Student Profile

Hi, I am Leah Graham. I have spent the last three years completing my Bachelor of Communication Studies majoring in Linguistics, at Waikato University.

I have taken a very broad range of Under-Graduate linguistics papers, all of which have been immensely beneficial to my studies and highly rewarding to complete. My particular area of interest is the field of sociolinguistics which meant that papers I particularly enjoyed were 'The use of Language' (LING132) and 'Language in Society' (LING304). I also found that 'Anthropological Linguistics' (LING203) and 'Historical Linguistics' (LING301) were very interesting topics which supported a lot of the knowledge that I was trying to develop in the area of Sociolinguistics.

I have always been a strong communicator and have always had an interest in human communication and language. When I left school and decided to further my education the development of my writing skills and my verbal communication skills was very important to me. This is why I chose to come to Waikato to do a Communication Studies degree. I intended to major in Marketing and Management Communication but after taking LING132 (The use of Language) as a compulsory paper in my first year I was hooked. Linguistics was exactly what I was looking for.

I am continuing my Linguistics study in 2008 by doing a Post-Graduate Diploma. I hope to use this year as a launching point for further study in the field of Linguistics as I would like to make a career researching Language as it relates to culture and society.

I highly recommend studying linguistics at Waikato. Linguistics is a challenging, interesting and highly relevant field - especially if you already have an interest in Communication or languages. Another great reason to study Linguistics here at Waikato is the fact that the department is made up of supportive staff that do their best to help their students succeed and achieve their goals.