Acting and English Language

Acting and English language is a combination that pairs the study and practice of performance with the scientific and literary study of language itself, creating a graduate with both the interpretive skills of an actor and the analytical understanding of how language works and how it has developed. Acting demands close attention to text, to subtext, to the way words are chosen and arranged to reveal character, drive narrative and create emotion. English language studies asks how language is structured, how it functions socially, how it varies across communities and contexts, and how the study of language can illuminate human communication and cognition.

At Liverpool Hope University this programme includes a foundation year and runs full time over four years in total. It also includes a sandwich year, a year abroad and work-placement experience, giving you the opportunity to develop professional experience in acting or language-related roles and to extend your learning in an international context. You will develop your acting craft across stage and screen, engaging with a range of performance styles, text analysis and practical work in performance contexts, alongside the study of linguistics, English language history and the social dimensions of language use.

You will develop skills in textual analysis, performance, voice, movement, linguistic analysis and professional communication, along with the self-awareness and collaborative ability that sustained acting training requires.

Graduates from acting and English language programmes pursue careers in performance across theatre, film, television and other media, as well as in language-related roles including teaching English as a foreign language, speech and language support, educational work, communications, publishing and journalism. The combination of performance training and language expertise is also relevant to roles in broadcasting, voice-over work and drama education. Postgraduate study in acting, linguistics or a related field is also a route.