Psychology and Language Sciences

Psychology and language sciences is a degree that brings together two disciplines fundamentally concerned with what is most distinctively human: our minds and our capacity for language. Psychology provides a scientific framework for understanding cognition, perception, memory, emotion, development, and social behaviour, drawing on experimental and observational research to build evidence-based theories about how the mind works. Language sciences, which encompasses linguistics and the study of communication, asks how language is structured, how it is acquired, how it is processed in the brain, and how it shapes and is shaped by social and cultural life.

Together the two disciplines develop a rich and integrated understanding of the human mind.

At the University of Reading you will study this three-year full-time degree with a typical entry tariff of 136 points. Reading has particular strengths in both psychology and linguistics, and the programme is designed so that the two subjects genuinely inform and enrich each other rather than simply running in parallel. You will study cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, social psychology, and research methods alongside phonetics, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and psycholinguistics, the study of how language is processed and represented in the mind.

Laboratory work and research design are central throughout, developing your ability to design experiments, collect and analyse data, and interpret findings critically.

Graduates from this combined programme are well placed for careers that draw on understanding of mind, communication, and human behaviour, including roles in speech and language therapy, educational psychology, human factors and user experience research, marketing and communications, clinical support work, and research. Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in psychology, linguistics, speech and language therapy, or cognitive science, with psychology graduates able to pursue further training towards clinical, educational, or occupational psychology registration. The rigorous scientific training developed during the degree is valued across many sectors where evidence-based thinking and research skills are needed.