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Urdu Language & Literature

What Urdu Language & Literature Majors Need to Know

Programs in Urdu Language & Literature develop a specific mix of knowledge, skills, and abilities — derived from O*NET surveys of workers in occupations that Urdu Language & Literature graduates commonly enter.

Knowledge Areas

According to O*NET, a major in Urdu Language & Literature emphasizes the following knowledge areas:

• Foreign Language — Importance 4.7 / 5; level 5.9 / 7.
• English Language — Importance 4.5 / 5; level 5.2 / 7.
• Education and Training — Importance 3.8 / 5; level 4.8 / 7.
• Administrative — Importance 3.1 / 5; level 3.6 / 7.
• Sociology and Anthropology — Importance 2.8 / 5; level 3.5 / 7.

^{Importance is rated 1–5; level is 1–7. Source: ONET Online — weighted across related occupations.*}

Skills

Skills developed in a Urdu Language & Literature program reflects the day-to-day work of related occupations:

• Speaking — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Active Listening — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Reading Comprehension — Importance 4.0 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Writing — Importance 3.9 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Critical Thinking — Importance 3.7 / 5; level 3.9 / 7.

Abilities

Abilities most relevant to Urdu Language & Literature careers — again drawn from O*NET surveys of related occupations:

• Speech Clarity — Importance 4.3 / 5; level 4.8 / 7.
• Oral Expression — Importance 4.2 / 5; level 4.8 / 7.
• Oral Comprehension — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.7 / 7.
• Written Expression — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Written Comprehension — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.

Common Job Activities

Day-to-day, Urdu Language & Literature graduates report doing:

Activity	Frequency / Importance
Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others	4.2 / 7
Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge	4.1 / 7
Training and Teaching Others	4.1 / 7
Thinking Creatively	4.0 / 7
Getting Information	3.9 / 7
Working with Computers	3.9 / 7
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships	3.8 / 7
Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work	3.7 / 7
Making Decisions and Solving Problems	3.7 / 7
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates	3.7 / 7

Technology Skills Used on the Job

Most frequently-cited tools used by Urdu Language & Literature professionals:

Tool / Software	Category	In-Demand
Microsoft Office software	Office suite software	✓
Microsoft Outlook	Electronic mail software	—
Microsoft Excel	Spreadsheet software	✓
Web browser software	Internet browser software	—
Microsoft PowerPoint	Presentation software	✓
Microsoft Word	Word processing software	—
Computer assisted language learning CALL software	Foreign language software	—
Blackboard Learn	Computer based training software	—
QuarkXPress	Desktop publishing software	—
Calendar and scheduling software	Calendar and scheduling software	—
iParadigms Turnitin	Information retrieval or search software	—
Image scanning software	Optical character reader OCR or scanning software	—

^{Source: ONET Online technology skills, weighted across related occupations.*}

Sample Job Titles

Real job postings for Urdu Language & Literature graduates include:

• Language Arts Teacher
• Foreign Languages Professor
• Teacher
• Italian Teacher
• Hebrew Teacher
• Biblical Languages Professor
• Chinese Instructor
• Adjunct Instructor
• Arabic Instructor
• Bilingual Instructor
• Swahili Teacher
• Arabic Professor
• Hebrew Professor
• Spanish Language Lecturer
• Chinese Language Professor

Education Typically Required

Across the occupations open to Urdu Language & Literature graduates, the typical level of education actually held by current workers is distributed as:

Education Level	Share of Workers
Doctoral degree	44.6%
Bachelor’s degree	26.8%
Master’s degree	21.8%
High school diploma or equivalent	3.1%
Associate’s degree (or other 2-year)	1.7%
Post-master’s certificate	1.4%
Postsecondary certificate	0.5%

^{Source: ONET Online education / training / experience requirements.*}

Related Programs

You may also be interested in these closely related fields of study:

Program	CIP Code
South Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	16.07
Bengali Language and Literature	16.0704
Hindi Language and Literature	16.0701
Punjabi Language and Literature	16.0705
Sanskrit and Classical Indian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	16.0702
South Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, Other	16.0799
South Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	16.0700
Tamil Language and Literature	16.0706
African Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	16.0201
Albanian Language and Literature	16.0404
American Indian/Native American Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	16.1001
American Sign Language (ASL)	16.1601

References

The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students and international students. This number is then divided by the total number of students to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics (IPEDS)
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard

More about our data sources and methodologies.