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.