Acting, Performance and English Language BA(Hons)

You’ll have the opportunity to explore the ways in which a play script can form the basis for a live theatre production through working together as a company to stage a short text. Training in acting, voice, and the physical can be explored through the challenge of staging the work.

Critical thinking enables us to go beyond the surface of information, using analytical skills to dissect, question, and evaluate ideas with a detective's curiosity and a scientist's precision. The module will hone your intellectual skills in reasoning and close analysis, improve your ability to present arguments effectively, and equip you to plan and conduct an independent research project. This module will also provide support for planning your personal and career development.

This module introduces you to the structure of language as a system. You will learn all the basics of linguistic description, using mostly, but not only, the English language to illustrate. The module focuses on the fundamental linguistic concept of ‘levels’ of language, starting from the smallest (sounds) and building up to sentence structure. Emphasis is on the development of practical skills in analysing language structure.

The aim of this module is to develop the tools of syntactic analysis and description that you began to acquire in 'Structure to Sense'. You'll be introduced to a more formal syntactic framework, specifically Minimalist Generative Syntax, which will be contrasted with other generative and non-generative approaches. You'll be introduced to the theoretical motivations behind Minimalism and apply the theoretical apparatus to solve syntactic problems. This will provide a more nuanced understanding of the grammatical features of language, how languages differ and how grammatical relationships are realised.

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.

You’ll have the opportunity to undertake a training project in one of a range of theatre skill areas, such as directing, performing, physical theatre, technical theatre, or workshop facilitation. A programme of training will help to prepare you to undertake an independent project which demonstrates your skills and understandings.

Being a producer in film and TV is an important job, putting you right at the centre of any production. You’ll learn about production management tasks ranging from casting to location scouting, while getting a handle on the logistics of production both in the studio and outside. You’ll also focus on health and safety, knowledge that is more essential than ever.

This module takes you inside cinema, as you examine contemporary film as a global media industry. It’s not just the movies themselves, but how they are produced, distributed, promoted and received. There’s a particular emphasis on how processes of globalisation and circulation allow films to become meaningful, far outside the contexts in which they were originally made.

This module provides a practical orientation in some of the main genres of film and television, and a training in how to write for them. You will analyse and discuss the narrative structures, character types, and other conventions of a range of genres, and try your hand at writing them yourself. These genres could range from documentary to sitcom, from horror to romantic comedy, or from action movie to period costume drama. Finally, you will become proficient at writing in a particular genre, which you will select from those you have studied. You will produce a script according to a genre-specific brief, and then reflect on the process of writing to the constraints of the familiar generic conventions of the film/television industry.

The module is designed for students who have the minimum level of English language skills for them to have been accepted onto a university course and who may lack the initiative to ask for help when needed. In this module students are provided with the opportunity to develop higher levels of confidence in their production of spoken and written academic English. In addition, students will consolidate and refine their understanding of syntax and grammatical structures. As the module runs alongside their university studies, there is an emphasis on and an incentive to use skills that complement work done in the main area of study and which will be of use in and beyond an academic context. The use of regular AM/AI-proof tasks will ensure students develop an understanding of their own learning and the role they themselves play in developing their knowledge and skills. The module contributes to the attainment of skills and knowledge relevant to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) normally level B2- to B2.

The module provides students who have a level of English language skills sufficiently advanced for them to have been accepted onto a University course with the opportunity to improve further their skills in that language, with particular reference to improvements in the accuracy, clarity and fluency of their oral and written work. In addition to this, students will refine and develop their knowledge of academic study skills. As the module runs alongside their university studies, there is an emphasis on and an incentive to use skills that complement work done in the main area of study and which will be of use in and beyond an academic context. The use of regular AM/AI-proof tasks will ensure students develop an understanding of their own learning and the role they themselves play in developing their knowledge and skills. The module contributes to the attainment of skills and knowledge relevant to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) normally level B2 to B2+.

The module is designed for students who already have a good level of competence in spoken and written English and will support them to further enhance their language and academic skills. Students will refine and develop higher level thinking skills such as critical analysis, problem-solving, synthesis, inference and metacognition. Advanced oral role-plays, group discussions and debates will serve to improve spontaneity and sophistication of expression, whilst written activities will build greater fluency in the use of linguistic structures. They will work with extended academic texts and understand such academic skills as synthesising sources, literature reviews, methodologies, paraphrasing and a range of accurate citation skills. As the module runs alongside their university studies, there is an emphasis on and an incentive to use skills that complement work done in the main area of study and which will be of use in and beyond an academic context. The use of regular AM/AI-proof tasks will ensure students develop an understanding of their own learning and the role they themselves play in developing their knowledge and skills. The module contributes to the attainment of skills appropriate to the B2+ to C1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for Languages.

The Final Year Project is an opportunity to demonstrate practical skills in a significant theatre or performance role. Building on skills developed through earlier study, you will be able to negotiate a practical project that may focus on performing, directing, applied theatre practice, writing or technical and production skills. With input from a supervisor, you will then be asked to work largely independently to deliver the agreed project. Many of the practical projects appear in the Department’s annual Common Grounds Festival.

This is where you put your academic learning to use, by doing guided independent research into an area of the media you want to learn more about. You’ll review what others have written about your topic, identify a suitable method to use and carry it out, before analysing your findings. It’s a challenge - but you’ll have a supervisor to help you all the way.

This module takes the form of a Working Party research process in which the group collectively researches, designs and delivers a Panel Session within a ‘Conference’ on a set topic chosen from a range of options. At that Session, each of you will present a provocation or make an alternative research presentation. Initially, the group works with the tutor on gaining a broad understanding of the field in question and designs a Call for Papers which summarises the field and identifies the main questions and debates. Each of you then respond to their Call for Papers by designing a detailed proposal for a research process which will culminate in a contribution to the Panel Session. There is scope for creativity in the design of individual presentations and in the curatorship of the event.

This module provides an introduction into the way in which children acquire language. Along with overviewing some general issues such as the acquisition of vocabulary and grammar, the module explores the procedure of acquiring social skills through language learning. This ‘socialisation’ process spans expression of one’s emotions via language, through the proper use of conventional language, to distinguishing between the norm of language use in group and individual settings. The module aims to train you to collect and critically analyse language data produced by children.

The module will introduce and develop your understanding of a range of current approaches in the area of psycholinguistics. The module covers a range of psycholinguistic theories and models, and you will learn how these theories and models are developed and refined through evidence and experimental methodologies.

This module provides an introduction to forensics as it is applied to both speech (Forensic Phonetics) and text (Forensic Linguistics). On this module you will learn about the roles speech and text play as evidence in the courtroom as well as for criminal investigations. You will be introduced to a range of topics from both forensic phonetics and forensic linguistics that will enable you to situate the use of language in the real world and to analyse speech and written language from a forensic perspective. The topics introduced through this module will be supported by lectures and hands-on lab work.

You will be provided with the opportunity to develop higher levels of confidence in your production of spoken and written academic English. In addition, you will consolidate and refine your understanding of syntax and grammatical structures. As the module runs alongside your university studies, there is an emphasis on and an incentive to use skills that complement work done in the main area of study and which will be of use in and beyond an academic context. The use of regular AM/AI-proof tasks will ensure you develop an understanding of your own learning and the role you can play in developing your knowledge and skills. The module contributes to the attainment of skills and knowledge relevant to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) normally level B2- to B2.

The module provides students who have a level of English language skills sufficiently advanced for them to have been accepted onto a University course with the opportunity to improve further their skills in that language, with particular reference to improvements in the accuracy, clarity and fluency of their oral and written work. In addition to this, students will refine and develop their knowledge of academic study skills. As the module runs alongside their university studies, there is an emphasis on and an incentive to use skills that complement work done in the main area of study and which will be of use in and beyond an academic context. The use of regular AM/AI-proof tasks will ensure students develop an understanding of their own learning and the role they themselves play in developing their knowledge and skills. The module contributes to the attainment of skills and knowledge relevant to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) normally level B2 to B2+.

The module is designed for students who already have a good level of competence in spoken and written English and will support them to further enhance their language and academic skills. Students will refine and develop higher level thinking skills such as critical analysis, problem-solving, synthesis, inference and metacognition. Advanced oral role-plays, group discussions and debates will serve to improve spontaneity and sophistication of expression, whilst written activities will build greater fluency in the use of linguistic structures. They will work with extended academic texts and understand such academic skills as synthesising sources, literature reviews, methodologies, paraphrasing and a range of accurate citation skills. As the module runs alongside their university studies, there is an emphasis on and an incentive to use skills that complement work done in the main area of study and which will be of use in and beyond an academic context. The use of regular AM/AI-proof tasks will ensure students develop an understanding of their own learning and the role they themselves play in developing their knowledge and skills. The module contributes to the attainment of skills appropriate to the B2+ to C1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for Languages.