
- UCAS course code
- QT34
- UCAS institution code
- M20
Course description
Our BA English Language and Arabic course will enable you to investigate the sounds, words and grammar of the English language, and discover the origin of English, its development and variation across the UK and beyond, and how it is used in different situations.
You will acquire the skills required for analytical language study alongside the means to apply those skills to the study of historical and present-day English. In addition, you will practise key transferable skills, such as essay writing and how to give a presentation.
The course allows students to achieve near-native proficiency in Arabic and to study the language within its cultural and historical context. You will start as an absolute beginner and go through to an advanced level over four years.
Language study offers much more than just language fluency. You'll explore diverse aspects of the culture, society, history, politics and literature of the countries in which Arabic is spoken, helping you to develop intercultural awareness and communication skills - both highly valued by employers.
You'll benefit from excellent teaching, student support and cutting-edge study facilities, as well as from the vibrancy and cultural diversity of Manchester itself, Western Europe's most multilingual city.
With placement options available at partner universities and in professional environments in an Arabic-speaking country, a compulsory third year abroad gives our undergraduate students unforgettable and invaluable personal and professional experience.
Special features
Study or work abroad
Your year abroad will offer the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of life in an Arabic-speaking country and further develop your language skills.
Learn from language experts
Language courses are mainly taught by native speakers of each language, giving you a richer learning experience.
Access outstanding resources
You'll have the opportunity to access cutting-edge resources, including one of the largest holdings of linguistics texts in the UK, and conduct research using English manuscripts held in our prestigious Special Collections.
Get involved with interesting projects
Our students are encouraged to take an active role in funded teaching-enhancement projects, whose outputs benefit them individually and collectively.
For example, some of our students have developed an online atlas of dialect variation in the UK and storyboards for the use in fieldwork.
Teaching and learning
You will learn through a mixture of formal lectures, seminars, and tutorials, spending approximately 12 hours a week in formal study sessions.
For every hour spent at university, you will be expected to complete a further two to three hours of independent study.
You will also need to study during the holiday periods.
The individual study component could be spent reading, producing written work, revising for examinations, or working in the University's Language Centre .
Coursework and assessment
You will be assessed in various ways, including:
- written and oral examinations;
- presentations;
- coursework (which may include library research, linguistic fieldwork and data collection, or web-based research).
Many course units are assessed through a mixture of techniques.
In your final year, you can choose to write a dissertation.
Course content for year 1
English Language
- You'll study the foundations of English grammar and be introduced to the history of English and varieties of English in the UK and further afield. You may also choose additional optional units, including those in which you learn about the study of meaning or of sounds, or learn how to investigate English using corpus methods.
Arabic
- First year study will concentrate on intensive language learning and features a core course on the contemporary Middle East.
You will take only the language units relevant to your level of language in each year of study.
Course units for year 1
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
---|---|---|---|
English Word and Sentence Structure | LELA10301 | 20 | Mandatory |
History and Varieties of English | LELA10342 | 20 | Mandatory |
History and Politics of the Middle East and North Africa | MEST10711 | 20 | Mandatory |
Arabic Language 1 | MEST51011 | 20 | Mandatory |
Arabic Language 2 | MEST51022 | 20 | Mandatory |
Language, Mind and Brain | LELA10201 | 20 | Optional |
The Sounds of Language | LELA10322 | 20 | Optional |
Study of Meaning | LELA10332 | 20 | Optional |
From Text to Linguistic Evidence | LELA10401 | 20 | Optional |
The History and Sociopolitics of Palestine/Israel (1882-1967) | MEST10041 | 20 | Optional |
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Course content for year 2
English Language
- Tailor your degree to suit your interests. While studying two compulsory units in subjects like language change, sociolinguistics, stylistics or pragmatics, you may additionally choose from a wide range of optional units tapping into academic expertise in specialist fields such as phonology and experimental phonetics, and psycholinguistics.
Arabic
- In the second year, you will continue your language learning, increase your reading of authentic texts and choose from a wide range of related subjects according to preference.
Course units for year 2
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
---|---|---|---|
Arabic Language 3 | MEST51031 | 20 | Mandatory |
Arabic Language 4 | MEST51042 | 20 | Mandatory |
Language, Mind and Brain | LELA10201 | 20 | Optional |
The Sounds of Language | LELA10322 | 20 | Optional |
Study of Meaning | LELA10332 | 20 | Optional |
From Text to Linguistic Evidence | LELA10401 | 20 | Optional |
Phonology | LELA20012 | 20 | Optional |
Analysing Grammar | LELA20022 | 20 | Optional |
Typology | LELA20032 | 20 | Optional |
Societal Multilingualism | LELA20101 | 20 | Optional |
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Course content for year 3
Your third year of study is spent abroad under approved conditions.
Course units for year 3
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
---|---|---|---|
Media and Business Arabic | MEST30182 | 20 | Mandatory |
Arabic Language 5 | MEST51050 | 20 | Mandatory |
Dissertation in Modern Languages and Cultures | LALC30000 | 40 | Optional |
Phonology | LELA20012 | 20 | Optional |
Analysing Grammar | LELA20022 | 20 | Optional |
Typology | LELA20032 | 20 | Optional |
Societal Multilingualism | LELA20101 | 20 | Optional |
Semantics | LELA20281 | 20 | Optional |
Pragmatics: Meaning, Context, and Interaction | LELA20291 | 20 | Optional |
The Changing English Language | LELA20402 | 20 | Optional |
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Course content for year 4
English Language
- Have complete freedom of choice among a wealth of different course options spanning subjects as diverse historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, child language development, formal semantics and syntax, and forensic linguistics.
- You will also have the option of writing a dissertation, where you explore and write about a particular topic in depth.
Arabic
- The fourth year covers an advanced language course, a variety of specialised thematic course choices in Middle Eastern Studies and beyond and finally a dissertation on an approved topic of your choice.
Facilities
As well as making use of the wider University library network, you will have access to the University Language Centre , a modern open learning facility where you can study independently and make use of a library and audio-visual resources.
There are also language laboratories and multimedia facilities.
For your English language studies, you will benefit from access to a wide range of technical facilities, online resources, and unique collections at the John Rylands Library.
Learn more on the facilities pages for Linguistics and English Language and Modern Languages and Cultures .