English studies
Categories: Literary criticism | School subjects
The academic discipline of English studies explores the production and analysis of texts produced in English (or in areas of the world in which English is a common mode of communication). Academic departments of English Studies often include scholars of literature, rhetoric, composition, literacy, film, English language, professional communication, folklore, cultural studies, creative writing, critical theory, disability studies, and digital media.
In most English-speaking countries, English studies is practiced in university departments of English, while study of texts produced in other languages takes place in other language departments and in departments of comparative literature. This disciplinary divide is one motivation for the use of the term, as professors of English occasionally find it useful to distinguish themselves from professors of other languages for administrative reasons (thus the North American Modern Language Association is divided into two principal subgroups, the Association of Departments of English and the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages).