Welcome to the website for the Centre for Language and Communication (CLAC) at the Open University. The Centre carries out teaching and research in the area of English Language and Applied Linguistics. Centre members take a broad, socially-oriented, interdisciplinary and applied approach to this topic, both in research and teaching.
Our undergraduate and post-graduate modules in English language and Applied Linguistics attract over 5,000 students per annum, from the UK and other parts of the world. We also have around 30 full- and part-time students carrying out research on language-related topics. Members of CLAC produce innovative and rigorous research that contributes both to language theory and to policy and practice in a range of applied settings. Recent research has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Higher Education Academy (HEA) as well as charitable bodies such as the Carnegie UK Trust and Rix-Thompson-Rothenberg Foundation.
Our teaching
For undergraduate students, we offer a suite of highly popular modules on the English language, and language and literature. You can find out about the history of English, and how the language is used now by speakers throughout the world. You can also study how English is used creatively by speakers and writers in everyday contexts, as well as in poetry, fiction and other literary texts. You can learn about children’s literature in English. You can study the structure of English, and how English works in a wide range of domains, including the media, fiction, academic writing and everyday conversation. Follow this link for more about undergraduate modules in English Language.
You can study English language as part of a degree in English Language and Literature, Humanities, Modern Language Studies, as well as for the Open Certificate of Higher Education.
For post-graduate students, we offer modules covering the exploration and analysis of English (Investigating Language in Action) and the relationship between language and learning (Language, Literacy and Learning in the Contemporary World). You can study these modules as part of the MA in Education (Applied Linguistics), which also serves as an entry point for the Open University’s professional Doctorate in Education.
Research
Our research covers a range of language-related projects. Current research interests include:
- Academic and professional literacies
- English in a global context
- Language and creativity
- Metaphor in discourse
- Literacy reading and interpretation
- Children’s informal language and literacy practices; children’s literature
- Multimodal meaning making
- The teaching, thinking and learning that occur in educational dialogue.
CLAC members belong to the Language and literacies research 'cluster', which provides more information on our work and on recent funded projects.
We welcome applications from students interested in research in these and other areas of applied language studies. Follow these links for information about studying for a PhD and studying for an EdD.
Members of the Centre
Follow this link for information on Centre members and their academic interests.