Course summary

This certificate explores human communication by focusing on the English language, its history, diversity and flexibility. You’ll learn what distinguishes machine language from human language, and how people adapt and change their ways of communicating in multilingual and multicultural contexts. You’ll investigate how language works with other modes of communication and learn basic language description and analysis. You’ll also explore English as a creative medium to express humour, thoughts and emotions. It’s not, however, designed to teach English to speakers of other languages. Key features of the course

• Explores the contemporary diversity of English in the UK and beyond.

• Introduces debates surrounding the historical and contemporary position of English in relation to other languages.

• Teaches strategies that promote critical evaluation of texts.

• Develops you as a competent communicator.

• Reveals how the English language works, and how the choice of words and grammar affect the message.