Department of English - PhD

Established in 1946, the Department of English at NTNU is one of the founding departments at the university, and has enjoyed the reputation of being a top English department in Taiwan. We have a total of 53 full-time faculty members coming from 7 different countries, with 87% of them holding a Ph.D. degree. Currently, we have 45 students in the doctoral program, 125 in the master’s program, and 320 in the undergraduate program.

For the undergraduate program, our department aims to prepare students to become teachers of English in secondary schools or to enter other professions that require a good command of English. Therefore, the core curriculum in our four-year undergraduate program emphasizes refinement of the English language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) during the first two years of study, and enhancement of professional knowledge and research skills in literature, linguistics, and TESOL in the last two years. In addition to required courses such as British and American Literatures, English Phonetics and Introduction to Linguistics, and Introduction to TEFL, we also offer elective courses on translation & interpretation, news English and publication, business English, etc. Furthermore, we provide a wide range of opportunities of student exchange programs, oversea teaching practicum, publication internships, and relevant job training courses to enhance students’ competitiveness in the job market at all aspects.

For the graduate study, our department offers MA and doctoral programs respectively in literature, linguistics and TESOL. We provide various scholarships and assistantships in research, teaching, and oversea studies.

A majority of the graduates from our department go on to devote themselves to English education in Taiwan, at the high school, college and university levels. Other graduates enter careers in different areas, for example, translation and interpretation, industry and commerce, journalism and communications, foreign affairs and other sectors of public service. Our alumni include high-ranking government officials such as ambassador and minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, vice chancellor at Leiden University, and professors at Harvard University and Hong Kong University.

The department is proud to be the only one of its kind in Taiwan to publish three distinguished referred academic journals, Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies (A&HCI), Concentric: Studies in Linguistics, English Teaching and Learning, all indexed in Scopus.