The Bar-Ilan Department of English and Linguistics is composed of two independent, structurally related divisions: English & American Literature and Linguistics. Both divisions value critical thinking in a warm multi-cultural environment that emphasizes diversity and the free exchange of ideas. The literature division offers a chance to study English and American literature, both classic and contemporary. In addition to a broad introduction to the great works of literature in English, we offer an array of specialized seminars on such topics as literature and film, literature and gender, the graphic novel, literature and pedagogy, or Jewish American literature. The Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing is part of the literature division and offers an MA degree for writers of poetry and fiction. This year we are launching a new MA in English literature with a focus on literary translation. The linguistics division provides students with a thorough training both in theoretical fields, such as syntax, semantics and phonology, and in applied and experimental fields, such as language acquisition, bilingualism, neurolinguistics, reading acquisition, and discourse analysis. The unique program in Linguistics in Clinical Research allows students coming from a background in fields such as communication disorders to deepen their understanding of the mechanisms involved in human language use. Research in the department emphasizes an interdisciplinary and open minded approach to language, with faculty members actively involved in the Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center.
