Our English Taster Afternoon will allow you to experience studying your favourite subjects here at the University of Portsmouth.
Book your place now, and get ready to take your first steps towards an experience of a lifetime with us. Remember you get to choose which seminars you'd like to get involved with – browse what's available here.
Taster Day programme
Choose which 1.30pm and 2.40 pm sessions to explore when you save your place.
Check-in from 12.45pm in Park Building, King Henry I St, Portsmouth, PO1 2BZ.
Get an overview of what's coming up on your Taster Afternoon and learn the differences between studying English Language and Literature degrees.
*Pick to attend 1 of the following sessions when you book your place.
Gothic (English Literature)
Examine the origins of Gothic Literature from the late 18th century to its evolution in the 19th century from novels such as Frankenstein, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Dracula. You'll consider how the the genre is defined by its relationship to an imagined past.
Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale (English Literature)
Explore the many methods that Atwood uses to make The Handmaid's Tale an unreliable narrative. By looking at a selection of quotes from the novel, you'll consider the significance of the unreliability and its influence on our reading of the novel as an example of 'Speculative Fiction'.
Language in the Workplace (English Language)
Look at the differences and similarities of language in the workplace and everyday language. Using sample video texts, you will look at distinctive features of the workplace and how language varies across different workplace settings.
Investigating Language Disorder (English Linguistics)
Your students will explore Clinical Linguistics, a a branch of linguistics that studies language disorders, including speech disorders.
This session will look at some samples of clinical language data and analyse the linguistic deficits evident in the patients - such as those with communication difficulties caused by developmental disorders, brain injuries, or degenerative diseases.
Quick breather. Take stock of the afternoon then get ready for the next session, with a chance to chat with students and lecturers at the University of Portsmouth.
*Pick to attend 1 of the following sessions when you book your place.
Shakespearean Tragedy – Othello (English Literature)
Discover the literary debates concerning the Shakespearean tragedy, where you'll consider the meaning and significance of tragedy in Othello and the play's complex construction of excessive love, death and otherness.
Thomas Hardy – Tess of the D’Urbervilles (English Literature)
This session looks at Tess of the D’Urbervilles in light of Victorian debates around the ‘Woman Question’ and the ‘New Woman’, and explores ways in which Tess both conforms to and challenges nineteenth-century constructions of femininity.
Language and Social Justice (English Language & Linguistics)
How is language linked to racism? How do accents cause discrimination? What is the connection between language and power?
This session will delve into the ways in which language is involved in various forms of social justice and injustice.
Language and Deception (English Language & Linguistics)
Deception is a common occurrence in daily life, and while people are skilled at lying, they often struggle to detect lies.
This session will use a Forensic Linguistic approach to examine the language of deception and how to identify linguistic signs of lying."
To conclude our afternoon together, we invite you to ask questions of our lecturers and current students!
This could be about different English degrees, the transition from college to uni, any of the talks you've watched so far, moving away from home – and/or whatever you want to know about uni.