Home Page, Department of Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University

Welcome to Linguistics and
English Language

We are ranked 10th in the world for Linguistics in the international QS rankings for 2013. Our specialisms include Corpus Linguistics; Discourse Studies; Language Teaching, Learning and Assessment, Literacy Studies and many others. Over 70% of our undergraduate students attain a graduate level position 6 months after graduating. We offer many popular postgraduate programmes, onsite and distance.

PG Lake District Walk

Some postgraduate students and staff enjoyed a hike in the Lake District on 4th June 2013.

See all the photographs from the trip.
Conference for Teachers of A Level English Language

We are holding a one day conference on Friday 21st June 2013. Speakers from the Department will present research and discuss issues relevant to A-level English Language.

See the conference website for further details and registration.
Postgraduate Conference 2013

Registration is now open for the 8th Lancaster University Postgraduate Conference in Linguistics and Language Teaching.

The conference will take place on 15 July 2013. See the website for more details.
Recent book published

Figurative Language, Genre and Register (Cambridge University Press), by Alice Deignan, Jeannette Littlemore and Elena Semino was published in March 2013.

Elena Semino is Professor of Linguistics and Verbal Art here; Alice Deignan is Reader in Applied Linguistics at the University of Leeds, and Visiting Scholar in Lancaster's Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science; Jeannette Littlemore is Reader in Applied Linguistics at the University of Birmingham.
Dyslexia for Teachers of
English as a Foreign Language

We participate in the European Commission funded Dyslexia for Teachers of English as a Foreign Language project. With partners from 5 European countries and 2 other Higher Education institutions we have developed highly successful teacher training materials.
Academician Award for Ruth Wodak

Distinguished Professor Ruth Wodak has been elected an Academician of the British Academy of Social Sciences in 2013. This is well deserved recognition for the scope and significance of Ruth's work, and is a prestigious addition to Ruth's long list of titles and honours.

Read More >>
Book shortlisted for English Language
Union’s Duke of Edinburgh Prize.

Teaching languages to students with specific learning differences (Multilingual Matters, 2012) was included on a prestigious shortlist.

Judit Kormos, who co-authored the book with A.M. Smith, is a Reader in the Department. The book helps language teachers to work effectively with students who have specific learning differences such as dyslexia.
The Phonetics Lab

Lancaster University Phonetics Lab is based in the department and is dedicated to research and teaching in phonetics. The lab contains computer workstations with a range of phonetics software installed, alongside a large television screen, digital projector, and audio monitoring equipment.
New ESRC Research Centre Open

The Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science (CASS) is now open at Lancaster University. To find out more about how CASS uses technology to study the use and manipulation of language in society, visit http://cass.lancs.ac.uk
New book published

Language Online: investigating digital texts and practices (Routledge) was published in April 2013.

David Barton is Professor of Language and Literacy here and Carmen Lee, Assistant Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong formerly studied here.

Research

For the last forty years, we have been known for cutting-edge empirically-based theoretical and applied research in a wide range of research areas. We constantly strive to make links with potential users of our work. One of our latest developments is the £3.5million ESRC funded Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science.

Teaching

The 2014 Complete University Guide ranks us top in the North West for Linguistics and in the top 10 in the UK. We are committed to high quality teaching - we like our students to have access to our research through our courses. New ideas and developments feed directly into what our students learn. Some of our staff have received awards for teaching and we constantly strive to improve.