In this module, you will learn to critically read novels at undergraduate level. Building on your experience of reading fiction at school, college, or for leisure, you will develop deep analytical readings and apply your growing critical skills to a wide range of novels encountered throughout your degree. This module aims to get you thinking about how novels work and how, as readers, we can understand them from different perspectives. You will learn to recognise subtle changes in narrative position, when to trust or distrust a narrator, how to identify subgenres (e.g., Realism, Romanticism, Modernism, and Postmodernism), and how to use literary criticism to uncover unexpected interpretations. You will integrate critical reading into your preparation for workshops and assessments to enhance your understanding of literary texts. This module provides the core academic skills in reading, writing, and research necessary for your time at university, alongside the analytical and communication skills that will, after graduation, make you attractive to future employers.

Assessment: Class Test (40%) and Research Essay (60%)

This module focuses on journeys and places, offering you the chance to explore key concepts underpinning your study of English language and linguistics. You will take a post-disciplinary approach to your studies, using techniques from diverse areas to address key questions related to journeys and places in relation to the use of English around the globe.

You will attend interactive lectures with students from across the School of Humanities and Performing Arts, and apply the concepts addressed in these lectures to the study of English language within subject-specific workshops and assessments.

Themes covered may include journeys, spaces, and the concept of welcome; (im)mobilities and journeys through time and space; representation and imaginative geographies; gender and placemaking; belonging and place attachment; journeys, places, and identities; as well as themes related to sustainability and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Assessment: Coursework (30%) and Essay (70%)

This module introduces key contemporary debates in Childhood Studies. It explores the construction of childhood, inequalities surrounding it, and what it means to be a child in the UK today. Drawing on sociological and political theories, you will critically evaluate issues impacting childhood and how they are reflected, sustained, or challenged by society. You will also contest and interrogate your own thinking about childhood and society.

Assessment: Academic Poster (40%) and Report (60%)

Through this module you will develop your understanding of poetic form and genre and consolidate your close-reading skills by scrutinising a range of poems and poets from different historical periods. You will explore the historical origins and development of specific poetic genres such as epic and pastoral and learn the conceptual tools and technical vocabulary needed for critical analysis of poetry at undergraduate level.

Assessment: Essay 1 (40%) and Essay 2 (60%)

This module covers the birth of English literature, introducing texts written between the medieval era and the early modern period. You will explore poetry, drama, and prose, comparing early English literature with key European works of the time.

Assessment: Commentary (30%) and Comparative Essay (70%)

This module prepares you for post-degree pathways by focusing on the skills, capabilities, and knowledge needed to thrive in professional environments. Emphasis is placed on core attributes and transferable skills while developing familiarity with the world of work.

You will critically engage with themes such as race, gender, identity, and geopolitical issues in relation to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, conceptualizing a more equitable and sustainable society.

Through subject-specific workshops, lectures, seminars, and independent learning, you will explore work environments related to your discipline. Activities may include responding to real-world briefs, placements, community projects, and creating project proposals tailored to your programme.

Assessment: Written Portfolio or Recorded Presentation (100%)

Optional module

This module examines how technology has impacted education and learning, focusing on media literacy, e-learning, and the digital divide. You will explore how technology creates opportunities for inclusive education and empowers students through platforms like gaming and podcasting.

Assessment: e-Portfolio (100%)

You will explore literature from the Romantic and Victorian periods (1780–1901), studying texts by writers like Mary Wollstonecraft, William Wordsworth, and Charles Dickens. Themes will include class conflict, urban poverty, faith, national identity, and gender roles.

Assessment: Coursework (40%) and Essay (60%)

Throughout the year, you will research and write a dissertation on a chosen topic, with guidance from the English Literature team. Workshops will support your project development, introducing key theoretical approaches such as Marxism, feminism, and ecocriticism.

Assessment: Research Portfolio (20%) and Dissertation (80%)

This module explores the Gutenberg and Digital revolutions, focusing on how printing and computing have influenced writing. You will create your own texts using historical and digital technologies.

Assessment: Test (30%) and Report 1 (35%) and Report 2 (35%)

This module examines debates around gender in education, exploring the historically disadvantaged position of females and the construction of gender. Recent debates on gender and achievement, including the "problem of boys," will also be covered.

Assessment: Coursework (40%) and Project (60%)

This module investigates Anglo-American modernism and its publication in 'little magazines.' You will study modernist texts by authors like T.S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf and explore how these works responded to modernity.

Assessment: Essay (40%) and Research Portfolio (60%)