Programme Specifications

Programme summary

1. Programme Aims

• to provide an intellectually stimulating environment and an academic context in which critical analysis of written texts is valued;
• to provide students with a comprehensive introduction to current thinking and debate in the key areas of literary and linguistic studies;
• to enable students to gain a deeper knowledge and understanding of language and literature through specialist study and research;
• to develop students’ skills and competences in the full range of research methods and techniques relevant to the investigation of language and literature;
• to enhance students’ ability to question existing theories and research findings on the basis of a thorough knowledge and understanding of relevant theoretical frameworks and research methods;
• to enable students to appreciate alternative models, perspectives and procedures within literary and language studies;
• to require students to demonstrate their command of relevant concepts, theories and methods by undertaking a series of coursework assignments, and devising and executing a sustained piece of original writing on a topic of their choice to be presented in their dissertation;
• to enhance students’ career and employment opportunities on graduating.

2. Relevant subject benchmark statements and other external reference points used to inform programme outcomes:

• The Benchmark Statement for English
• Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ)

3. Programme Learning Outcomes

3.1 Knowledge and Understanding

On successful completion of the programme, students should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding in the following areas: 

• the major traditions, theories and frameworks of inquiry relevant to the analysis of texts;
• contemporary debates on appropriate frameworks and theories;
• the cultural and socio-historical contexts in which texts are produced and read;
• the multi-faced nature of the discipline and its relationship to other disciplines and forms of knowledge.

3.2 Skills and other attributes

a. Subject-specific cognitive skills:

On successful completion of this programme, students should be able to:

• demonstrate an awareness of generic conventions;
• employ bibliographic skills appropriate to the discipline, including accurate citation of texts and scholarly conventions of presentation;
• apply and adapt conceptual frameworks to literary texts;
• understand how different social and cultural contexts affect the nature of language and meaning.

b. Subject-specific practical skills:

On successful completion of this programme, students should be able to

• demonstrate a capacity to develop appropriate strategies to address ideas or themes in self-chosen projects;
• engage with and evaluate major philosophies and doctrines and the impact these have on texts;
• analyse new and emerging trends in the study of English;
• assess the relevance of current critical thinking to the interpretation of texts. 

c. Key transferable skills:

On successful completion of this programme, students should be able to

• retrieve information from both electronic and hard-copy sources and critically evaluate these sources;
• comprehend and develop intricate ideas in an open-ended way;
• demonstrate well-developed writing and interpersonal communication skills;
• deliver required work to a given brief, format, length and deadline.

4. Programme structure

4.1     To be eligible for consideration for these awards, students must obtain appropriate credit from the following compulsory and optional modules.

           Compulsory modules account for a total of 80 credits to 130 credits, depending on Pathway. Other credits should be chosen from the list of optional modules so as to bring the total number of credits to 180. 

Negotiated Pathway

Students are permitted to register for the Negotiated Pathway, and select, with guidance from the Programme Tutor, a combination of modules that is not available on any other Pathway, but which has academic coherence. (Please see table overleaf for list of modules.)

Students on the Negotiated Pathway are not permitted to study more than one asterisked* module per semester.

Modern and Contemporary Pathway

Students will study 100 credits of compulsory modules, with a further 50 credits to be chosen from a selected list of optional modules (20 credits in semester 1 and 30 credits in semester 2). The remaining 30 credits can be chosen either from the selected list of optional modules for this Pathway, or from a wider list of optional modules (see table for Negotiated Pathway). 

 American Pathway

Students will study 100 credits of compulsory modules, with a further 50 credits to be chosen from a selected list of optional modules (20 credits in semester 1 and 30 credits in semester 2). The remaining 30 credits can be chosen either from the selected list of optional modules for this Pathway, or from a wider list of optional modules (see table for Negotiated Pathway). 

 Victorian Pathway

Students will study 100 credits of compulsory modules, with a further 50 credits to be chosen from a selected list of optional modules (20 credits in semester 1 and 30 credits in semester 2). The remaining 30 credits can be chosen either from the selected list of optional modules for this Pathway, or from a wider list of optional modules (see table for Negotiated Pathway). 

Early-Modern Writing Pathway

Students will study 120 credits of compulsory modules, with a further 30 credits to be chosen from a selected list of optional modules. The remaining 30 credits can be chosen either from the selected list of optional modules for this Pathway, or from a wider list of optional modules (see table for Negotiated Pathway). 

Creative Writing Pathway

Students will study 130 credits of compulsory modules, with a further 50 credits to be chosen from a list of optional modules (20 credits in semester 1 and 30 credits in semester 2 -- see table for Negotiated Pathway). 

*Please note that you cannot study both Perspectives in semester 1 and Writers and the Writing Industries in semester 2; you can only choose a maximum of one of these modules. 

4.2       The subjects for the Dissertation module (EAP018) must be approved in advance by the Programme Leader or nominee, and dissertations must be submitted by a specified date in the first half of September. The dissertation should be a maximum of 15,000 words in length.

5. Criteria for Progression and Degree Award

5.1      In order to be eligible for the award, candidates must satisfy the requirements of Regulation XXI.

5.2      Students will normally be permitted to proceed to the Dissertation module (EAP018) only after successfully accumulating 120 credit units. 

5.3      Students taking the Dissertation module may also be required to take an oral examination on the work submitted. 

5.4      In accordance with Regulation XXI, candidates who have the right of reassessment in a module will be offered an opportunity to be reassessed in the University’s special assessment period.

6. Relative Weighting of Parts of the Programme for the Purposes of Final Degree Classification