Study with us

I am very lucky to be able to teach literature in English at Stockholm University. It is a wonderful experience: students are so innovative and engaged, and I am always learning new ways to interpret texts from our classes together. Studying literature opens your eyes to the ways in which culture and history are all around us. It allows you to read texts not just for what they say today, but how they communicated to readers in the past, deepening our sense of what it means to be human.

And there are few better places to study and teach English literature than at Stockholm University. We have an international reputation in the discipline, and world-class researchers working at the cutting edge of the field. Their passion and invention filter into all elements of our teaching and course design, giving students a sense of the lively debates which are shaping the discipline of literature in English today.

Giles Whiteley is a Professor at our department.
Read more about his research

There are lots of different ways that we can express and interpret messages and it’s fun to think about those things more deeply than we do in everyday life. Obviously, everyone communicates, but we tend not to reflect on the linguistic decisions that we make in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

So what’s a linguistic decision?

Let me give you an example: If I want to ask someone to do me a favour, I have to decide on the approach...the actual language to use and how to deliver it. I could make a compliment, ”you look nice” or ”that’s a nice hat” to begin with. Then I would have to shift strategically and get to the favour I want to ask. I could say ”by the way” or ”I wanted to ask you something”.

Even the pause that we make between the compliment and the request for the favour can be considered communication. Making a pause is also saying something, but we never think of it. But choices like this actually effect the success of the request. People tend to take all of those choices for granted, but when teaching and studying English, we get to focus and reflect on them.

Why study English with us?

Sweden has a unique position in relation to English. It’s not an anglophone country, per se, and yet English is, or can be, all around us. Our department has the opportunity to draw resources, insights and research from many different places around the world where English is used. We can really feel the impact of English in our multicultural and multilingual setting. That makes the Department of English at Stockholm University unique.

I’m going to the Seychelles as a part of a research group to study how English is being used in their educational system. I’ll be able to bring that knowledge back to our department, to help inform our teaching and our collective perspective on our students own engagement with English.

Our department has leading researchers in applied linguistic English studies as well as in literature. The range of specialities is very impressive. Our faculty members’ research work ranges from broad macro-level issues down to very micro-level issues and spans a wide range of contexts.

What do you aim for when teaching?

I typically teach on teacher education courses, and we often focus on how English is used in teacher-student interaction. My main goal is supporting new teachers to be effective English role models for their pupils, and on a broader level to help students express themselves through English they way they intend, as well as to use English strategically to get their desired results. At the same time, they can develop an understanding of how the various elements of the language operate simultaneously as parts of a system.

My teaching also involves student research projects on English and in that respect I hope to guide them through the decisions that applied linguistic researchers need to make, says Joseph.