The BA programme English and American Studies is offered jointly by the Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures and the Department of the English Language and ELT Methodology (ÚAJD). 

We welcome applicants with a strong command of written and spoken English who have a keen interest in the fields of literature in English, cultures of the English-speaking world and English language/linguistics. The programme aims to equip students with a broad foundation in each of these fields, as well as providing them with opportunities to develop their interests in specific areas. In the Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures core courses are designed to guide students through the main periods of English and American Literature, significant issues in British and American culture and history, and to develop foundational skills in literary interpretation, academic writing, research and presentations. The instruction is of mixed format, ranging from large lectures to small group seminars that facilitate discussion, close reading of specific texts and individual attention from the instructor.

Find out more about the application procedure:

• application
• entrance exam (instructions in Czech)
• entrance exams (instructions in English)
• Faculty of Arts Open Day: 13 January 2024
• presentation about the programme from the Open Day

Forms of Study

• Single-subject study:
  Single Subject students are enrolled only in the BA programme of English and American Studies.
• Joint-subject study:
  Joint Subject students are enrolled in English and American Studies AND another subject within the Faculty of Arts (e.g., History, Czech, Philosophy, etc – see the faculty website for applicants for possible subject combinations). They must pass the entrance exams in both subjects. At the conclusion of their studies, they must choose a thesis topic in one of their two subjects.

Duration

The BA programme is normally three years (i.e. six semesters of instruction) for full time students. Students may also apply to study abroad for a maximum of two semesters as part of the Erasmus programme. However, as courses and credits are not always equivalent, you may need to prolong your studies by one or two semesters.

General Structure

The degree is structured around three main areas:

1. Literatures on the British Isles; British, Irish and Commonwealth Cultural Studies
2. American and Canadian Literature and Cultural Studies
3. English Language and Linguistics taught by the Department of the English Language and ELT Methodology.

Literatures on the British Isles; British, Irish and Commonwealth Cultural Studies
The core of the BA programme is a three-semester course (lecture and seminars) which provides an introduction to the development of the literature and relevant cultural background to the following principal topics: English Drama up to the Restoration, the Rise of the Novel, Romanticism, the Victorian Novel, Modernism and Contemporary Literature. The course is complemented by a one-semester lecture on medieval English and Irish literature and a seminar on the same topic for Single Subject students. The lecture series Introduction to British and American Studies (one semester) discusses selected modern concepts of culture, multiculturalism, ethnicity, nation and cultural region, cultural diversity of the English-speaking countries and the relation between literature and communication technologies (writing, printing press and modern media). Another one-semester course (mandatory for single subject students, optional for joint-subject students) is the introduction to the history of theoretical thought on literature and art from Antiquity to the modern age. Single-subject students must also attend a course on modern British history.

American and Canadian Literature and Cultural Studies
The core of the BA American Literature programme consists of a three-semester course (lecture and seminar) devoted to American literature from the colonial period to the present. The central topics are Colonial Literature, American Romanticism and Transcendentalism, Main Trends in Later Nineteenth-century Poetry (Dickinson, Whitman), Humour and Satire in Later Nineteenth-century Fiction (Mark Twain), Realism, Naturalism and Other Developments in Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-century Fiction (Howells, Henry James, Crane, Norris, Dreiser, etc.), Modernism, The Writing of the Expatriates (Hemingway, Fitzgerald), Southern Literature, The War Novel, The Development of Twentieth-century Drama, African American and Contemporary Literature, including Postmodern Tendencies and Literary Activities of Varied Ethnic Groups. Seminars focus on historical traditions and cultural trends, literary techniques, and artistic expression. Single Subject students must also attend a course on modern U.S. history.

English Language and Linguistics
The introductory course in the BA linguistics programme covers selected topics from English linguistics: varieties of English, genetic and structural classification of English, British vs. American English, inflectional and derivational morphology, syntax, lexical semantics, lexicography, phonetics/phonology, accentology and graphology. Subsequent courses in morphology and syntax focus on the grammatical categories of parts of speech, and on simple, compound, and complex sentences, again on a contrastive basis. All three courses are composed of a lecture and a seminar. History of the English language course (two semesters) rounds out this programme. This course is a survey of the development of English through three stages: the Old English, Middle English, and Early Modern English periods. For full information please refer to the website of the Department of the English Language and ELT Methodology.

In addition, in the first year of study students must take mandatory courses in:

• English Skills in Cultural Communication (two-semester seminar)
• Introduction to Literary Studies (two-semester seminar for all plus two-semester lecture for Single Subject Students)

These courses function as prerequisites for courses in the second and third year of study. Without passing these courses students will be unable to continue their studies at the Department.

Additionally, single-subject students must select 4 elective courses, worth 12 credits in total, offered by the Department in the following modules:

1. Literatures on the British Isles
2. American and Canadian Literatures
3. Intercultural Studies
4. English Language and ELT

Both single- and joint-subject students have the opportunity to take optional seminars offered by the Department as well as within the University. For these courses, Single-subject students must receive at least 28 credits and joint-subject students at least 9 credits in the course of their BA study.

All students in the programme must fulfil credit requirements in Academic Skills and a Foreign Language.

For detailed information on the structure of the programme, please consult the recommended study plan.

The BA degree is concluded by the BA final exam and the defence of the BA thesis.

Graduate Profile

Although a BA in English and American Studies is clearly not a vocational degree, graduates of our programme have many valuable skills for today’s job market. In addition to excellent skills in spoken and written English, analytic, critical and creative thinking, our graduates have experience in research, translation, public speaking, computer literacy and extensive contact with native speakers, as well as being equipped with extensive knowledge of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures and English language linguistics.