Why I chose the University of York
When I was looking at different courses for French and Spanish, I prioritised not only those with language-specific content, but also linguistics. I found that York struck a great balance between both of these aspects.
Each semester is divided into 3 modules: Spanish, French and linguistics. I love that they are all completely different, and varying styles of teaching and assessment present unique opportunities that make studying really fun.
Opportunities within the department
Throughout the year, communication has been consistent and really helpful, such as when to choose modules for second year. Not only that, but weekly careers newsletters have opened my eyes to jobs, as well as workshops and placements opportunities I’ve never considered. There are also lots of ways to get involved in the department.
I have even been so lucky, as an ab-initio French student, to have been awarded a scholarship towards studying French in France for 3 weeks this summer. I’m beyond excited about this opportunity!
Studying French and Spanish
One of my favourite things about studying languages is that seminar sizes are pretty much guaranteed to be small. Seminars are almost completely interactive, and conversing in the language you are learning is such an effective way to develop confidence. This is because most of the teachers are native speakers of the language they teach.
I began French from ab initio (from scratch), so I didn’t really know what I was getting into – there were lots of contact hours in addition to homework, but the effect this had on my learning was incredible. Whilst semester one focused more on current French culture and learning the fundamentals of the language, semester two delved into French history. Throughout the year, we had weekly seminars dedicated to grammar, which was honestly my favourite part of the week. Assessment was through oral and written exams, as well as essays.
Spanish post-A level built on our understanding of Spanish before university, through a more weighted focus on content than grammar. Some of the topics we covered included the geography of Spain and immigration. Like with French, we were assessed through oral/written exams and essays.
First year linguistics modules
In semester one, I completed the module Understanding Language in the Real World, which combined both language and linguistic perspectives to produce outcomes as part of the Problem Based Learning (PBL) approach. Lectures either introduced concepts relevant to the problems or academic skills, such as academic referencing, whilst seminars were completely collaborative. In groups, we were given briefs and worked through a cycle to identify the problems and produce outputs, the formats varying from essays to a presentation and reflective writing (discussing your experience of the module). This was a fascinating approach to learning, as well as building academic and teamwork skills.
In semester two, I completed a module called English Past and Present, which covered historical and sociolinguistic approaches to linguistic study. We had two content lectures followed by a seminar each week, which helped consolidate our learning. I found this especially useful for clarifying concepts about the history of English. Unsurprisingly, there was a lot to cover! You could tell that the lecturers are so passionate about their subjects and it was interesting to learn about their research. Assessments involved an essay and an open online exam, which really appealed to me as someone who prefers to write essays than revise.
My reflections after first year
The Department of Language and Linguistic Science is not a large department, so I’ve found that learning feels personal. Knowing that teachers will follow up on the work that they have given us definitely motivates me to work harder! You can tell that they care about your progress, especially with the focus on building academic skills alongside learning content.
Linguistics has engaged me in concepts and studies that I had never considered before. I find myself paying much more attention when listening to someone talk, like what do they call a bread roll? What can this tell me about where they’re from? You’d be surprised how much you can tell about a person from the way they speak and how much a linguistics student will talk about it…
Ab-initio French is very intense. However, the fact that we will be joining the post-A level French group in second year proves how rewarding it is. I love the way Spanish teachers incorporated music and films into seminars. They were really relevant to the topics we were studying.
Read more blogs about languages here.
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