English for a Career in Linguistics

English majors have strong reading, writing, and analytical skills, as well as an understanding of the broader cultural, historical, and literary contexts in which acts of reading and writing take place. In particular, English majors are able to read and interpret literary texts with sophistication, to produce academic writing attentive to audience and purposes, and to use interpretive skills to think critically about the diverse world around them.

As an academic discipline, linguistics is the scientific study of language as a system of human communication; the study of linguistics provides one with fundamental and essential knowledge of language in daily communication and activities.

Linguistics is concerned with systematically studying and analyzing language, as well as understanding language acquisition and development. Linguistic knowledge enables us to become more observant and conscious of language, and to be more appreciative of our own native language as well as other languages and cultures in the world.

According to WorldWideLearn, graduates with linguistic backgrounds “often find career opportunities in publishing, teaching, psychology, anthropology, neurology, speech recognition, communications, philosophy, and artificial intelligence.”

For instance, English majors with a linguistics background might work as teachers of English as a second language, speech pathologists, natural language processing technicians, legal analysts, court interpreters, editorial staff, translators, lexicographers, or librarians. High-tech companies and government agencies often recruit graduates with linguistics backgrounds.

The Department of English currently offers the following courses with strong linguistic content: Eng 209 (Introduction to Linguistics), Eng 309 (Modern Grammar), Eng 370 (Language and Culture), Eng 418 (Second Language Acquisition), 419 (Teaching English as a Second Language), and Eng 442 (History of the English Language), in addition to several graduate courses.

Connect With an English Advisor

If you are interested in pursuing English major with a linguistic background, contact Dr. Xiaozhao Huang to be your academic advisor. He can help you select courses and research career opportunities.