BA in English Language and Literature Birmingham City University

English Language and Literature degrees instil graduates with a vast range of skills, which are highly sought after by employers.

The BA (Hons) English Language and Literature course will support you in developing interdisciplinary skills in both areas, as well as the wider field of humanities.

You will have a unique opportunity to strengthen your critical skills in informed reading and analysis, whilst deepening your appreciation for language and literature. You will develop your writing, close reading and research skills, and learn to express your arguments coherently and persuasively.

Your language studies will be applied to everyday and professional settings, allowing you to strengthen your understanding of communicative processes, while your literature studies will provide an opportunity to examine literature from all of the major periods, movements and genres. Your degree will allow you to tailor your studies to your individual interests.

What's covered in this course?

English as a discipline continues to be relevant to the lives we lead and is central to a wide range of contemporary and social contexts. It is this fact on which the School has built its philosophy and approach to English as a subject with interdisciplinary reach beyond its own boundaries.

Understanding how language works in practice, engaging with multiple forms of communication, and examining how language and literature engage with societies and cultures in the past and present, are all vital aspects in understanding how the discipline connects with the wider world, enabling you to focus on the production, interpretation and negotiation of meaning and to understand the world from a variety of perspectives.

You will benefit from student-focused and research-informed teaching in a friendly and supportive learning environment. Our graduates are characterised by their extensive subject knowledge, critical thinking and intellectual curiosity, reflected in the skills and abilities that enable them to adapt to a wide range of career paths and employment opportunities.

The School contributes to the cultural life of Birmingham and the wider West Midlands by working closely with partner colleges and schools; maintaining close links with cultural institutions such as the Birmingham and Midland Institute (BMI) and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG); and working with agencies such as Writing West Midlands. The aim is to provide opportunities for the community to engage with the discipline and the University.

Professional placement year

This course offers a professional placement year. This allows you to spend a whole year with an employer, between the second and third years of your degree and is a great way to find out more about your chosen career. Some students even return to the same employers after completing their studies.

The University will draw on its extensive network of local, regional and national employers to support you in finding a suitable placement to complement your chosen area of study. If you do not find a suitable placement, you will be automatically transferred back to the standard, non-placement version of the course.

Please note that fees are payable during your placement year, equivalent to 20% of the total full-time course fee for that year (£1,850 for UK students).

Why choose us?

1. Top 15 for English student satisfaction and graduate prospects (Complete University Guide 2023).
2. You will be taught by world-leading academics and expert practitioners who encourage a community of experimentation, innovation and inclusivity and create an environment in which your learning can flourish.
3. The programme offers multiple opportunities for you to collaborate across disciplines in order to gain new perspectives on the relevance of your study in the wider world.
4. English is a subject highly prized by employers for the range of transferable skills it develops. Equipped with a strong subject knowledge, you will develop the ability to work as an independent researcher, to communicate effectively in spoken and written forms, to critically evaluate the work of others, and to respond imaginatively to original briefs.
5. English is a global language; its culture has an international reach. Understanding the effects of this and how English has been shaped and reshaped by its engagement with the world at large is a key principle of the programme. You not only have the opportunity to contextualise English in this way as part of the taught programme but can also apply to undertake part of your studies abroad at one of our exchange partner universities.
6. Our teaching staff are also expert researchers in English Language and Literature. 94% of research in English at BCU was judged to be either world-leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*) in REF2021.

Year one

In order to complete this course you must successfully complete all the following core modules (totalling 100 credits):

• Literature, Drama and Origin
• Foundations of Language
• Foundations of Creative Writing
• Language in Action
• Key Critical Concepts

In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete at least 20 credits from the following list of optional modules:

• Literature and Conflict
• Craft of Writing
• Modern Drama

Core modules are guaranteed to run. Optional modules will vary from year to year and the published list is indicative only.

Year two

In order to complete this course you must successfully complete all the following core modules (totalling 60 credits):

• Writing and the Environment
• Grammar and Sounds

In order to complete this course you must successfully complete at least 60 credits from the following list of optional modules.

• Collaborative Practice
• Work Placement
• Language in Society
• Foundations of Screenwriting
• Writing Poetry
• Writing Audio Drama
• Documentary Drama
• Gender, Sexuality and Culture
• The Victorians
• Literature and the Child
• Multicultural Writing
• Early Modern Literature

Core modules are guaranteed to run. Optional modules will vary from year to year and the published list is indicative only.

Year three

In order to complete this course you must successfully complete all the following core modules (totalling 80 credits):

• Applied Sociolinguistics
• Major Project

In order to complete this course you must successfully complete at least 40 credits from the following list of optional modules.

• Forensic Linguistics
• Language and Gender
• Teaching English as a Foreign Language
• Writing Creative Nonfiction
• Writing Short Films
• Nature Writing
• Literature, Art and Philosophy
• The Gothic
• Psychology in Victorian Literature
• Speculative Fiction
• Shakespeare Studies
• Moral Philosophy
• Milton’s Epic
• Film
• World Literature
• The Uncanny
• Corpus Linguistics
• Audio Drama and Podcast Writing

Core modules are guaranteed to run. Optional modules will vary from year to year and the published list is indicative only.

Enhancing Employability skills

Employability is embedded across our programme, from the sector- and industry-specific skills in creative writing, drama, linguistics and literature, through to transferable skills that hold real value regardless of your employment direction, including literacy and numeracy, time management and organisation, oral and written communication, teamwork, initiative and enterprise, creative and analytical thinking, self-direction and discipline, independence, information gathering and interpersonal skills.

You will have multiple opportunities to engage in problem-solving and problem-based learning, particularly through individual assessments and collaborative practice modules, and to reflect on your own career development needs through participating in the Graduate+ scheme and other employability schemes over the course of your degree.

Placements

The School is committed to developing strong links with employers in Birmingham and the West Midlands. Several languages and Creative Writing modules have explicit employer and industry engagement, where you work in collaboration with employer and external partners over the course of the semester and are encouraged to adopt industry-standard practices to facilitate connections and links independently with external partners.

In the case of the Work Placement module, you will have the opportunity to develop skills and abilities in a sector-specific context, while ensuring that academic aims and objectives are met as part of your wider learning journey.

Links to Industry

We regularly seek out opportunities to build further links with partner organisations in the region, including Creative Black Country, Birmingham Literary Festival, Birmingham Museums Trust (including Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery), Black Country Museum Trust, Arvon Creative Writing Foundation, Flatpack Film Festival, West Midlands Screenwriters' Forum, and other Schools within the University, in addition to publishers, charities, third sector organisations, and more, in Birmingham and beyond.