The Deaf Studies and Linguistics integrated joint offers students the chance to explore a range of social and language related topics in a stimulating and multi-cultural environment. By means of high quality teaching and a flexible, responsive and vocationally relevant curriculum, students will learn to identify and understand the challenges faced by deaf people, and gain a detailed knowledge of how sign and spoken languages work.<br><br>Students will have opportunities to consider a variety of issues and perspectives surrounding working with deaf people. They will study current policies, laws, procedures and practices to develop professional strategies useful for their future working lives. They will also learn how meaning is created, not only through choices of signs and words and grammatical structures, but through wider social and cultural contextual factors.<br>The programme will develop a range of subject specific and transferable skills, including higher order conceptual and communication skills, enterprise, digital literacy and IT awareness, all of which are of immense value in graduate employment.The course fosters cooperative and independent work, as well as critical reflection.<br><br>The foundation year of this course is designed to offer applicants who do not have the required qualifications, a programme which will equip them with a robust toolkit of academic, digital and personal skills required for successful study in higher education. It also provides an understanding of, and insight into, a range of disciplines that underpin their chosen programme of study. In the foundation year students will develop their ability to gain the most out of structured in-class study, and also to manage and evaluate their own independent learning. This wide range of transferable skills is of immense value in both undergraduate study and graduate employment. Upon successful completion of the foundation year, students will have the opportunity to develop their knowledge and understanding of their subject area to degree level.