide variety of careers, including:

• Public administration, local government, the civil service, and social services.

• Advertising, journalism, publishing, creative industries and public relations.

• Education.

• Legal work.

• Business, banking and retail.

• Human resources.

• Charities and campaigning.