English Literature and Media & Film Studies 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. 

The University places emphasis on enabling students to develop the independent learning capabilities that will equip you for lifelong learning and future employment, as well as academic achievement. A mixture of independent study, teaching and academic support through the personal academic tutoring system enables you to reflect on progress and build up a profile of skills, achievements and experiences that will enable you to flourish.

English Literature teaches through a combination of workshops, lectures, seminars, research trips to cultural locations in the region, and film screenings. Interactive workshops take a variety of formats and are intended to enable the application of learning through discussion and small group activities. Seminars enable the discussion and development of understanding of topics covered in lectures. All modules are supported by the use of the virtual learning environment and other learning technologies.

You will also have the opportunity to gain employability skills through work-based learning. The primary focus of this provision is the year 2 Work Project module where students gain valuable experience of work.

Media & Film Studies will expect you to engage in critical analysis: of the media, of films and the industry and yourself. On the course we seek to understand how and why the media functions as it does and what effects this has on its users and audiences. We also want you to think critically and reflectively about your own culture and experiences, as this will affect how you respond. We will teach you critical concepts and ideas from a variety of theoretical frameworks including black histories, intersectional feminisms and queer approaches, which will enable you to decode the media. We will utilise the research methods of the field including semiotic and discourse analysis.

You will be taught through a combination of interactive lectures, seminars and workshops. You will also have the opportunity to develop your understanding by taking part in class trips such as being able to experience immersion for yourself at a virtual reality gaming arcade and going behind the scenes at a local festival. You will also be invited to our course events which include exclusive film screenings and guest speakers.

For more information about teaching, learning, and assessment on this course, please see the single honours course pages for English Literature and Media & Film Studies.

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 programme specification documents for English Literature BA (Hons) and Media & Film Studies BA (Hons).

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. Every member of the team has a wealth of industry experience, including academics with specialist areas and those who combine teaching with professional practice. There are also demonstrators and technicians.

Teaching is informed by research and consultancy and all permanent staff on the team are Fellows of HEA and have the post grad teaching qualification.

English Literature degree graduates often take a fourth year postgraduate Certificate in Education before entering the teaching profession. Other students will take a certificate in TEFL and become teachers of English as a second language at home or abroad.

Many students progress to careers requiring good communication skills such as Public Relations, or develop research careers with media or publishing companies. Those graduates who achieve particularly good results in their first degree may choose to progress to a Masters course. This then often leads to a career as a researcher or further study to PhD.

Media & Film Studies develops student skills in practice-as-research and research-as-practice for a number of culture and media industries including exhibition, distribution, audience-based marketing, journalism, film education, curating, programming, filmmaking, screenwriting and further academic research.