If you enjoy learning about the past and you’re also fascinated by the use of language and how it shapes the world around us, then this course is for you. We cover a broad range of topics enabling you to explore medieval and modern history, while also specialising within English language and linguistics.

• History has a 91.6% student satisfaction rating (NSS 2020).
• You can choose option modules to focus on the topics that interest you the most.
• You’ll gain valuable real world experience. In Year 2 you’ll also have the chance to go on a work placement, designed to enhance your skills ready for employment.
• Innovative assessments such as analysing children’s speech development, pitching an idea for a historical video game or creating a visitor trail for a national museum.
• State-of-the-art facilities including a forensic linguistics lab, a research and resource centre and conference labs.
• Our team of English academic staff are ranked in the top 5 in the UK for the quality of their research publications (REF 2014).

On the course you’ll be introduced to the basic concepts and theories of linguistics. We’ll encourage you to study the role of language in society and how it helps humans understand things: how we acquire it, how it changes and evolves, and how it forms such an array of ways to communicate. We’ll carry out conversation analysis, sociolinguistics and stylistics to get under the surface of the spoken or written word.

Placements

The course offers a compulsory five-week work placement in Year 2. The course also offers an optional one-year (48 weeks) work placement after the second year. This will give you the opportunity to gain valuable hands-on experience, insight into your chosen career and open up your graduate employment prospects. Our Placement Unit and academic staff have excellent industry links and can support you in applying for and finding your placement(s), as well as during your placement year.

Recent graduates have taken placements at the Royal Armouries Museum, Wilsons Solicitors, Kirklees TV, West Yorkshire Archives Service, the Barclays Archive Group, Aviva Insurance, the National Media Museum and a number of primary and secondary schools.

Your Career

As an English Language and History graduate, you are valued for the advanced skills you have developed in analysis and communication, self-motivation, teamwork, creative problem solving and persuasiveness. Studying history alongside English allows you to keep your career options open.

Our graduates have gone on to a variety of careers within teaching, writing, local government, archives, the media, PR, law, politics and accountancy.

A selection of organisations that have employed Huddersfield graduates in recent years include BBC, Roma Publication, Emerald Group Publishing, House of Commons, the Civil Service, Royal Armouries Museum and British Red Cross. Others have opted for PGCE study and have become teachers, or continued their studies at Master's level.**