The Department of English Language and Literature was officially established in 1919, but its actual origin goes back to 1862, when the Capital School of Foreign Languages was set up by the government of the Qing Dynasty. Since its establishment, the Department of English has enjoyed continued prosperity thanks to the unfailing persistence of its faculty members and its deep commitment to the educational traditions of Peking University. The department currently has about eighty faculty members, offering a variety of courses on language, literature, culture and translation. Their academic strength is regularly supplemented by visiting professors from English-speaking countries. Aside from the acquisition of basic language skills, the department attaches great importance to the cultivation of students' interests in English and American literature as well as the intellectual tradition of the West in general. The department has an undergraduate program in English and an MA/PhD program in English/American literature and translation studies. Normally, the department admits about 45 undergraduates, 18 MA students and 5-6 doctoral students each year.

The Program of College English is responsible for teaching College English to the university's 11,000 undergraduate students of non-English majors each academic year. It offers a variety of courses for improving language skills and capability of international communication at different levels and courses in English literature, linguistics and cross-cultural communication. At present, the program has thirty regular Chinese faculty members and six native English-speaking faculty members.

The Program of Graduate English is in charge of teaching English to non-English majors across the university at the graduate level. It offers required courses in listening, speaking, reading and writing and elective courses in English poetry, English films, Western culture, etc. In addition, the program organizes extra-curricular activities such as the English Speech Contest and Culture Lectures in English. At present, the program has six regular Chinese faculty members and four native English-speaking faculty members.