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Start Dates

21 September 2026

Duration

3 years full-time 4 years inc. placement year 6 years part-time

UCAS Tariff

120-104 points


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About this course

Overview

Why choose Huddersfield for this course?

  • Explore literature, language, and creative writing from classics to contemporary texts.
  • Explore literature, language, and creative writing from classics to contemporary texts.
  • Develop transferable skills for careers in teaching, media, law, or publishing.

Explore the full breadth of English on our BA(Hons) degree. You’ll study classic and contemporary literature, trace the evolution of the English language, and develop skills in persuasive and creative communication.

Whether you’re inspired by Shakespeare, experimental fiction, or keen to create your own novel, screenplay, or video game script, you’ll find opportunities to experiment and develop your voice through modules such as Writing Beyond the Page. You can also explore fascinating areas of language and communication, including child language acquisition and psycholinguistics.

From Year 2 onwards, optional modules allow you to tailor the course to your interests, while field trips and events, including the Huddersfield Literature Festival, bring your studies to life. A work placement year in the UK or abroad can further boost your employability. For prospective teachers, the course covers the full breadth of English in the National Curriculum.

You’ll graduate with transferable skills in critical thinking, research, creative problem solving, and communication, as well as career-ready abilities in marketing, copywriting, SEO, journalism, and social media. Many graduates go on to careers in teaching, law, media, or continue their studies at postgraduate level.

This English degree is perfect if you love literature, language, creative writing, or exploring the power of words in society.

Career opportunities after the course *

Teacher

Secondary School Teacher

Marketing Executive

SEN Teacher

Bid Writers

*Lightcast

Who can apply?

Entry Requirements

BBB-BCC at A Level.
120-104 UCAS tariff points from a combination of Level 3 qualifications.
Merit at T Level.
DMM-MMM in BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma.
Merit in UAL Level 3 Extended Diploma.
Merit in RSL Level 3 Extended Diploma.
Access to Higher Education Diploma with 45 Level 3 credits at Merit or above.
120-104 UCAS tariff points from International Baccalaureate qualifications.


Mature students will be considered on an individual basis.

If you are from outside the UK, you may be admitted with a Higher National Diploma or equivalent in a relevant discipline.

For 3 + 1 entry to the course, a relevant UK Higher National Diploma or Foundation Degree with a merit profile value of 240 credits or equivalent. You should consult UCAS website for current requirements.

Applications will also be considered based on the equivalent of 240 credits or 120 ECTs appropriately matched to levels 4 and 5 of the course.

If your first language is not English, you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum of IELTS 6.5 overall with no element lower than 6.0, or equivalent. Read more about the University’s entry requirements for students outside of the UK on our International Entry Requirements page.

Other suitable experience or qualifications will be considered. For further information please see the University's minimum entry requirements.

What will you learn?

Course Details

This module will help you master the craft of academic writing and professional communication, enabling you to gain a competitive career advantage. You will learn to write clearly and persuasively across diverse platforms, focusing on real-world impact. The module balances the demands of academic writing—perfecting the skills of building logical, evidence-based arguments and evaluating the provenance of source material—with practical opportunities to develop a specialised portfolio in creative writing (fiction, poetry, screenwriting, creative non-fiction, historical narrative, exhibition content) or journalism (investigative reporting, opinion/editorial, historical journalism, for online/print/ broadcast). Graduate with the power to influence and command attention in any industry.

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. This skill set is common to all disciplines in the Humanities, where the challenge lies in unravelling complexities, probing assumptions, and exploring the neglected features of human culture, language and history, considering the importance of intersectionality along the way. The module will hone your intellectual skills in reasoning and close analysis, improve your ability to present arguments effectively, reflect on your work, and equip you to plan and conduct an independent research project.

This module is your gateway into the world of English literature - from epic adventures and timeless tragedies to modern classics. You’ll explore the major genres that have defined Western literature, and see how writers over time have shaped and broken its rules. Along the way, you’ll pick up the key ideas, tools and skills that will guide you through studying literature on your degree, helping you read deeper, think sharper, and write with confidence.

This module will provide you with an understanding the history of the English from the early medieval period, combining the description and analysis of language with close reading of texts in their historical, material and literary context. There will be a focus on poetry and prose from different periods of early English, including religious and political texts. Authors like Aelfric of Eynsham, Chaucer, Mallory, Julian of Norwich, Tyndale, and Marlowe may be studied, in order to track changes in English language and culture alongside developments in politics, religion, and technology. Students will gain a strong understanding of how the English language looked in different periods and be able to accurately describe key features of language and texts. We will examine links between key features of English texts and their contexts. We will consider how external factors like language contact, cultural dialogue with Europe, religious change, and the advent of printing interact with changes to the way writing in English developed.

Choose one of the following sets:

This module looks at sources and approaches to the study of the medieval and early modern past - taken broadly to cover the period 1300-1800. This is a survey module deliberately covering a long chronological span to enable students to look at key aspects of the period. It will focus on England/Britain in relation to the wider world e.g. Politics in relation to Monarchy and government; pandemics and the impact of social change brought about by the Black Death as a Europe-wide pandemic; the impact of exploration on trade and developments within the British Isles. It will take a thematic approach examining politics, society, and religion using case studies to highlight these. It will examine the sources that students can use to engage with medieval and early modern history, for example, written and pictorial sources, but also objects and the heritage sector.

The module combines a chronological and thematic approach to introduce you to the major political, social, economic and cultural developments affecting British society in the 20th century. It places Britain into a global perspective, examining the international and imperial connections which shaped Britain’s interactions with the world. Through this you will examine how these global interactions helped shape a sense of the British self.

For more information on when and how we update our modules please see the ‘Legal Information’ section below.

OR

The module introduces you to a range of video formats and technologies: mobile, online, television and video. You will be provided with the essential recording and editing skills necessary to produce a video output, and to understand the language and concepts required to critically evaluate video content. You will be also be introduced to legal and regulatory frameworks surrounding the production of video content.

The module introduces you to a range of audio formats and technologies: mobile, online, radio and podcast. You will be provided with the essential recording, editing and studio skills necessary to produce an audio output. You will be introduced to legal and regulatory frameworks surrounding the production of audio content and the opportunity to understand the language and concepts required to critically evaluate audio content.

For more information on when and how we update our modules please see the ‘Legal Information’ section below.

OR

This module provides the knowledge for you to gain an understanding of the role of technology in shaping and being shaped by mediated communication, with a particular focus on digital media technologies. The module combines the critical analysis of media technologies with practical skills to use those technologies in the journalism, media and creative industries.

This module introduces you to essential ideas about the media’s roles in societies, along with the rights and responsibilities of those who create media content. Learners will get to grips with the key media ethics, law and policy knowledge needed for a career in this vast and dynamic industry. It will help you understand the structures in which media workers and organisations operate, and the ways in which specific ethical, legal and regulatory frameworks impact the content created. You will learn about these so you can begin to effectively apply them in the context of creating media content.

For more information on when and how we update our modules please see the ‘Legal Information’ section below.

This module develops the research skills you acquired at Foundation level, giving you the skills and confidence required to complete a major piece of independent research in your final year of your degree. You will learn from expert researchers and archive/heritage professionals. We will discover together how research uses different methods and approaches to answer specific research questions, engaging in scholarly debate to further knowledge. We’ll learn about the ways in which we build on existing research to generate new insight, and how research findings make a difference in the real world. The module gives you the freedom to research a wide range of relevant topics in your discipline with the structure and support of subject specialists.

You will be expected either to complete a graduate or professional level work placement – or, as an alternative an enterprise or citizenship project with a tangible end product (e.g. feasibility study for turning hobby/idea into a personal business or setting up campaign group/developing volunteering/charity initiative) plus associated documentation – plus a self-reflective evaluation of the process. In preparation for this you will undertake career planning and placement research, supported by workshops and tutorial meetings.

This module will develop your skills in investigating archival records and help you to understand and critically analyse how they are used in a range of different sites and formats that include academic scholarship, museums, literature, literary heritage, reportage, digital media and online. The module will be based around materials held in Heritage Quay, the University Archive, and you will have a hands-on introduction to how archives are collected, catalogued and utilised in public-facing environments. It will also develop your independent research, communication and employability skills.

This module focuses on the scope of variety within English, both as it is used in the British Isles and around the world at the current time. You will gain an awareness of the different ways variation exists within a language across different language levels, and of the ways linguistic variation maps onto and relates to social, geographical, and individual differences between language users. You will also explore how historical realities like industrialization, colonialism, and globalization have shaped the forms and uses of English around the world today. Furthermore, the module aims to establish and build your competencies and confidence in data collection and analysis.

You will also choose 2 optional modules in this year. The current optional modules are:

This module focuses on the potential of spoken-word material as a source of data for quantitative and qualitative research in the study of History, English Language and Literature. It aims to improve your skills in data collection through the introduction of the theory and practice of interviewing for research, and aims to enhance your analytical skill set by introducing you to a range of methods from like thematic tagging, concordances, and descriptive and analytical statistics. You will explore the interview as a means of data collection in, for example, sociolinguistics and oral history, conducting your own interviews in line with best practice. You will then use spoken-word data collected by yourself or other scholars as the basis for investigation of textual material using a variety of analytical tools.

No English degree would be complete without the opportunity to study the greatest writer in the language – Shakespeare. This module is your chance to do just that, both by situating Shakespeare’s plays in relation to their historical and cultural backgrounds, and by considering their rejuvenation in recent film and stage productions. For a greater understanding of Renaissance drama, the module will also compare Shakespeare’s work to some of his contemporaries, such as Marlowe, Jonson, or Webster.

This module gives you the chance to study some of the most exciting and experimental novels ever written. Beginning at the start of the twentieth century, with ground breaking works of modernist fiction by the likes of James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, you will study innovative new developments in form, style, and technique, as well as the historical context behind these transformative texts. The module then introduces you to the postmodernist experimentation of the later twentieth century. Together, we will explore new departures in narrative, style and language; the relationship between fiction, history and text; and the breakthrough novels that shaped the twentieth century.

The nineteenth century was the period in which the novel was the dominant literary form, in the wake of the heyday of Romantic poetry and before the advent of cinema. In this module we will study and analyse a selection of novels that represent some of the most significant developments in the genre during the Victorian age. We will explore the ways in which the Victorian novel reflected the most important issues of the day, from industrialisation and political reform to women’s rights and class conflict. The module will also investigate the significance of novelistic subgenres such as Sensation fiction and the late gothic novel during the second half of the nineteenth century, mapping these onto shifting attitudes towards the politics of gender, race and empire.

This module takes a tour through modern and contemporary American poetry. We’ll explore history, politics, identity, and competing ideas of what is means to be ‘American’, by studying the work of 10 extraordinary poets. We’ll be exploring American poetry from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day, looking at significant poetic movements and sociopolitical contexts. The module explores a range of poets which may include Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath, Claudia Rankine, and Robert Lowell.

This module focuses on genres of creative writing where the final ‘product’ is not simply words on a page; these may include some of the following: a dramatic monologue, a short film script and a comedy sketch/stand-up routine. The final work submitted for assessment will take the form of the printed ‘script’, with the full understanding that these works are not merely the printed word. You will be taught the correct layout and the key craft issues from an industry expert.

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.

Gothic emerged as the dark twin of Enlightenment in the eighteenth century and has remained perennially popular ever since. Gothic novels, ghost stories and horror films offer scintillating and often scandalous popular entertainment, while counterbalancing the values of modernity and order celebrated in realism and rational philosophy. This module will explore the origins and development of the Gothic, from its emergence in the age of revolutions and Regency decadence, through nineteenth-century parodies and re-appropriations, to its manifold transformations within the cultural industries of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

For more information on when and how we update our modules please see the ‘Legal Information’ section below.

Choose one from:

The placement year is your chance to gain hands-on experience and build on the skills you’ve developed in your first two years of study. You’ll spend up to 48 weeks (minimum 36 weeks) in a graduate-level role, sharpening your professional skills, exploring career options, and boosting your future job prospects. During your placement, you'll reflect on your performance, develop real-world skills, and learn to approach your role with a critical eye. Your placement will be monitored, and you’ll be assessed on your achievements, setting you up for success in your final year and beyond.

The Portfolio Sandwich Year module provides a flexible and tailored approach to professional development. It allows you to create a customised portfolio of graduate-level opportunities if your career aspirations don’t align with a traditional sandwich year placement. This module will help you develop a diverse and adaptable skillset, build professional networks, and enhance your career readiness through a mix of structured and self-directed activities.

For more information on when and how we update our modules please see the ‘Legal Information’ section below.

This module is the culmination of your degree, allowing you to apply your skills and knowledge to researching and writing an extended piece of work on a subject of your choice, including, if applicable a public engagement output with an external organisation, such as a museum, archive, community heritage group or similar.

This module challenges you to design and develop a project aimed at showcasing the value of the humanities to the general public. You will collaborate with your fellow students to deliver a project that communicates the importance of your disciplines in a non-scholarly, non-academic way. More broadly, you are encouraged to think about the real-world applications of a humanities degree, and about the role of the humanities in challenging and changing society. Taking this module will develop skills enabling you to articulate the value and importance of your studies to a non-specialist audience.

This module provides an introduction into the way in which children acquire language from their earliest experience in utero to the role language plays in their socialisation. The acquisition of sounds, vocabulary, grammar and semantics will be covered in detail with some exploration of the procedure of acquiring social skills through language learning. Students will be introduced to a range of approaches to language acquisition though principal focus will be on the nativist tradition. The module will train students to critically analyse language data produced by children.

You will also choose 2 optional modules in this year. The current optional modules are:

The late nineteenth century witnessed surging interest in the market for popular fiction and the emergence of new genres that responded to and helped to shape public attitudes to empire and criminality through the invention of characters that embodied various forms of heroic and/or demonic masculinity. The ‘Extraordinary Gentlemen’ of this era of popular fiction have retained an appeal that has proved resilient to transformations in attitudes to national identity, class and gender, as well as to the challenging of stigmas associated with ‘otherness’ and queered identities. In this module we will try to understand the basis for the appeal of ‘Extraordinary Gentlemen’ for late-Victorian and Edwardian audiences, and to examine their plasticity and openness to subsequent adaptation.

The twentieth century saw a golden age of experimental playwriting, to rival any since ancient Greece. From the pathos of Arthur Miller’s resurrection of tragedy to the hilarity of Dario Fo’s farces; from the politically motivated criticism of Bertolt Brecht’s plays to the bafflingly enigmatic absurdities of Samuel Beckett’s; from the witty repartee of Tom Stoppard’s dialogue to the grotesque brutality of Sarah Kane’s in-yer-face theatre – this is a unit in which no two weeks are even remotely the same. Besides embarking on an odyssey of innovation and controversy in modern drama, this module will also take you far beyond the English-speaking world, giving you a chance to study playwrights from a range of countries who changed the face of the western tradition of dramatic literature.

This module explores British poetry produced in the twentieth century. We may study poets from England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. There will be a consideration of political events and their impact on poetry. This may include The Troubles in Ireland and the Thatcher government in Britain. There will also be an exploration of sociopolitical and minority identities which may include gender, race, sexuality, and disability. We will go on a journey, exploring different poetic movements and the development of poetry from the early to late twentieth century.

This module is intended to explore the boundaries of genre: the hazy area between fiction and non-fiction. Through study of exemplary texts, you will become acquainted with a variety of experimental narrative and poetic possibilities which they can apply to their own writing practice. You will produce a portfolio of work—narrative fiction, poetry or hybrid/experimental forms to demonstrate different approaches to innovative writing. A self-reflective commentary on intentions and the creative process will accompany the portfolio.

On this module we will study the Holocaust through the words of those who survived and/or bore witness to it. Bringing together both literary and historical perspectives, we will approach this bleak yet defining episode of human history in a unique interdisciplinary fashion, focusing on non-fictional texts such as memoirs, diaries, and verbatim theatre. By studying how those who witnessed the events of the Holocaust chose to put the experience into words, we will attempt to understand these events neither in terms of traditional history textbooks nor in terms of their representation in our culture, but in terms of some of the individual stories behind it. This will allow us better to grasp issues such as trauma, memorialisation, the relationship between testimony and truth, and the difficulties involved in putting the events of the Holocaust into words.

World Literature is a module that invites you to look beyond the “Englishness” of English Literature. Your reading list will take you on a voyage of discovery around different cultures, countries, and continents, which you will explore through their literary texts. These texts will reflect both the global reach of the English language and the enthralling experience of reading works in translation. Besides embracing the challenges posed by studying works from unfamiliar cultures and traditions, this module will consider some of the important questions raised by the study of world literature, such as the nature of hybridity, the limitations of the canon, and the globalisation of literature.

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.

For more information on when and how we update our modules please see the ‘Legal Information’ section below.

Teaching and Assessment

Discover what to expect from your tutor contact time, assessment methods, and feedback process.

Global Professional Award

At Huddersfield, you’ll study the award-winning Global Professional Award (GPA) alongside your degree* — so you’re ready for the career you want, whatever subject you choose.

Interested in a placement?

Placements

The course offers a compulsory 5 week work placement in Year 2. If you’re studying full-time, this course also offers an optional one-year (48 weeks) work placement after the second year, in the UK or abroad. This will give you the opportunity to gain valuable hands-on experience, insight into your chosen career and open up your graduate employment prospects. Our Placement Unit and academic staff have excellent industry links and can support you in applying for and finding your placement(s), as well as during your placement year.

Recent English Literature graduates have taken placements at Pen and Sword Books, Kirklees Local TV, Numberworks & Words and a range of primary and secondary schools.

A placement is a great opportunity to explore your chosen industry, to understand the sector, network and make valuable contacts, whilst developing your skills, knowledge and experience. A placement is a chance to get involved, to put theory into practice and to work alongside professionals.

- Stephanie Bower
Placements Officer

Where could this lead you?

Your Career

The remarkably diverse range of modules on this course provides you with an equally broad array of career options. Assessments will upgrade your critical thinking, writing, communication, and creativity, equipping you with a skill set in high demand among employers in business, education and the creative industries. Graduates are well equipped to pursue careers in marketing, advertising, professional writing, publishing, education, law, events management, or media. This course is extremely well suited to prospective teachers because it covers the full breadth of the discipline of English included in the National Curriculum.

80-85%
Percent of graduates from these subject areas were in work or further study 15 months after graduation

* HESA Graduate Outcomes 22/23, UK Domiciled

How much will it cost?

Fees and Finance

£9,790 per year

This information is for Home students applying to study at the University of Huddersfield in the academic year 2026/27.

Please note that tuition fees for subsequent years may rise in line with inflation (RPI-X) and/or Government policy. 

From January 2027 the UK government is launching a new student funding system for people starting university education. Read more about the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE).

For detailed information please visit https://www.hud.ac.uk/study/fees/

£1,630 per 20 credits

This information is for Home students applying to study at the University of Huddersfield in the academic year 2026/27.

Modules credits can range from 15 to 60, dependent on the content of the module. Read more about total credits required for a range of degrees, to allow you to calculate the potential total cost.

Please note that tuition fees for subsequent years may rise in line with inflation (RPI-X) and/or Government policy. 

From January 2027 the UK government is launching a new student funding system for people starting university education. Read more about the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE).

For detailed information please visit https://www.hud.ac.uk/study/fees/

£17,600 per year

This information is for international students applying to study at the University of Huddersfield in the academic year 2026/27.

Please note that tuition fees for subsequent years may rise in line with inflation (RPI-X) and/or Government policy. 

For detailed information please visit https://www.hud.ac.uk/international/fees-and-funding/

Home

The tuition fee for a placement year is £1000. If you go on work experience or work placement, you will need to fund your own travel and/or accommodation costs to and from the placement.  Please be aware that if your placement is outside of the UK, you will still be responsible for your travel and living expenses and may need to consider issues like health care and insurance costs.

International

The tuition fee for a placement year is £3,300. If you go on work experience or work placement, you will need to fund your own travel and/or accommodation costs to and from the placement.  Please be aware that if your placement is outside of the UK, you will still be responsible for your travel and living expenses and may need to consider issues like health care and insurance costs.

Academic resources for your studies will be provided throughout the course, including access to library facilities and digital learning platforms. However, you will need to purchase certain set texts required for your modules. These texts are essential for seminar preparation and assessment.
The approximate costs for these purchases are:
• Year 1: £20-50
• Year 2: £20-50
• Year 3: £50-100
The actual amount may vary depending on whether you choose to buy new or second-hand books, or access digital editions where available. We will provide links to free electronic copies of texts wherever these are available.

Scholarships and Bursaries

Discover what additional help you may be eligible for to support your University studies.

Tuition Fee Loans

Find out more about tuition fee loans available to eligible undergraduate students.

What’s included in your fee?

We want you to understand exactly what your fees will cover and what additional costs you may need to budget for when you decide to become a student with us.

If you have any questions about Fees and Finance, please email the Student Finance Team.

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Why Hud

Explore the unique opportunities and resources that make our institution a top choice for students seeking a well-rounded and future-focused education.

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More Info

Careers support

We know you’re coming to university to study on your chosen subject, meet new people and broaden your horizons. However, we also help you to focus on life after you have graduated to ensure that your hard work pays off and you achieve your ambition.

Find out more about careers support

Student support

At the University of Huddersfield, you’ll find support networks and services to help you get ahead in your studies and social life. Whether you study at undergraduate or postgraduate level, you’ll soon discover that you’re never far away from our dedicated staff and resources to help you to navigate through your personal student journey.

See our support services

Teaching Excellence

Great teaching is engaging and inspiring — it helps you reach your full potential and prepares you for the future. We don’t just teach well — we excel — and we have the awards and recognition to prove it.

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Inspiring Academics

Our researchers carry out world-leading work that makes a real difference to people’s lives. Staff within the Department of Media, Humanities and the Arts may teach you on this course.

Find out more about our staff

Research Excellence

You’ll be taught by staff who want to support your learning and share the latest knowledge and research.

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Accommodation

Looking for student accommodation? Huddersfield has you covered. HudLets has a variety of accommodation types to choose from, no matter what your preference. HudLets is the University’s approved accommodation service, run by Huddersfield Students’ Union.

Take a look at your options

Further Study

If you want to continue your learning beyond your undergraduate degree, there is a range of financial support available for postgraduate study, including discounts for Huddersfield graduates.

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