English BA(Hons)

This module introduces approaches to studying literature at university level. We do this via a series of questions, such as ‘what is culture?’ ‘what is gender?’ and even ‘what is time?’ You’ll have the opportunity to evaluate ideas and concepts from a range of theoretical works, learning to take a critical perspective to the discipline and to think deeply about the cultural world around you. You will be assessed via written coursework and a portfolio in the medium of your choice.

This module introduces you to the structure of words and sentences within the linguistic system, and the ways in which meanings are created and combined. You will learn all the basics of linguistic description, starting from individual morphemes and building up to complex sentences. Emphasis is on the development of practical skills in analysing language structure.

This module introduces you to the structure of sound within the linguistic system. You'll learn all the basics of articulatory and impressionistic phonetic description, starting from individual sounds and building up to continuous speech. Emphasis is on the development of practical skills in analysing speech.

This module encourages you to take a holistic view of your programme of study, understanding and using links between modules, developing academic skills and using computer skills to become an effective independent learner. You’ll aim to become reflective in your work and learning, and be critical in decision making and thinking. This will be recorded as part of a portfolio of work.

This module aims to develop your understanding of key theoretical concepts and the productive ways in which these can be used in reading literary and cultural texts. It encourages you to engage with challenging ideas around nation, identity, history and culture.

You will complete either a graduate-level work placement or an enterprise project with a tangible end product. In preparation for this you will undertake career planning and placement research, supported by workshops and tutorial meetings. During the course of the module you will deliver an assessed presentation on your chosen field. At the end of the module you will submit a placement and self-evaluation report.

This module pays close attention to issues which influence what writers write and how they write it. It explores a range of techniques for writing for specific contexts and critically evaluates how contemporary writers respond to socio-political and aesthetic issues through irony, satire, parody and allegory. It also considers how literary writers can employ techniques such as performance poetry, the satirical sketch and dramatic monologue to create character, create dramatic tension and energy, free up creativity and overcome writer’s block. You'll be introduced to a number of issue-based literary and dramatic texts and will be given guided opportunities to develop your own form of expression.

You will develop knowledge and understanding of, and expertise in, the craft of creative writing by studying a representative range of contemporary, modern and pre-Twentieth century prose and poetry. You will learn how the formal, technical and stylistic elements of creative texts are used to enable, effect and complement intention, theme and content. You will apply your knowledge by writing in a variety of forms and deploying a range of techniques. You may choose to specialise in writing prose, to specialise in writing poetry, or to write in both genres—again according to your choice. Although course materials will be differentiated to support specialisation, exemplar and stimulus materials will include both prose and poetry. You will demonstrate theoretical as well as practical learning by critically commenting on your own and others’ work in the light of your study of craft.

Communication across Cultures provides an introduction to culture-specific interactional norms, by comparing linguistic behaviour in a range of target cultures, giving you a wide comparative overview of interactional norms across cultures, with the aim of boosting your practical competence in interpreting cross-cultural differences in terms of language behaviour. The topics covered on the module include various frameworks for investigating and understanding difference across cultures, These will be applied to a variety of aspects of interaction (e.g. address terms, making requests, service encounters, business meetings).

This module focuses on the linguistic analysis of style in language. It aims to improve your skills in text analysis through the introduction of a range of cutting-edge theories, frameworks and methods for literary and non-literary stylistic analysis. You'll have the opportunity to explore the relationship between form and function in language by analysing a wide range of texts and investigating such issues as text style, genre style and authorial style.

Corpus linguistics focuses on the techniques of computational corpus-based language study. The module concentrates on the analysis of electronic linguistic corpora using corpus linguistics software packages such as AntConc and WMatrix. Corpus linguistics methodologies are used to illuminate such areas of linguistics as grammar, lexicography and stylistics. Additionally, you'll have the chance to examine how to build, store and exploit your own corpora for linguistic analysis.

After considering the scope of pragmatics (language use) and its place in the study of language and communication, this module covers its major conceptual foundations (speech act theory, deixis, presupposition, implicature, relevance theory, context) and then proceeds to introduce its major developments and applications (the pragmatic perspective on conversational structure; interpersonal pragmatics, intercultural pragmatics; discursive pragmatics; metapragmatics.)

You’ll enhance your understanding of key theoretical concepts, inviting you to choose a particular literary topic and conceptual focus for your own original analysis of works of literature in relation to other fields of intellectual debate such as historiography, philosophy or film studies. It encourages you to challenge and build upon the concepts and methodologies that have underpinned literary criticism in the past by engaging you in interdisciplinary perspectives and advanced debates in contemporary literary theory. The module incorporates a series of concept workshops in addition to a core of lectures and seminars on a distinct literary topic, which you will choose from the range of available options. These options relate to the research expertise and scholarly publications of individual members of academic staff. The options on offer may include: Global Shakespeares; Extraordinary Gentlemen; Frontiers and Borders in American Literature; 20th-Century Poetry; 20th- Century Drama; South Asian Writing in English; Old Worlds, New Worlds and Other Worlds.

This module will develop and consolidate your skills in critical analysis. You'll engage in in-depth study of literary texts within a specific sub-field of literary studies. In doing so, you will engage with current critical debates and scholarship within the discipline.

This module aims to support you in the production of a portfolio of original work in a category to be negotiated with the tutor. The production of a self-reflective commentary on the creative process is integral to the project. You'll be asked to provide a project proposal outlining the content of your project. Regular tutorials will be available to help you manage your time and offer constructive feedback to help with rewriting and drafting of creative work. It is recognised that a single piece of creative work may not be appropriate for all students, so a portfolio may contain a mixture of poetry and prose or other kinds of creative writing.

This module is intended to explore the boundaries of genre: the hazy area between fiction and non-fiction; innovative practice that brings poetry and fiction together; writing that incorporates text and image; hypertext and new media writing and writing that situates itself in relation to other art forms. Through study of exemplary texts, you'll have the opportunity to explore a variety of experimental narrative possibilities which you could consider applying to your own writing practice. In term one, discussion in workshops of exemplary material will help provide you with ideas for development in term two. You'll be asked to produce a portfolio of work to demonstrate different approaches to innovative writing. A self-reflective commentary on intentions and the creative process will also be requested to accompany the portfolio.

This module focuses on how the kind of language we use can vary according to such factors as the geographical or social background of the speaker, the formality or informality of the speech situation and the purpose of the speech event. In addition, you'll have the opportunity to consider how the identity of speakers is represented by the way in which they use language, and how speakers interact with others in order to achieve particular conversational goals.

You'll have the opportunity to explore issues relating to language and power and how to apply the techniques of critical linguistics to example texts ranging from casual conversation to political speechmaking. Techniques you’ll have the chance to study include the analysis of naming, transitivity, modality, speech and thought representation, presupposition, opposition, negation and deixis. You'll also be encouraged to read and discuss extracts of the seminal work in this field.

This module explores bilingualism and multilingualism, describing the phenomena and learning how they are acquired, practised and lost in speakers. You'll have the chance to explore the social contexts surrounding multilingualism, such as education and community, as well as social attitudes towards multilingualism.

This module is about how people get on – or don’t get on – with each other. It explores why people say the things they say and do the things they do, the effects of these actions on their feelings and sense of self, and how they evaluate what people say and do as polite or rude, friendly or unfriendly, acceptable or unacceptable.