English Language and Creative Writing (Study Abroad)

From the sonnet to the novel and from theatre to video-games, you will hone your craft with extensive professional support from our many celebrated novelists, poets and playwrights. At the same time, you will discover how the language you are writing in works, by exploring the kaleidoscope of English variation – its regional dialects, storytellers and ways of looking at the world – with our global leaders. You will graduate not only as a skilled writer but also as someone who understands English at a deep level as well as what they themselves are doing with the language.

Why Lancaster?

• Learn from experts who are world renowned for their research in literacies, English dialects, Shakespearean language, the language of media, and more

• Explore the English language from a range of perspectives, drawing on subjects such as history, psychology and politics

• Enhance your professional skills with internships allowing you to work with members of staff on a ground-breaking English language research project

• Explore the professional dimensions of creative writing, such as performing your work, editing, publishing, and marketing

• Get involved with our four student-run literary journals: Cake, Lux, Flash, and Errant and our partners, the city-based LitFest

• Enhance your writing through both text-based writing experiments and workshops focusing on your own writing

Understanding the English language

Understanding where English came from, how it works, how it is used, how it varies now and how it has changed and continues to change over time is key to understanding our societies, identities, institutions and practices.

In this fascinating subject, you will study fundamental issues including:

• The history and development of English

• The accents and dialects of English in the UK and beyond

• The way English is connected to ideas of gender and ethnicity

• Creative uses of English in areas like politics, media, advertising and literature

Explore creative forms

Lancaster was one of the very first UK universities to teach Creative Writing. Today, we continue to lead the way in the discipline with celebrated authors as tutors and students who go on to publish their work.

In your own writing, you will be able to explore traditional forms such as the short story, the novel, poetry, or scriptwriting, as well as non-traditional forms such as digital media, game writing, screenwriting, fantasy, and writing for young adults.

Develop a widely sought after skill set

English Language is not just a fascinating area of study, but also an opportunity to gain a skill set that opens doors to a range of exciting and rewarding careers. Transferable skills include a capacity for critical thinking, an ability to gather, organise and analyse large quantities of data, and an aptitude for developing new and innovative ideas.

Each year, we invite current students to apply for a research internship. These are paid opportunities in which students work closely with academic members of staff on active research projects. These opportunities will allow you to gain advanced research skills that are valuable to employers and apply your academic knowledge in real world situations. Recently, our students have worked as interns on the following projects:

• Accent variation in historic north Lancashire

• Discourses around vaccinations during the Covid-19 pandemic

• En Clair: Forensic Linguistics, Literary Detection, and Language Mysteries podcast

For Creative Writing, if you are interested in writing, publishing, and editing you could choose to get involved in one of our four student-run literary journals. You could also apply for one our residential internships at Wordsworth Grasmere.

Study abroad

The study abroad option is an exciting opportunity for anyone who is thinking of working abroad during their career or who simply wants the experience of living and studying overseas as part of their degree.