What Is an English Lecturer and How to Become One

An English lecturer works in an academic setting such as a college or university. Your responsibilities in this career are to teach and lecture on English literature. Your duties include course design, curriculum preparation, and exam administration. As a lecturer, you often teach students who are in the first or second year of their postsecondary studies. Depending on your employer, you may engage in research or write articles for scholarly journals. Some lecturers mentor students who want to pursue a bachelor's degree in English literature.

The qualifications for becoming an English lecturer depend on where you would like to work. All lecturers need a postgraduate degree. If you want to teach at the university level, you need a Ph.D., while community colleges and junior colleges may hire English lecturers who have a master's degree. Teaching skills are also essential. You can gain experience by working as a teaching assistant during your postgraduate studies. You may also want to try to publish scholarly articles in academic journals to show your knowledge of English literature.

The duties of an English lecturer and English professor are similar in many respects. Both teach the subject of English literature at the postsecondary level, and both typically have a Ph.D. in Engish literature or a related discipline. However, a lecturer is often a new university teacher. As such, they often teach first and second-year students, and their classes focus on more general subjects. Professors usually, but not always, teach at least some courses for upper-class students who are working towards a bachelor’s degree in English literature.