Bachelors Degree English Language & Culture

The full Bachelor’s programme English Language and Culture takes three years. Each year consists of four blocks of ten weeks and ends with an exam week. In your first year, you will attend an average of 12-18 hours of education per week, taught entirely in English from day one.

Year 1

In your first year, you follow a series of courses as a basis for the rest of your Bachelor. These courses are compulsory and every first-year English student takes 60 EC.

Study period 1

→The Sound Lab

Improve your speaking proficiency by practising your pronunciation, among other things, and improve your listening skills as well, guiding you to be able to speak with a native-like accent, whether that be American English or Standard Southern British English.

→The Writers’ Lab

Improve your writing by focusing on skills such as developing an argument, reading English literature classics, working through a writing and editing process and having discussions. This course also gives you an introduction on how to write an academic essay, and use academic language.

Study period 2

→ Prescribing and Describing English

Everything there is to know about English grammar, in both historical English as well as contemporary English. Learn to apply the most commonly used grammatical rules and become acquainted with different accents in English, you will learn to recognise these accents by listening and learning their features.

→A New Dawn: Renaissance Literature 1400-1700

In this course you will familiarise yourselves with one of the most influential periods of English literature and with an era that in various ways marks the beginning of the modernity. This course covers texts like the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer and Anthony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare, and looks at how these texts were shaped by (international) religious, cultural and political contexts.

 Study period 3

→ Foundations of English Linguistics

This course provides an introduction to core concepts in the areas of syntax, morphology, phonology and phonetics, aiming at a sophisticated understanding of native speakers’ unconscious knowledge of the structure of English words and sentences, and a basic understanding of the way in which this knowledge is acquired.

→ The Making of Modernity: English Literature in 1660-1850

This course explores the period 1660-1850, a time of seminal change in understandings of categories of existence including race, gender, sexuality, class, empire, capital, and nature. The course introduces students to a wide range of writers, like William Blake and Jane Austen, and provides a rich overview of this period in Anglophone literary history

Study period 4

→ Historical Linguistics and Language Change across the British Isles

This course looks at the change that the English language has gone through from Proto-IndopEuropean to the modern English that we know now, looking at the influences of other languages and researching the etymological backgrounds of words.

→ Brave New Worlds: Literature in English, 1850s-1950

The course will consider the distinctive characteristics of a range of literary genres; identify the historical and cultural movements specific to each time period within the century; and read the themes and formal elements of poetry, prose and essays against the social and political backgrounds that compose the ‘Brave New Worlds’ of the era. You will read works by authors like Virginia Woolf and Emily Dickins.

Year 2

Specialisation

From the second year you will delve into the field of English language and culture of your choice. Each specialisation consists of four courses.

In the course descriptions of the 2nd year you will find which courses belong to which specialisation. An in-depth package consists of about 30 EC, in addition there are other compulsory courses, and there is room for electives (these are further explained under specialisation).

→Specialisation 1 & 4 with, in year 2 block 1,TL2V18002 Topics in Linguistics

→Specialisation 2 & 3 with, in year 2 block 1, TL2V18001 Literary Studies, An Introduction

Specialisation 1: Language Learning and Teaching across the Lifespan

This specialisation focuses on first and second language acquisition in naturalistic settings, as well as foreign language teaching and learning in school settings. The four courses take an interdisciplinary approach at the intersection of psycholinguistics, pedagogy, (developmental, social and cognitive) psychology, sociolinguistics and clinical linguistics. You will learn about current scientific and societal debates regarding new approaches to language teaching, multilingualism and the development of linguistic attitudes. You will also familiarize yourself with a plethora of research methods and learn to apply them in research projects. This specialisation offers a perfect preparation for the Master’s programme in Meertaligheid en taalverwerving (in Dutch), the Research Master’s programmes in Linguistics and Educational Sciences, as well as the teacher training Master’s programme. Click here for more information about the courses.

Specialisation 2: Self, Others, and the Literary World

This track explores the interrelation between self and community in literary texts spanning the medieval to the present day. It offers students the opportunity to delve into the fictional worlds of historical texts, including poetry, drama and novels. Using a variety of critical methodologies for situating these works in their historical context, they will gain an understanding of how literary explorations of self (and other) and the community were shaped by contemporary concerns and thus develop a sense of historical sensitivity. The four courses each focus on a different period of time and build on each other regarding intertextuality and their thematic focus. Click here for more information about the courses

Specialisation 3: Transforming texts

Upon completion of these courses, you will have acquired the requisite literary knowledge to conduct research within the areas of creative writing and translation. Learn to approach literature from both theoretical and practical perspectives, while deepening your understanding of translation by means of a case study. You will apply your knowledge in the Creative Writing course. This specialisation provides a strong foundation for translation, but is also compatible with the teacher training Master’s programme. Click here for more information about the courses.

Specialisation 4: The Social Life of English

This specialisation focuses on how people use varieties of English and other languages in different contexts.You will learn theory and research practices from the fields of sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, life writing, and language pedagogy. You will study and write about connections between language variation and identities while considering applications for educational contexts. This specialisation provides a strong foundation for the Master’s programmes in multilingualism and language acquisition, intercultural communication, as well as the teacher training Master’s programme. Click here for more information about the courses.

Additional Mandatory Courses and Electives in year 2:

In addition to the mandatory courses in your specialisation, per block you have an additional mandatory course in blocks 1 and 3 and an elective in blocks 2 and 4.

Block 1, for specialisation 1 and 4: Topics in Linguistics, this course is taken by everyone who takes part in a Linguistics specialisations within the English program.

Block 1, for specialisation 2 and 3: … this course is taken by everyone who takes part in a Literature specialisations within the English program.

Block 3 you have free choice in 4 courses, although they are recommended for either linguistics or literature. These courses are:

• Methods and Statistics 1 (Recommended for specialisation 1 and 4)
• Research Methods Intercultural Communication (Recommended for specialisation 1 and 4)
• Literary Toolbox (Recommended for specialisation 2 and 3)
• Vertalen en Vertaalwetenschappen (Recommended for specialisation 2 and 3)

In addition, you can choose electives from other studies, departments or other in-depth packages in block 2 and 4. What makes Utrecht University special is that these electives can be chosen from any department within the university, for example Social and Behavioural Sciences or Law, Econimics and Governance.

Year 3

In your third year there is also room for profiling by choosing electives, in which you can follow courses from other studies or from other in-depth packages.

In your third year you have even more room to choose than in year two. Here you can opt for a Minor in another field, an internship or, for example, studying abroad. In your third year it is customary to write your Bachelor’s thesis. In preparation for your thesis, you will be given a course in block 1 or block 3 of your third year that will prepare you for this. You can then start writing your thesis as soon as you have completed the Capstone Course.

EN3V14001BA Thesis Written in year 3 block 2, 3 or 4 after the compulsory Capstone Course. A Second VP/Minor can be replaced by 30 ECTS abroad.