English Language and English Literature
Entry requirements
A level
in English Language or Literature
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
plus grade C or above in A Level English Language or Literature
UCAS Tariff
- From at least 2 A Levels including grade C or above in A Level English Language or Literature - Five GCSEs A*-C (9-4) including English Language or Literature
About this course
English Language and English Literature at DMU introduces you to an exciting range of theories and concepts in both subjects, providing a cohesive course in two complementary subjects. As well as developing subject specific knowledge of the English Language and English Literature, the degree aims to develop a range of key transferrable skills including the ability to use language adeptly and appropriately in any potential linguistic context, skills of textual analysis and synthesis, advanced digital literacy, and high-level research, writing and communication skills, which will be of clear benefit in equipping future graduates for a wide range of careers.
Study English Language and English Literature at DMU and join a lively and welcoming academic community. Get involved in the student-led English Literature and English Language societies, go on theatre trips in the UK or travel abroad with DMU Global as part of your course. Our graduates go into a wide range of professions including media, translation, marketing, publishing, teaching, public relations and the civil service.
**Key features:**
* Study language and literature in breadth and depth and learn new skills in a wide range of highly specialised modules covering a wide range of different subject areas such as words in action, poetry and society and sociolinguistics.
* Explore print and digital humanities by learning to use a hand printing press or gain practical training in HTML with options exploring the production of literary texts in manuscript, print and digital forms from DMU’s Centre for Textual Studies
* Broaden your knowledge base by studying not just English Language and English Literature, but also Creative Writing, with an opportunity to learn about the principles and practice of teaching English language
* Improve your employability by focusing on your career prospects through learning essential skills and knowledge and putting them to practical use. The final-year placement module allows you to gain work experience and develop your presentation and communication skills
* Our graduates have gone on to work at Meisei University in Tokyo, HomeStyle magazine, the BBC, Pan Macmillan and Penguin Random House.
* Develop a global understanding of English Language and Literature through an international experience with our DMU Global programme. Students have previously explored ekphrastic writing and themes of oppression in Berlin, as well as visiting TED HQ and key literary locations in New York.
Modules
"First year:
Core modules:
• Introduction to Drama: Shakespeare
• Words in Action
• Evolving Language
Optional modules:
• Introduction to English and Adaptation
• Poetry and Society
• Introduction to the Novel
• Topics in Linguistics: Theory in Practice
• Work-based Learning (Placement) Year
Second year:
Core module:
• Exploration and Innovation: 14th Century to 18th Century Literature
Optional modules:
• 20th and 21st Century Literature
• Ways of Reading
• Screen and Literary Adaptations of the Classics
• Romantic and Victorian Literature
• Text Technologies
• Sociolinguistics
• English Language in UK Schools
• Introducing English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)
• Grammar: Analysing Linguistic Structure
• Semantics: Analysing Linguistic Meaning
• Research Methods for Linguists
• Phonetics and PhonologyLanguage in Context
• Erasmus Year
Third year
Core module:
• English Dissertation OR
• English Language Dissertation
Optional modules:
• Nineteenth-Century American Literature
• Contemporary Irish Writing
• The British Working Class in Literature, Film and Television
• Unruly Women, Revolutionary Men
• English in the Workplace
• Modernism and Modernity
• Staging the World: Shakespeare and His Contemporaries
• Medieval.com
• Sex and Death in Romantic Writing, 1780-1830
• Textual Studies Using Computers
• Radical and Contemporary Adaptations
• Biofiction: Writers’ afterlives
• Writing Adaptations: Theory and Practice
• English Language in the Workplace
• Powerful Language: An Introduction to Rhetoric
• Corpus Linguistics
• Language, Mind and Culture
• Perception, Persuasion, Power
• Language Acquisition"
Assessment methods
"Overview:
The English Language and English Literature undergraduate programme combines study of the history, structures, uses and context of English as a world language with study of literature in English from the medieval era to the 21st century.
The first year expands your knowledge via core modules on Shakespeare, grammar and the history of the English language as well as an option module either on poetry, the novel, adaptation, or linguistics.
The second year builds on these foundational modules. Your knowledge of literary history is deepened through study of the core module, which offers an overview of English literature from the 14th century to the early 18th century. Similarly, you have the chance to extend your knowledge of language, taking modules in sociolinguistics, grammar, semantics, phonology or linguistic research skills. In addition, you have the option to take further period-based literature modules on Romantic and Victorian literature and 20th and 21st-century literature or modules which offer you an introduction to other aspects of literary and linguistic study, including in our areas of special expertise, adaptations and digital humanities (Text Technologies), as well as on pragmatics and teaching English language (in UK schools and as a second language).
The third year allows you to specialise and to pursue particular areas of research interest. You complete a dissertation, either in English Language or English Literature. You then choose additional options from a wide-ranging selection of specialist literature and language options. This includes the option to take a work-based module in either Language or Literature and further options in adaptations and digital humanities.
Teaching sessions might be structured around discussion, working in small groups to analyse linguistic examples, a film screening or based in a computer lab depending on your module choices. You will complete reading and research in advance and join in conversation with your tutor and your peers. Individual tutorials with module tutors are available in weekly ‘office hours’, at which you can discuss any aspect of your course or get help with assignments. You will experience varied forms of assessment, including essays, presentations, exams, blogs, journals, websites, research reports and creative options.
You will be also assigned a Personal Tutor from the academic staff who will be available to meet students each term and to provide academic and pastoral support and advice. Personal Tutoring enables students to reflect synoptically on their academic experience. Learning in English Language and English Literature is also supported by the University Centre for Learning and Study Support (CLaSS), which offers regular workshops on a range of study skills. Teaching is enhanced by study skills sessions and there is an emphasis throughout year 1 (Level 4) especially on the key academic skills.
Contact hours:
You will be taught through a combination of lectures, tutorials, seminars, group work and self-directed study. Assessment is through coursework (presentations, essays and reports) and sometimes an exam. Your precise timetable will depend on the optional modules you choose to take, however, in your first year you will normally attend around 10 hours of timetabled taught sessions (lectures and tutorials) each week, and we expect you to undertake at least 27 further hours of independent study to complete project work and research."
Tuition fees
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The Uni
Leicester Campus
Arts, Design and Humanities
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
English studies (non-specific)
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
English studies
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
English is one of the most popular degree subjects and in 2015, more than 11,000 students graduated with English degrees - although this does represent a fall from recent years. As good communication is so important to modern business, you can find English graduates in all parts of the economy, although obviously, you can't expect to get a job in science or engineering (computing is a different matter - it's not common but good language skills can be useful in the computing industry). There's little difference in outcomes between English language and English literature degrees, so don't worry and choose the one that suits you best. More English grads took another postgraduate course when they finished their degree than grads from any other subject - this is an important option. Teacher training was a common choice of second degree, as was further study of English, and journalism courses. But many English graduates changed course and trained in law, marketing or other languages -or even subjects further afield such as computing, psychology and even nursing. This is a very flexible degree which gives you a lot of options
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
English studies
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£16k
£20k
£24k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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Graduate field commentary:
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While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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