About us

The formation of the Department of Languages, Cultures and Applied Linguistics in August 2021 brings back together, under the aegis of the School of Arts, the two areas of the College’s teaching and research whose primary focus is on language and languages: the applied study of language and multilingualism and the pedagogy of language learning; and the study of cultures and cultural production in a number of language areas, combined with practical language learning in (at present) four European languages and Japanese.

Separated since the creation of the Schools of Arts and the School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy in 2009, we have remained close through our shared programmes and through our research collaborations. The recent merger allows us to consolidate and to build on our achievements, to extend our portfolio and to identify and intensify exciting areas of intellectual and pedagogical synergy in our future development.

Birkbeck is the home of the oldest Department of Applied Linguistics in the UK, and has pioneered the teaching of modern languages going back continuously almost to its foundation.