Our school aims at excellence in research and teaching in linguistics and modern European languages. Our success is recognised in the 2013 QS world university rankings, where ANU is ranked as 9th in the world in linguistics and 16th in the world for modern languages - scores which recognise the high standard of research and teaching, and the diversity of languages and fields of linguistics covered at ANU.
The teaching and research of the School of Language Studies is centered on language in the broadest sense, including:
- the theory of language structure, meaning, change, use, etc.
- the description of individual languages
- the social context of language and language use
- the study of individual modern European languages and the societies and cultures associated with these languages including areas such as literature, art, culture, history, politics, society, cinema, etc.
- language acquisition and the nature of language learning
- the methodologies, practices, policies, resources and social contexts of language teaching
- the practice and theory of translation
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the application of languages and linguistics to wider social contexts
(including language and identity, cross-cultural communication,
language planning, forensic speaker identification,
language and culture, etc.)
The courses offered by the School allow students to develop their understanding of a specific language or explore the nature of human language in a more general way. The study of language is a useful part of a general education and helps to develop useful skills in communication and an understanding of one’s own language. Students can study any of the courses offered by the School to follow a specific interest, providing prerequisites are met.
