A short introduction to the English language

Introduction

In this free course, A short introduction to the English language, you’ll be taken on a tour of the role that language plays in the lives of the human race, with a particular focus on the English language, and how this has emerged as a global force over the last few decades.

In eleven sections, each centred around a short video, you’ll look at what language is, at how the English language first came into existence, how it developed and has been spread across the world in the millennium and a half since its birth, and how it’s used in a range of different domains of life. You’ll look at the language of lying, the language of literature, of comedy and persuasion – and how all these fundamental characteristics of human life are ultimately made possible because of the faculty that our species has for language.

The course will end with an examination of whether human language may one day be adopted by robots, and what this, along with all the other developments in communications technologies, means for the future of language – and for our species more generally. In each section, the videos provide the main content but are accompanied by a short introduction to the relevant topic, as well as activities to help you reflect on those topics as you progress through the course.

Interested in taking your learning further? You might find it helpful to explore the Open University’s English language courses and qualifications [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .