About the Language Studies department

Our newly created interdisciplinary Language Studies Department provides students at the undergraduate and graduate level with language-focused courses and programs that give them the opportunity to delve into the nature of language and how it enables humans to express themselves, to change their world, and to build relationships with others.  Firstly, we offer instruction in English language and literature, and, secondly, we deliver courses that offer a window into the world of languages and the study of language as part of human life.  The department helps students to develop an appreciation and awareness for the complex, delightful and structural nature of language. Our faculty uphold and embody Zayed University values, helping students to realise their highest potential by asking critical and creative questions in the pursuit of knowledge.

Department faculty actively research, collaborate regionally and internationally, present conference papers, and publish internationally in four broad avenues of inquiry: English Language, English and Comparative Literature, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, and Applied Linguistics. Through faculty expertise students learn about language, about English literature and about how people use language to make meaning. Classes are offered in creative, modern ways that embrace traditional, new, and technology-based pedagogies. Faculty expertise in the department means that they are frequently invited to also teach courses in different colleges across the university.  

The department of Language Studies supports all students in realising their capabilities and becoming proactive members of society through the mastery of language and communication. Students from this department will graduate with important analytical skills, excellent writing abilities for multiple purposes and critical knowledge about how language functions, all of which are appreciated in an array of careers in the UAE and internationally.

Courses we currently offer in Language studies

ENG 240- Composition III

ENG 222- English in the Professions I

ENG 223- English in the Professions II

BUS 207- Business Communications

Literature Minor courses:

ENG360- Film and Literature

ENG363- Drama

ENG364- Modern & Contemporary Literature

ENG365- The Novel

ENG 367- World Poetry

ENG368- World Fiction

Research areas of our faculty

Applied Linguistics

Discourse Analysis

Sociolinguistics

Critical discourse analysis (linguistic and visual)

Corpus analysis

Language development (monolingual and multilingual, ecological approaches)

Teaching approaches and techniques (task-based approach)

Early Childhood (language development)

Biliteracy

Multilingualism (plurilingualism)

Teacher education

Technology in the classroom

Virtual Student Exchange Projects

Educational Psychology & philosophy

Second language acquisition

Translanguaging

Corporate communication

Semiotic analysis of print

Sydney School genre pedagogy

Modern and contemporary poetics

American literature and film

The modern elegy

Maghrebine literature in French

Autobiography Theory

Gender Studies

Trauma Studies

Geographical locations of our research collaborators

UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, UK, USA, Canada, China (including Hong Kong), Brazil, Norway, India, The Netherlands, Sweden, South Africa, Tunisia, France, Australia, Germany, New Zealand.

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