Postgraduates majoring in English have three major directions: English language and literature, foreign linguistics and applied linguistics, and translation studies (as long as translation studies focus on translation theory rather than translation practice). Most colleges and universities will offer the first two majors, and the number of master applicants is relatively large. The particularity of English major lies in that except for one political course, all the other examination items are foreign languages, all of which are put forward by the applicant institutions, including four courses: basic English (150), specialized courses (150) and second foreign language (100).

Specifically, students should think about their research direction before the exam. Generally speaking, there are four directions: linguistics, literature, translation studies and British and American cultural studies. Linguistics: English linguistics belongs to theoretical research, and the most common employment direction is actually reading, doing research and writing papers. But because everyone's goals are different, it is correct to establish a suitable development direction according to their own goals. Literature: The scope of literary direction is relatively large, besides British and American literature, there are also comparative literature, world literature, literary translation and so on, and literature not only needs to read a lot of works, but also needs to have certain aesthetic ability. Translation studies: Translation studies is the direction with a large number of applicants at present, and the employment prospects are also optimistic. Translation majors have high requirements for English majors, and it will become more and more difficult to develop to a higher level, such as interpretation or simultaneous interpretation. British and American cultural studies: British and American cultural studies mainly study British and American traditional and modern cultures, involving literature, history, philosophy, aesthetics, art, religion, sociology and other fields. The employment direction is mainly to study and compare national development and national culture.