English Language and Journalism BA (Hons)

Our courses are informed by research and current developments in the discipline and feedback from students, external examiners and employers. Modules do therefore change periodically in the interests of keeping the course relevant and reflecting best practice. The most up-to-date information will be available to you once you have accepted a place and registered for the course. If there are insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, this might not be offered, but we will advise you as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative. 

For more information about teaching, learning and assessment on this course, please see the single honours course pages for English Language (joint honours) and Journalism BA (Hons).

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest English Language programme specification and Journalism programme specification documents.

In English Language your critical and intellectual faculties are honed in a variety of teaching and learning contexts. You focus on the socio-cultural aspects of language use and exploration of linguistic and stylistic choices. By your third year you will be carrying out your own independent research projects on aspects of English language as it is used in spoken and written communication   – communication central to the construction of human beings’ identities, and that is as varied, diverse and rich as are its speakers and writers. During the course, there are opportunities for you to undertake work placements, supporting you to recognise and apply the very broad range of transferable skills and competencies that you are developing.

Journalism is vocationally focused and aims to support you to acquire the knowledge and skills that will equip you to work in today’s multi-platform media environment. You are taught by experienced, trained, and still practising journalists in state-of-the-art broadcasting facilities, including radio studios linked to a newsroom, industry-standard TV studios, and new podcast studios. There are opportunities for work placements with local media organisations (including the BBC) and a host of guest lectures by high-profile visitors to the course. You are able to tailor your studies to focus on particular aspects of journalism – from sports to entertainment to environmental journalism – or to branch out into wider areas of media and communications. Your learning is hand-on, with an emphasis on supporting you to seek journalism and communications roles once you have graduated.

English Language Studies and Journalism in combination will be for you if your interests lie in the ways in which human beings communicate with one another, how they make sense of their society and cultures, and how communication itself shapes the meanings and ideologies of our ever changing world.

Meet the team

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course.

The Journalism aspect of this course will provide you with practical skills to work as a journalist or researcher, or in related communications jobs such as those in public relations. You will be well placed to progress to postgraduate study in journalism or in a wide range of other areas. Students have found employment in the following areas: broadcast and print journalism, local and national radio presenting, media research, event organising, media planning, television, theatre, marketing, public relations, social media management, campaigns, teaching and further study.

Many graduates of English Language Studies courses will take a postgraduate education course as a fourth year of study and enter the teaching profession. Others will find that the skills acquired through the study of English are particularly highly regarded in all professions where good communication skills are prized such as publishing, journalism, public relations, human resources and web-based communication. English Language Studies provides continuous opportunities to develop employability skills and includes work experience options. There is a range of opportunities to study for a semester abroad in Europe and the USA in the second semester of the second year.