Language, Culture and Communication

Learn to critique different ideologies about culture and evaluate news and other forms of public discourse. You’ll develop critical and analytical skills to dissect the ways language is used in politics, media, and communications.

Whether you're interested in academic research or a career in communications fields like journalism, public relations, marketing or diplomacy, you'll gain the critical skills and theoretical rigour you need to understand how people use different linguistic strategies to communicate in and across different cultures.

Course highlights

At Birmingham, we consider discourse in social, political, historical and cultural contexts across different modes of communication.

We examine ‘culture’ as something that’s created by the stories we tell ourselves about others.

In one seminar, you might learn how to analyse everyday stylised discourse examples (e.g., a political speech) from cognitive-linguistic or socio-linguistic perspectives.

In another seminar you might consider how someone's social status, gender, ideology or ‘cultural’ assumptions are reflected in their interactions with others.

You'll benefit from our varied research interests in the Department of Linguistics and Communication to enhance your understanding of language use.

In the second term there are optional modules you can choose from, allowing you to specialise in areas that capture your interest. Optional modules may include topics from Corpus Linguistics, to TESOL Language Education, to issues in Language and New Media or Language, Power and Identity.

- Critique the concept of culture and how it’s connected to communication.

- Identify linguistic strategies used in different forms of discourse – for example mass media, social media political speeches, business meetings and adverts.

- Develop the critical thinking skills vital for many careers.

- Become part of a World Top 30 Linguistics department that's renowned for research excellence (QS World University Rankings 2024).

- You'll learn from experts across fields of Applied Linguistics who are working on real world issues, such as the impact of metaphors in different cultural settings.