In the evolving landscape of higher education, the debate on whether applied linguistics and TESOL, and English Literature should remain separate academic disciplines or be merged under one umbrella is increasingly relevant. Having experience on both wings made me realize that literature and linguistics do not necessarily complement each other.
One of my classmates placed emphasis on how differently both wings work for them.
“I solely wanted to learn about literature, which I am good at or I believe so. However, linguistics created a pressure on me. It's to learn about the language, and how it works within beings. It's difficult for me to understand that.”
However, there is a different insight as well: “I think doing linguistics courses helped me to understand which major I want to choose. At first, I thought of doing literature as my major, but linguistics changed my perspective and I love to study the courses linguistics provides. Meanwhile I started disliking the literature courses as those require creativity.”
There are certain changes in the syllabus for the subject “English” between private and public universities. Many public universities have English literature as a separate field under the English department, while others merge literature and linguistics into the above-mentioned department. However, this creates a dilemma. Imagine being a student passionate about the aesthetics of literature, only to find that the curriculum is heavily influenced by linguistics, and not helping you with your interest, and vice versa. How would that make you feel?
Knowing that literature is full of diversity, and some might change their interest, but merging it with linguistics is not a necessity.
The primary argument is that literature focuses on the aesthetic, historical, and cultural dimensions of written works. It encourages critical thinking, interpretation, and appreciation of literary art. On the other hand, if we talk about linguistics, it focuses on the language, and it's all about structure, function, and evolution of language. So it requires a different set of analytical skills. Understanding the points, it can be said that these two have different concentrations.
Literature and linguistics have different visions as well -- if we elaborate on the discourse about skills. Literature students develop their skills in critical analysis of literary art, thinking, and creativity. They learn to appreciate the nuances of storytelling, not only appreciating but also discovering the magic of storytelling, and writing poetry, prose and fictions within themselves. Thematic exploration, styles of filmmaking, and character development are also a big part of literature. However, by doing the courses I have noticed that students of linguistics develop skills in analytical reasoning. They study phonetics, morphology and syntax, semantics, psycholinguistics, and language acquisition, which are more technical in nature.
Even the career paths are different from each other. For instance, graduates in literature often pursue their careers in writing, publishing, education, arts, and the media. Their expertise lies in writing, editing, filmmaking, and cultural criticism. Graduates in linguistics, conversely, choose to work in fields such as language teaching, translation, and speech therapy. These roles are more aligned with technical language analysis and applied linguistic research.
While I understand the essence of linguistics, I suggest it to be a separate field to engage students more into the subject. As some students find their interests in language analysis and research. It is necessary to not offer morphology or psycholinguistics with poetry or fiction courses. Students of this particular interest should solely study linguistics courses in most of their semesters.
Merging the two disciplines can often dilute the depth of study each field requires if we consider the opinions of students from both camps regarding this. Because students passionate about literature may find themselves bogged down by the technical aspects of linguistics, and vice versa. It's a poor curriculum design for universities to offer concentrations after the 7th or 8th semester while continuously pressuring literature students with linguistics courses until then.
By keeping them separate, universities can offer more specialized and in-depth courses, which will allow students to fully immerse themselves in their chosen field. Students who choose to study English literature often have a deep passion for literary works and their culture. Pressuring them to study linguistics as a significant part of their curriculum might diminish their enthusiasm and affect their results. Similarly, students interested in language learning or linguistics might find literary studies less relevant to their goals.
Some universities now have diverse names for their English departments, where linguistics is categorized under humanities. However, rather than combining these two distinct fields, universities should establish two separate departments. One being linguistics (or applied linguistics and TESOL), and the other being literature.
To allow students of both disciplines to choose their career paths or major, universities should limit offering linguistics courses to literature students until the third semester, and vice versa. With this, students’ will be able to understand their goals in life and choose disciplines accordingly.
Nusrat Jahan Esa is an English language instructor at the Centre for Language Studies (CLS), ULAB.