Literature and Linguistics visit to Newcastle University

A number of Year 12 Literature and Language students spent the day at Newcastle University experiencing life as an undergraduate. The morning sessions centred around linguistics and the main lecture, titled ‘Language Change, Accents and Dialects’. Drawing on a range of North East dialect lexis, the lecturer took students on a tour of the words they know and use, and what these can teach us about the history of language and its processes of change. They listened to a recording taken from the university’s archive (accessible to the general public via the ‘The Talk of the Toon’ website) of North East speakers and examined the features of the speaker’s idiolect.

In the afternoon, the focus changed to literature, and students were taken through a lecture about the novel, Dracula, which was a gripping examination of fear and the gothic. Students took part in close reading exercises and debates, with some of our students offering answers in front of the whole lecture theatre. This lecture not only provided an insight into Literature at Newcastle, but it also offered ideas and challenge relating to students’ upcoming assessments – Dracula could now be the perfect choice for further independent study.

In addition, students heard from recent graduates about their university experience, and they were taken on a tour of the campus with the highlight being the Robinson Library. They learnt about career routes open to them; recent Newcastle English graduates have gone on to become crown prosecutors, solicitors, authors, researchers, podcasters, among many other roles. Students were told how Newcastle University is ranked #1 for research in Literature and Linguistics, meaning that anyone who chooses to study there will benefit from this first class expertise.