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English

Entry requirements


Access - at least 45 credits at level 3 and 15 credits at level 2 from a relevant Open College Network accredited course.

GCSE/National 4/National 5

English Language or English Literature at grade C / 4.

UCAS Tariff

112-120

This must include at least two A Levels or equivalent BTEC National qualifications. For example: BBC-BBB at A Level. DDM in BTEC Extended Diploma. Merit overall from a T level Qualification. A combination of qualifications, which may include AS levels, EPQ and general studies.

About this course


This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.

Course option

3years

Full-time | 2024

Other options

4 years | Sandwich | 2024

Subject

English studies

**Please check the Sheffield Hallam University website for the latest information.**

**Course summary**

- Gain expertise in a wide variety of English topics.

- Learn from an expert team of researchers and practising writers.

- Choose your direction of study and discover the topics that fire your interest the most.

- Team up with professionals and apply your skills in placements and projects.

This is an exciting opportunity to study all three areas of English. You’ll debate a dynamic variety of literary texts, explore the relationship between language and society, and develop your creative voice across a range of genres. If you’re enthusiastic about all areas of English, then this is the course for you.

**How you learn**

All our courses are designed around a set of key principles based on engaging you with the world, collaborating with others, challenging you to think in new ways, and providing you with a supportive environment in which you can thrive.

Join a friendly and welcoming academic and creative community. You’ll be supported by expert researchers and a distinguished team of practising writers – including poets, novelists and scriptwriters – who all value and nurture your unique insights and perspectives.

As you progress, you can choose to specialise in one of the disciplines or continue to combine all three.
You learn through

- lectures on specialist topics

- critical debates in seminars

- writing workshops

- one-to-one meetings with staff

- group work

- innovative assessments, projects and briefs

- live readings and special events

**Applied learning - Work placements**

We’re committed to giving you the experience and confidence you need to take your skills and knowledge beyond the classroom.

You can gain professional experience in your second year by collaborating with external partners or undertaking a work placement. Previous students have worked with local schools and children’s charities to develop materials and resources. Many have also gained experience in publishing, journalism, event design and public relations – with some even starting their own businesses.

You can also work towards the Trinity College London TESOL certificate as part of your course credit. This internationally-recognised qualification allows you to teach English as a foreign language, while gaining valuable classroom and lesson planning experience at the same time.

**Live projects**

You’ll have opportunities to work with our industry and community partners. You can work independently and in teams – bringing your ideas to life with real-world project briefs.

**Field trips**

We run local, regional and international field trips at no extra cost – such as writing retreats, festivals and theatre visits. Students in previous years have visited the London Book Fair, as well as events in Montreal, Canada and Zagreb, Croatia. Some have also taken part in the Festival of Debate and attended the ZEE-Jaipur Literature Festival in London.

**Networking opportunities**

Studying in Sheffield puts you at the heart of a vibrant cultural scene. We work with renowned festivals held in the city, such as Off the Shelf literary festival and Doc/Fest, an international documentary film festival.

These events attract literary agents, publishers and high profile writers. Past students have volunteered as delegates – gaining experience working at the festivals while growing their professional network. Plus our innovative masterclass programmes will give you a headstart in the writing and publishing industries.

We also have a strong network of graduates – and we encourage you to connect with partners outside of the university to give you the best career opportunities possible.

Modules

Module and assessment information for future years is displayed as currently validated and may be liable to change. When selecting electives, your choices will be subject to the core requirements of the course. As a result, selections may be limited to a choice between one of two or more specified electives in some instances.

**Important notice:**
The structure for this course is currently being reviewed and enhanced to provide the best possible learning experience for our students. Module structure, content, delivery and assessment are all likely to change, but we expect the focus of the course and the learning outcomes to remain as described above. Once the changes have been confirmed, updated module information will be published on this page.

You will be able to complete a placement year as part of this course. See the modules table below for further information.

**Year 1**
**Compulsory modules**
Craft And Form
Describing Language
Linguistic Creativity
Local To Global: Literary Explorations

**Year 2**
**Compulsory modules**
Ideas Into Action
Imagined Futures: Literature, Time And Hope
What's The Story? Long And Short Fiction

**Elective modules**
A Fine Line: Poetry And Poetics
Exploring Second Language Learning
Foreign Language
Style And Interpretation
Talk And Interaction
The Literature Of Things

**Year 3**
**Optional modules**
Placement Year

**Final year**
**Elective modules**
Changing Lives: Literature And Social Movements
Counter-Culture And Creativity
Creative Writing Major Project
Exploring English Education
Foreign Language
Language, Learning And Wellbeing
Language Research Project
Life On Earth: Writing And Environment
Literature Research Project
Make It New: Experimental Writing
Reading And The Mind
Revealing Gender
The Ends Of The Earth: Literature And The Anthropocene
The Spectacular City: Exploring Urban Spaces
Writing For Change: Writing And Advocacy
Writing For Young People

Assessment methods

Coursework

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£16,655
per year
International
£16,655
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

Extra funding

Scholarships, discounts and bursaries may be available to students who study this course.

The Uni


Course location:

Sheffield Hallam University

Department:

College of Social Sciences and Arts

Read full university profile

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.

75%
English studies

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

90%
Staff make the subject interesting
95%
Staff are good at explaining things
95%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
75%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

78%
Library resources
90%
IT resources
95%
Course specific equipment and facilities
65%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

99%
UK students
1%
International students
28%
Male students
72%
Female students
82%
2:1 or above
7%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
B
C

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 (non-specific)

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.

£16,500
low
Average annual salary
96%
med
Employed or in further education
24%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

18%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
12%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
11%
Customer service occupations

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 (non-specific)

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

£16k

£21k

£21k

£23k

£23k

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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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

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Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

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?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here