Linguistics and English Language

Student in the Phonetics lab using the equipment
Study
Research

Introduction

Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster is one of the largest of its kind in the UK. For 50 years we have been known internationally for innovative qualitative and quantitative research on language that advances both theory and practical applications.

We have a state-of-the-art Phonetics Lab and cutting-edge eye-tracking and EEG equipment for psycholinguistic research. We are one of the world’s top centres for corpus linguistics and its applications and we are internationally known for our work in fields such as critical discourse analysis, language testing, literacy research and cognitive linguistics.

More recently, we have developed our expertise in sociophonetics, forensic linguistics, business communication and intercultural communication. We are committed to high quality teaching - we like our students to have access to our research through our courses. New ideas and developments feed directly into what our students learn. Some of our staff have received awards for teaching and we constantly strive to improve.

In the Research Excellence Framework 2021 (REF2021), Linguistics was submitted to Modern Languages and Linguistics. We achieved the highest possible score for impact and are rated ‘outstanding’ for 100% of our research impact. Linguistics is also rated ‘world-leading’ for 100% of its research environment and ranked 2nd in the UK for overall research quality.

  • 100% of research impact rated 'outstanding'
  • 100% of research environment rated 'world-leading'
  • Ranked 2nd in the UK for overall research quality

The REF shows that Linguistics continues to be a large and diverse discipline in which nearly all staff both teach and do internationally-recognised research.

Study

A stock image of 3 people including a young boy engaging with a smartphone while talking and laughin

Julia Gillen on Toddlers, Tech and Talk

Professor Julia Gillen has been busy discussing her recent research project, “Understanding how very young children learn language and literacy at home in a post-digital age” with a variety of audiences. Also known as Toddlers, Tech and Talk, the study is a highly topical investigation of very young children and their uses of digital technology in homes. The ESRC funded project, in which Julia was a co-investigator, took place between May 2022 and December 2024 and is the most large-scale investigation of this area in the UK to date, of this little researched age group.

Evidence submitted by Julia to the House of Lords Communications and Digital Media Select Committee inquiry in Media Literacy was published in April. Recent practitioner audiences have included the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists Clinical Excellence Network and the London Early Years Advisors’ Forum. Julia says, “It’s great to talk about research results with people with strong opinions and existing experience. There is so much alarmist material in the media and our research presents more nuanced findings. We’re also responding to requests for more open access materials, through focussing on our summary report, policy briefs and infographics, besides academic outputs.”