Languages and Language Teaching
Languages and language teaching is a degree that develops you both as a proficient linguist and as someone who understands how language learning works and how to teach it effectively. The combination is particularly valuable for those who want to teach modern languages or English, but the linguistic knowledge and teaching skills it builds are also relevant to a wide range of other professional contexts. Studying languages to a high level and simultaneously engaging with the theory and practice of language teaching makes you a more reflective and effective communicator in both roles.
At Birkbeck College, this part-time programme is designed for people who want to become proficient linguists while also developing the skills and knowledge to become effective teachers of modern languages or English, as the course description captures. You will develop linguistic proficiency in one or more of French, German, Italian, Japanese, or Spanish alongside engagement with the theoretical frameworks of applied linguistics, language acquisition, and pedagogy. Birkbeck's distinctive model of part-time and evening study makes this programme accessible to those who are working or have existing commitments alongside their studies, and the combination of linguistic and pedagogical training is directly applicable to many professional contexts from the first year of the programme.
Graduates from this programme go on to work as language teachers in schools, colleges, and universities, as language tutors, as teachers of English as a foreign language in the UK and abroad, and in roles requiring linguistic skills and intercultural competence in business, publishing, translation, international organisations, and diplomatic contexts. Many graduates use the degree as a foundation for teacher training qualifications or for postgraduate study in applied linguistics, TESOL, or modern language education. The combination of language skills and educational understanding is also valuable in community education, refugee support, and intercultural training.