The BA programme in English Language and Literature aims to furnish successful students with skills relevant to such a double major. It concentrates on two core areas: (a) Linguistics, by offering a comprehensive study of language with some focus on teaching English as a foreign language and (b) English Literature, by covering the major authors and issues from 1580 to the present day, and by offering a detailed study of all literary genres: poetry, drama, and prose. The courses of the literature component are designed so as to give the student good knowledge of the literary history of Anglophone literature and the cultural conditions under which it is written.