English and English Language - BA(Hons)

Year one

First year modules are designed to build on your ability and enjoyment of literature while providing a broad introduction on the evolution of English. You will also start to examine language structure and how it is applied in different texts.

You will study the following compulsory modules:

• Creativity, Critique and Literature
• Literature and Ideas
• English: Past, Present and Future
• Meaning: Style and Discourse.

Year two

As you progress, you will hone your written and presentation skills through researching and developing informed opinions on literature. Throughout you will be challenged by the latest methods of critical analysis and encouraged to develop an independent approach.

You will study the following compulsory modules:

• Language, Research and the Workplace
• Analysing Culture: Language and the Visual
• Forms of Reading/Reading Forms.

In addition, you will study one of the following optional modules:

• Shakespeare's World of Words
• Romanticism Unbound
• Exploring the Eighteenth Century
• British Writing 1900-1950
• Imagining America: Cultural and Literary Legacies of the United States, 1830-1970
• Victorian Frictions.

If you choose to study on the four year sandwich route, you will spend your third year on placement. The curriculum in the second year provides support for the process of securing this.

Final year

In your final year, you can focus on a specific topic of interest with the option to do either an English Independent Project or Language Project (or equivalent). The Project can take a variety of forms such as a traditional dissertation, a creative writing project, a project based on work-placements or compiling and editing a critical anthology.

You will study two of the following English optional modules OR if a Study Year Abroad (SYA) or Placement Year has been completed, you will choose one less English or English Language module listed below:

• English Independent Project*
• Children's Fiction Since 1900
• Fiction in Britain since 1970
• Literature and Culture in Britain 1885-1930
• Contemporary American Narrative
• Gothic Literature
• Moving Words: Travel Writing and Modernity.

Plus two of the following English Language optional modules:

• Language Project*
• The Sociolinguistics of Language Contact
• The Cultural History of the English Language
• Gender (Im)politeness and Power in Language
• Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
• Creative Writing and the Self
• Critical Discourse Analysis
• Analysing Spoken English.

*You may only chose one project module in Year 3

Please also note this structure is for the full-time course delivery only. For part-time delivery, the same modules will be studied. However, the structure will differ.

The University continually enhances our offer by responding to feedback from our students and other stakeholders, ensuring the curriculum is kept up to date and our graduates are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need for the real world. This may result in changes to the course. If changes to your course are approved, we will inform you.

Hear what our students think about their time at UWE.

Our teaching staff are passionate about their subject and provide a supportive and inspiring environment for study.

Teaching methods are constantly reviewed, and we build variety into the delivery and assessment of modules. As well as lectures and seminars, you will learn through workshops, tutorials, independent library research and student-led group activities. We also used online and virtual learning environments to provide lectures and teaching resources such as instructional videos for Language students.

For more details see our full glossary of learning and teaching terms.

Find out more about our academic staff their teaching expertise and research interests.

Lectures, workshops/seminars, group project work, and tutoring account for 12 hours of contact time per week. However, you will be expected to spend at least as much time again in essential independent study.

You will be assessed through a mix of coursework and examinations, all of which aim to assess not only what you know and can do but also develop graduate attributes valued by employers.

While there are examinations, this is not the main means of assessment. Most modules involve a substantial amount of coursework, student presentations, and a wide range of projects. We recognise that you will be asked to do different tasks in graduate employment, so we offer a variety of assessment experiences to reflect this.

For more details see our full glossary of assessment terms.