Triangle

Course overview

This course lets you develop your specialism, or study what you love, without the constraints of a set curriculum.

On this programme, 'pods' are taken in place of modules. You can choose from a large number of pods of study, created by subject experts, to build your own programme. You can choose pods from across our different MA courses (listed below) or you can create a path that’s unique to you. In this case, you can graduate with an MA in Applied English. 

Alternatively, if you specialise in your pod choices, you can graduate with one of the following MA degrees:

  • MA Applied Linguistics
  • MA Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching
  • MA English Literature
  • MA Literary Linguistics
  • MA Medieval Englishes
  • MA Modern and Contemporary Literature
  • MA Name-Studies
  • MA Professional Communication
  • MA World Literatures

You don't need to decide right at the beginning where you will end up: your final degree depends on studying at least two-thirds of your course in a specialised area.

Most students complete this course in 3 years. Under some circumstances, you may be able to change your course duration. You will need to discuss this with your course director. Please note, if you are in receipt of a Student Finance England loan, a mid-course change may affect your payments.

Why choose this course?

Join the community

meet your tutors and fellow students at our annual Summer School

Study your way

submit an assessment type to suit you, from presentations to blog posts

Flexible deadlines

choose your submission point

Tailor your study

choose a broad or specialised degree, with flexibility to change along the way

Top 20 UK university

ranked 103 in the world and 18 in the UK 

QS World University rankings 2022

Ranked 10th

for grade point average among 92 universities, and 7th in the Russell Group.

Research Excellence Framework 2021

Flexible duration

most students complete this course in three years, but some choose to extend (subject to terms and conditions)

Course content

Course of study

The course has three phases, which you can choose to complete between two and four years. Each phase involves choosing six pods of study. At the end of each phase you submit a single portfolio of work for assessment.

There is an exit point, meaning you can choose to leave the course, at the end of each phase. If you leave at the end of phase one, you will have gained a Postgraduate Certificate qualification, at the end of phase two, a Postgraduate Diploma, and if you stay to the end of phase three, an MA qualification.

Large project option

In your second or third phase, you can choose to complete a large research project such as a traditional dissertation (of around 15,000 words) or other major piece of work such as a work-based report, extended creative writing, a linguistic experiment and write-up, a video or audio cast, and so on. This is the equivalent of six pods (so we call it a ‘hexapod’).

The hexapod includes extensive guidance on large project planning, research, implementation and writing up, plus supervision for independent study.

You also have the choice not to undertake a long project like this, and instead simply choose more pods from the large range available – to complete an equivalent non-dissertation masters.

Study support

You will be allocated a Personal Advisor. This is someone who works closely to support you, and help you to plan your pod choices, based on your interests and ultimate study goals.

Each pod is taught by your own Pod Tutor: these are expert academic members of staff who teach the content on the pods.

Finally, you will have access to different groups of other students on the programme, with the ability to chat together, study together, and progress through the course together.

Modules

You will begin your course with a free Orientation pod and will meet your Personal Advisor. This will allow you to create your own study plan and select your first pods. You can work on one pod at a time, or two, or three, or all six at once, if you prefer.

After six pods of study, you submit a portfolio of work that covers all six of these areas. Then you move on to the second phase and take six more pods, and then a final phase of another six pods to complete the masters.

In each of the three phases, you can choose from the following pods (listed alphabetically). We are continually adding new pods as well.

Applied Linguistics:

Calls, Speech, Writing, and Sign Language

This pod explores some of the many ways insects, birds, apes, and other animals communicate, and compare these to human language. In doing so, they will examine what makes human language so unique, considering how language exists in the mind, how we recognise it, and how we process it.

Cognitive Narratology

In exploring the relationship between narrative, language and cognition, this pod investigates a range of approaches to the study of worldmaking, fictional minds, perspective, and intertextuality. It engages with theories of cognitive reception, and examines emotion, ethics and empathy in relation to literary reading.

Core Concepts in Discourse Analysis

This pod explores the diverse field of discourse analysis, which focuses on the (co)-construction of meaning, identity, ideology, and power in spoken and written communication.

You will:

  • grapple with the concept of ‘discourse’ from a theoretical standpoint
  • consider the distinction between spoken and written discourse
  • learn how to apply discourse analytical tools such as conversation analysis and critical discourse analysis
  • develop your awareness of the role and implications of ethical considerations in data collection for discourse analysis.

By the end of this pod, you will have gained the knowledge and skills to conduct your own empirical research in the field of discourse analysis.

Core Concepts in Linguistics

This pod introduces a range of skills and approaches in linguistics, working from the smallest components of language to the largest. We will work with practical examples of phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics, enabling you to apply relevant skills to whichever areas of linguistics you wish to explore.

Core Concepts in Professional Communication

This pod explores the role of communication in the workplace, explaining how to linguistically examine spoken and written interaction in a range of professional contexts.

You will:

  • examine key issues such as identity construction, workplace culture, and rapport at work
  • identify different types of talk at work (e.g. small talk, humour), exploring the various functions of each
  • analyse professional computer-mediated communication e.g. email, social networking sites, online reputation management
  • apply multimodal critical discourse analysis to analyse professional promotional materials e.g. advertisments, websites.

By the end of this pod, you will have gained the knowledge and skills to critically evaluate the role played by language in the context of work.

Core Concepts in Second Language Acquisition

Second Language Acquisition (SLA) examines the ways in which second languages are learned. The pod explores a number of key aspects of this multifaceted phenomenon and introduces the main terms and theories that have been proposed to describe and understand the process of developing second language (L2) knowledge and skills.

Core Concepts in Vocabulary Studies

This pod introduces cutting-edge theory and research from the area of vocabulary studies. We explore the nature of lexical knowledge in a second language, and address the key question of what is involved in knowing a word in relation to its form, meaning and use.

Corpus Stylistics

This pod introduces a particular application of corpus linguistics which focuses on issues of style, especially in literature. We examine the main principles that underlie corpus design and compilation, and investigate the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of corpus-stylistic analysis, considering the implications of corpus linguistics for literary-linguistic and literary-critical research.

Culture and Communication

This pod presents the key relevant theoretical and historical developments in the field of intercultural communication, exploring the concept of culture and how it manifests itself in interaction through verbal and nonverbal communication. We explore theoretical frameworks and analytical tools to examine and describe communication across cultures, including intercultural pragmatics and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory.

Digital Professional Communication

This pod explores the role of digital technology in the professional sphere, introducing key concepts in and approaches to digital professional communication by drawing on research based on real-life communication as observed in the professional sphere of public life.

English Language Teaching Methodology

This pod explores English language teaching methodology for a wide range of learners and contexts, which could also be applied to the teaching of other languages. You will gain an understanding of the theoretical rationales and principles of syllabus design, as well as various teaching methods and methodological approaches including the communicative, humanist, and lexical approaches.

Factors in Second Language Acquisition

This pod presents the wide range of factors which impact on second language acquisition (SLA). Biological, cognitive and affective factors are discussed together with characteristics of SLA environments such as the nature of input, interaction, instruction and the role of culture. Case studies and research papers are used to examine how these factors interact to accelerate or impede SLA.

Historical Pragmatics

Historical pragmatics is the study of language usage patterns in the past, combining both language-internal as well as language-external factors to understand how forms of discourse have changed throughout history. As a particular case-study, the pod explores the histories of medical and scientific writing.

Intercultural Competence in Context

In this pod, the importance of Intercultural Competence (IC) in today’s globalised world is considered in diverse contexts such as business, the language classroom, healthcare, and media. We discuss how IC can be enhanced in professional and educational contexts, and you will gain an understanding of key issues in the design and implementation of IC development programmes.

Interlanguage Pragmatics

This interdisciplinary field is primarily concerned with how the use of language by learners compares to native speakers, and how pragmatic competence develops in a second language (L2). You will consider how pragmatic competence is conceptualised in various communicative frameworks, and we also explore the relationship between L2 pragmatics and identity, viewing language learners as ‘social agents’.

Language and Gender in Professional Communication

This pod explores language and gender in a range of workplace settings.

You will:

  • consider different perspectives from which to study language and gender
  • learn how to apply theoretical concepts and analytical tools to analyse language and gender in professional contexts
  • study gendered discourse in a range of professional contexts e.g. the media, politics, and healthcare
  • examine research findings on the relation between language and gender in business meetings.

By the end of this pod, you will have gained the knowledge and skills to conduct a linguistic analysis of talk at work with a focus on issues related to gender.

Leadership Communication

This pod examines the relationship between power, leadership and language, paying close attention to how leadership is constructed and reproduced in a wide variety of texts and genres. We will examine how leadership is constructed in workplace communication, exploring ‘discursive leadership’, the enactment of leadership, the appraisal of work and the establishment of rapport.

Learning and Teaching Second Language Vocabulary

This pod discusses key issues related to learning and teaching vocabulary in a second language (L2), with a particular focus on how research findings inform language pedagogy, materials development and English Language Teaching (ELT) methodology more broadly. You will be able to use current research to inform principled vocabulary teaching and language instruction.

Metaphor

This pod provides a linguistic overview of metaphor, with a particular emphasis on Conceptual Metaphor Theory. The pod examines how metaphors gain prominence, examining literary and political discourse in detail to highlight how salient metaphor is in a range of language settings, and how significant it is for understanding human thought.

Narratology

In this pod, we will investigate how narratives are structured, presented, and conceptualised in the mind of the reader. We consider key topics which are fundamental to the creation of narrative, from the representation of point of view through to the articulation of time, reflecting critically on contemporary narratological theory and practice.

Teaching And Assessing Second Language Skills

This pod will help you develop the necessary expertise and skills to plan, organise and evaluate the teaching process on courses and programmes aimed at second language (L2) learners. By discussing specific aspects and skills related to L2 competence, we review and analyse the latest thinking in language education.

The Reader in Stylistics

Across this pod, we will explore the role, position and identity of the reader, thinking in detail about who we are referring to when we talk about ‘the reader’ in stylistics. We will investigate a range of experimental and naturalistic methods of gathering reader-response data, and examine the benefits and limitations of empirical approaches in stylistic analysis.

English Language Teaching:

Core Concepts in Discourse Analysis

This pod explores the diverse field of discourse analysis, which focuses on the (co)-construction of meaning, identity, ideology, and power in spoken and written communication.

You will:

  • grapple with the concept of ‘discourse’ from a theoretical standpoint
  • consider the distinction between spoken and written discourse
  • learn how to apply discourse analytical tools such as conversation analysis and critical discourse analysis
  • develop your awareness of the role and implications of ethical considerations in data collection for discourse analysis.

By the end of this pod, you will have gained the knowledge and skills to conduct your own empirical research in the field of discourse analysis.

Core Concepts in Linguistics

This pod introduces a range of skills and approaches in linguistics, working from the smallest components of language to the largest. We will work with practical examples of phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics, enabling you to apply relevant skills to whichever areas of linguistics you wish to explore.

Core Concepts in Second Language Acquisition

Second Language Acquisition (SLA) examines the ways in which second languages are learned. The pod explores a number of key aspects of this multifaceted phenomenon and introduces the main terms and theories that have been proposed to describe and understand the process of developing second language (L2) knowledge and skills.

Core Concepts in Vocabulary Studies

This pod introduces cutting-edge theory and research from the area of vocabulary studies. We explore the nature of lexical knowledge in a second language, and address the key question of what is involved in knowing a word in relation to its form, meaning and use.

Corpus Stylistics

This pod introduces a particular application of corpus linguistics which focuses on issues of style, especially in literature. We examine the main principles that underlie corpus design and compilation, and investigate the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of corpus-stylistic analysis, considering the implications of corpus linguistics for literary-linguistic and literary-critical research.

Digital Professional Communication

This pod explores the role of digital technology in the professional sphere, introducing key concepts in and approaches to digital professional communication by drawing on research based on real-life communication as observed in the professional sphere of public life.

English Language Teaching Methodology

This pod explores English language teaching methodology for a wide range of learners and contexts, which could also be applied to the teaching of other languages. You will gain an understanding of the theoretical rationales and principles of syllabus design, as well as various teaching methods and methodological approaches including the communicative, humanist, and lexical approaches.

Factors in Second Language Acquisition

This pod presents the wide range of factors which impact on second language acquisition (SLA). Biological, cognitive and affective factors are discussed together with characteristics of SLA environments such as the nature of input, interaction, instruction and the role of culture. Case studies and research papers are used to examine how these factors interact to accelerate or impede SLA.

Historical Pragmatics

Historical pragmatics is the study of language usage patterns in the past, combining both language-internal as well as language-external factors to understand how forms of discourse have changed throughout history. As a particular case-study, the pod explores the histories of medical and scientific writing.

Intercultural Competence in Context

In this pod, the importance of Intercultural Competence (IC) in today’s globalised world is considered in diverse contexts such as business, the language classroom, healthcare, and media. We discuss how IC can be enhanced in professional and educational contexts, and you will gain an understanding of key issues in the design and implementation of IC development programmes.

Interlanguage Pragmatics

This interdisciplinary field is primarily concerned with how the use of language by learners compares to native speakers, and how pragmatic competence develops in a second language (L2). You will consider how pragmatic competence is conceptualised in various communicative frameworks, and we also explore the relationship between L2 pragmatics and identity, viewing language learners as ‘social agents’.

Leadership Communication

This pod examines the relationship between power, leadership and language, paying close attention to how leadership is constructed and reproduced in a wide variety of texts and genres. We will examine how leadership is constructed in workplace communication, exploring ‘discursive leadership’, the enactment of leadership, the appraisal of work and the establishment of rapport.

Learning and Teaching Second Language Vocabulary

This pod discusses key issues related to learning and teaching vocabulary in a second language (L2), with a particular focus on how research findings inform language pedagogy, materials development and English Language Teaching (ELT) methodology more broadly. You will be able to use current research to inform principled vocabulary teaching and language instruction.

Metaphor

This pod provides a linguistic overview of metaphor, with a particular emphasis on Conceptual Metaphor Theory. The pod examines how metaphors gain prominence, examining literary and political discourse in detail to highlight how salient metaphor is in a range of language settings, and how significant it is for understanding human thought.

Teaching And Assessing Second Language Skills

This pod will help you develop the necessary expertise and skills to plan, organise and evaluate the teaching process on courses and programmes aimed at second language (L2) learners. By discussing specific aspects and skills related to L2 competence, we review and analyse the latest thinking in language education.

Literary Linguistics:

Core Concepts in Linguistics

This pod introduces a range of skills and approaches in linguistics, working from the smallest components of language to the largest. We will work with practical examples of phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics, enabling you to apply relevant skills to whichever areas of linguistics you wish to explore.

Cognitive Narratology

In exploring the relationship between narrative, language and cognition, this pod investigates a range of approaches to the study of worldmaking, fictional minds, perspective, and intertextuality. It engages with theories of cognitive reception, and examines emotion, ethics and empathy in relation to literary reading.

Cognitive Poetics

This pod investigates the processes of creativity, interpretation, imagination, emotional involvement, aesthetic experience, and literary texture, applying current understanding of language and mind (as drawn from research in cognitive linguistics and cognitive psychology) to questions of literary reading.

Corpus Stylistics

This pod introduces a particular application of corpus linguistics which focuses on issues of style, especially in literature. We examine the main principles that underlie corpus design and compilation, and investigate the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of corpus-stylistic analysis, considering the implications of corpus linguistics for literary-linguistic and literary-critical research.

Historical Pragmatics

Historical pragmatics is the study of language usage patterns in the past, combining both language-internal as well as language-external factors to understand how forms of discourse have changed throughout history. As a particular case-study, the pod explores the histories of medical and scientific writing.

Literary Linguistics

All literature is written in language, so understanding how language and the mind work will make us better readers and critics of literary works.

This module brings together the literary and linguistic parts of your degree. It gives you the power to explore any text from any period by any author.

You will study how:

  • Literature can feel rich, or pacy, or suspenseful, or beautiful
  • Texts can make you laugh, cry, feel afraid, excited, or nostalgic
  • Fictional people like characters can be imagined
  • We can get inside the thoughts, feelings, and hear the speech of characters, narrators and authors
  • Imagined worlds are built, and how their atmosphere is brought to life
  • You as a reader are manipulated or connect actively with literary worlds and people

This module is worth 20 credits.

Metaphor

This pod provides a linguistic overview of metaphor, with a particular emphasis on Conceptual Metaphor Theory. The pod examines how metaphors gain prominence, examining literary and political discourse in detail to highlight how salient metaphor is in a range of language settings, and how significant it is for understanding human thought.

Narratology

In this pod, we will investigate how narratives are structured, presented, and conceptualised in the mind of the reader. We consider key topics which are fundamental to the creation of narrative, from the representation of point of view through to the articulation of time, reflecting critically on contemporary narratological theory and practice.

Texts in a Digital World

This pod explores stylistic, cognitive and narratological approaches to digital fiction, examining literary texts which are designed to be read and engaged with on a screen. Particular focus is given to hypertext fiction, ludic narratives, interactive film and app-based fiction, as we investigate the experience of reading and engaging with digital texts. 

Text World Theory

This pod offers a comprehensive overview of the literary-linguistic framework ‘Text World Theory’. Through a focus on scholarship from the last twenty years, you will apply, augment, and critically evaluate the framework, explore a range of Text-World-Theory applications to discourse, both literary and otherwise, and consider the future potential of text-world scholarship.

The Language of Dystopia

Taking a stylistic perspective, this pod examines the features of language that characterise dystopian narratives, analysing a range of textual examples from across time periods, and investigating the evolution and hybridity of contemporary dystopia. We will explore the construal of dystopian worlds, the conceptualisation of dystopian minds, and the experience of dystopian reading.

The Language of Multimodal Literature

Moving beyond traditional presentations of the written word, multimodal texts experiment with more than one semiotic mode, for instance incorporating graphics, creatively employing typeface, or featuring tactile elements. Taking a mixed stylistic, cognitive and narratological perspective, this pod will analyse a range of literary texts which manipulate and experiment with narrative across modes.

The Language of Surrealism

This pod explores the artistic movement of surrealism, with emphasis on the form and technique of literary surrealist writing in English. Surrealist output is considered from a literary-linguistic and cognitive poetic perspective in order to explore a view of surrealism and surrealist activity from the vantage point of current understanding of language and linguistics.

The Reader in Stylistics

Across this pod, we will explore the role, position and identity of the reader, thinking in detail about who we are referring to when we talk about ‘the reader’ in stylistics. We will investigate a range of experimental and naturalistic methods of gathering reader-response data, and examine the benefits and limitations of empirical approaches in stylistic analysis.

Professional Communication:

Core Concepts in Discourse Analysis

This pod explores the diverse field of discourse analysis, which focuses on the (co)-construction of meaning, identity, ideology, and power in spoken and written communication.

You will:

  • grapple with the concept of ‘discourse’ from a theoretical standpoint
  • consider the distinction between spoken and written discourse
  • learn how to apply discourse analytical tools such as conversation analysis and critical discourse analysis
  • develop your awareness of the role and implications of ethical considerations in data collection for discourse analysis.

By the end of this pod, you will have gained the knowledge and skills to conduct your own empirical research in the field of discourse analysis.

Core Concepts in Professional Communication

This pod explores the role of communication in the workplace, explaining how to linguistically examine spoken and written interaction in a range of professional contexts.

You will:

  • examine key issues such as identity construction, workplace culture, and rapport at work
  • identify different types of talk at work (e.g. small talk, humour), exploring the various functions of each
  • analyse professional computer-mediated communication e.g. email, social networking sites, online reputation management
  • apply multimodal critical discourse analysis to analyse professional promotional materials e.g. advertisments, websites.

By the end of this pod, you will have gained the knowledge and skills to critically evaluate the role played by language in the context of work.

Culture and Communication

This pod presents the key relevant theoretical and historical developments in the field of intercultural communication, exploring the concept of culture and how it manifests itself in interaction through verbal and nonverbal communication. We explore theoretical frameworks and analytical tools to examine and describe communication across cultures, including intercultural pragmatics and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory.

Digital Professional Communication

This pod explores the role of digital technology in the professional sphere, introducing key concepts in and approaches to digital professional communication by drawing on research based on real-life communication as observed in the professional sphere of public life.

Intercultural Competence in Context

In this pod, the importance of Intercultural Competence (IC) in today’s globalised world is considered in diverse contexts such as business, the language classroom, healthcare, and media. We discuss how IC can be enhanced in professional and educational contexts, and you will gain an understanding of key issues in the design and implementation of IC development programmes.

Language and Gender in Professional Communication

This pod explores language and gender in a range of workplace settings.

You will:

  • consider different perspectives from which to study language and gender
  • learn how to apply theoretical concepts and analytical tools to analyse language and gender in professional contexts
  • study gendered discourse in a range of professional contexts e.g. the media, politics, and healthcare
  • examine research findings on the relation between language and gender in business meetings.

By the end of this pod, you will have gained the knowledge and skills to conduct a linguistic analysis of talk at work with a focus on issues related to gender.

Leadership Communication

This pod examines the relationship between power, leadership and language, paying close attention to how leadership is constructed and reproduced in a wide variety of texts and genres. We will examine how leadership is constructed in workplace communication, exploring ‘discursive leadership’, the enactment of leadership, the appraisal of work and the establishment of rapport.

English Literature:

Alexander Pope and Eighteenth-Century Literary Contexts

This pod explores Pope’s poetry in a range of forms and genres including epistles, essays, mock-classics, pastorals, translations, imitations, satires, and literary commentaries. We analyse Pope’s contribution to the development of those literary forms, and reflect on early eighteenth-century literary culture.

Approaches to Victorian Literature

This pod provides research tools and concepts to enable advanced level research in Victorian literature, from contexts to aesthetics. We cover the different theorizations of literary value associated with Romanticism, Realism, Aestheticism and Decadence.

Cognitive Narratology

In exploring the relationship between narrative, language and cognition, this pod investigates a range of approaches to the study of worldmaking, fictional minds, perspective, and intertextuality. It engages with theories of cognitive reception, and examines emotion, ethics and empathy in relation to literary reading.

Cognitive Poetics

This pod investigates the processes of creativity, interpretation, imagination, emotional involvement, aesthetic experience, and literary texture, applying current understanding of language and mind (as drawn from research in cognitive linguistics and cognitive psychology) to questions of literary reading.

Comics and Graphic Novels

This pod presents students with an introduction to the study of comics and graphic novels, exploring a range of work in the medium, from single issue comics to full-length graphic novels, and from independent to mainstream. We also consider the relationships between comics and adaptation, with opportunities for comparative work across countries and traditions.

Constructions of Madness, Nineteenth Century to the Present

This pod introduces the ways in which popular constructs of ‘madness’ are represented in literature and theatre from the nineteenth century to the present day. In tracing how these popular representations of ‘madness’ have developed over time, you will critique the relevant medical, political and social discourses with which they engage.

Through your analysis of this interplay between public discourse and private experience you will draw on debates surrounding patriarchal authority and female agency, individual and collective responsibility and the role of culture in determining what it means to be ‘mad’.

You will have the opportunity to apply these theoretical frameworks through close analysis of significant literary works by writers such as Willkie Collins and Sarah Waters, and of high-profile theatrical productions which include Nell Leyshon’s Beldam and Peter Brook’s Marat/Sade.

Contemporary Fairy Tale Literature

This pod is concerned with literary retellings of traditional fairy tales, taking a global approach to the choice of fairy tale traditions as well as literary adaptations. We study historical and political contexts behind the late-twentieth-century resurgence of fairy tale literature, with gender and feminist theory providing the major theoretical framework of the pod.

Corpus Stylistics

This pod introduces a particular application of corpus linguistics which focuses on issues of style, especially in literature. We examine the main principles that underlie corpus design and compilation, and investigate the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of corpus-stylistic analysis, considering the implications of corpus linguistics for literary-linguistic and literary-critical research.

Correspondence in the Long Nineteenth Century

Correspondence was the most important and necessary form of written communication in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In this pod we examine the function of correspondence in both literary spaces as well as the everyday, and learn how to use correspondence as a primary resource, as well as how to transcribe manuscript letters.

Death and Dying in Late Medieval Literature

Fear of death and what would come afterwards haunted writers throughout the Middle Ages. Covering a range of late medieval literature, this pod explores the idea of a ‘good death’, and the influence of this on conceptions of identity, illness, faith, memory and emotion.

Early Medieval Women and Literature

From patronage and composition to book ownership and reading, women contributed to all stages of production and circulation of literature in the Middle Ages. This pod focuses on the early medieval period, tracing the role of women as teachers, authors, narrators, scribes, and readers in texts from England and Continental Europe.

Ecocriticism

This pod presents a theoretical and critical introduction to ecocriticism and to environmental writing. It takes in broad chronological and generic perspectives, introducing the ways in which environmental ideas manifest themselves in poetry, fiction and the ‘new nature writing’, taking in not only anglophone writing from the UK, the United States, Australia and India, but also writing in translation.

Ethical Criticism

This pod provides an overview of Ethical Criticism, with its blend of moral philosophy, politics, and literary analysis, through the lens of two twentieth-century writers: Henry James and Samuel Beckett. You will analyse literary texts with the theoretical frames supplied by practising ethical and cultural critics.

Gothic Literature

This pod explores the Gothic as a literary mode, analysing a range of texts from the late eighteenth century to the present day. Emphasis will be placed not only on understanding the cultural contexts out of which texts emerged, but also on tracing lines of intellectual inheritance and cultural legacies.

Indian Literature of the Twentieth Century

This pod explores a range of Anglophone literature from the Indian sub-continent written during the period spanning the last decades of the British Empire and the growth of post-independence India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The pod focuses in particular on the intersection between literary texts and wider political debates around nationalism, caste, sex and gender.

Literary Linguistics

All literature is written in language, so understanding how language and the mind work will make us better readers and critics of literary works.

This module brings together the literary and linguistic parts of your degree. It gives you the power to explore any text from any period by any author.

You will study how:

  • Literature can feel rich, or pacy, or suspenseful, or beautiful
  • Texts can make you laugh, cry, feel afraid, excited, or nostalgic
  • Fictional people like characters can be imagined
  • We can get inside the thoughts, feelings, and hear the speech of characters, narrators and authors
  • Imagined worlds are built, and how their atmosphere is brought to life
  • You as a reader are manipulated or connect actively with literary worlds and people

This module is worth 20 credits.

Medieval Geographies

This pod explores representations of space and place in medieval literature and culture. Through literature, graphic maps, written descriptions, and artefacts, we will consider the local and the global; history and geography; and the ways cosmology and mythology shape conceptions of the world. We will also reflect on current critical debates about the 'Global Middle Ages'.

Metaphor

This pod provides a linguistic overview of metaphor, with a particular emphasis on Conceptual Metaphor Theory. The pod examines how metaphors gain prominence, examining literary and political discourse in detail to highlight how salient metaphor is in a range of language settings, and how significant it is for understanding human thought.

Modernism and D.H. Lawrence

This pod explores the relationship between the works of D.H. Lawrence and the contemporary artistic and intellectual climate of modernism. You will study a range of Lawrence’s writings and reflect on their relationship to trends and events in social and intellectual history, to specific modernist literary and artistic movements, and to the broader ambitions of modernist experimentation.

Narratology

In this pod, we will investigate how narratives are structured, presented, and conceptualised in the mind of the reader. We consider key topics which are fundamental to the creation of narrative, from the representation of point of view through to the articulation of time, reflecting critically on contemporary narratological theory and practice.

Performing Space and Place

In this pod we consider how theatre and performance engage with concepts of place, space and spatiality. In doing so, you will draw on theoretical, practical and personal paradigms to understand how notions of place, space and site are represented, read, received and practised within the context of theatre and performance.

Reading and Editing the Medieval Text

Before the advent of the printing press, texts circulated in hand-written copies. Each manuscript was therefore unique and tells us about the tastes and habits of medieval readers. Through a case study, you will develop and apply skills in transcription (palaeography), examine editorial choices, learn how to compile a glossary and provide an explanatory commentary.

Religion and Fantasy Literature

This pod investigates the relationships between religion (specifically Christianity) and fantasy literatures. The pod centres on the works of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, exploring the ways Narnia and Middle Earth present different religious visions. It sets these authors in their historical and intellectual contexts, and discusses the historical roots of fantasy tropes.

Saints and Heroes in Old English Poetry

This pod introduces Old English heroic poetry in its cultural and historical context. Through a selection of poems studied in both their original language and in translation, we approach the form, themes, and stylistic features of heroic poetry, and explore the way religious and cultural values are represented through this genre.

Shakespeare and Text

This pod explores the material forms that Shakespeare’s plays took in their earliest printed versions, and the processes that turn them into today’s modern texts. Drawing on twenty-first century developments in textual studies and editorial practice, the pod uses case studies of specific plays to engage with some of the most crucial debates in contemporary Shakespeare studies.

Southeast Asian Literature

Through the literatures and contexts of Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, you will develop an understanding of how literary texts are imbricated with their national contexts and literary traditions. The pod compares different national and literary manifestations of colonialism and postcolonialism, multiculturalism and multilingualism, globalisation, climate catastrophe and political oppression.

Texts in a Digital World

This pod explores stylistic, cognitive and narratological approaches to digital fiction, examining literary texts which are designed to be read and engaged with on a screen. Particular focus is given to hypertext fiction, ludic narratives, interactive film and app-based fiction, as we investigate the experience of reading and engaging with digital texts. 

Text World Theory

This pod offers a comprehensive overview of the literary-linguistic framework ‘Text World Theory’. Through a focus on scholarship from the last twenty years, you will apply, augment, and critically evaluate the framework, explore a range of Text-World-Theory applications to discourse, both literary and otherwise, and consider the future potential of text-world scholarship.

The Language of Dystopia

Taking a stylistic perspective, this pod examines the features of language that characterise dystopian narratives, analysing a range of textual examples from across time periods, and investigating the evolution and hybridity of contemporary dystopia. We will explore the construal of dystopian worlds, the conceptualisation of dystopian minds, and the experience of dystopian reading.

The Language of Multimodal Literature

Moving beyond traditional presentations of the written word, multimodal texts experiment with more than one semiotic mode, for instance incorporating graphics, creatively employing typeface, or featuring tactile elements. Taking a mixed stylistic, cognitive and narratological perspective, this pod will analyse a range of literary texts which manipulate and experiment with narrative across modes.

The Language of Surrealism

This pod explores the artistic movement of surrealism, with emphasis on the form and technique of literary surrealist writing in English. Surrealist output is considered from a literary-linguistic and cognitive poetic perspective in order to explore a view of surrealism and surrealist activity from the vantage point of current understanding of language and linguistics.

The Lyric and its Language in Middle English

This pod introduces you to Middle English language, poetics, and textual transmission through primary texts including lyrics on topics such as love, religion and politics. We will consider the ways lyric poetry was read in its manuscript context and how editorial practice shapes the experience of modern readers.

The Modernist Short Story

This pod explores the formal and thematic features of the modernist short story, identifying important nineteenth-century influences and showing how key practitioners innovated with interiorised narration, the presentation of character, form and chronology, and symbolism. You will gain an understanding of the modernist short story form and construct your own responses to modernist texts.

The Queens of Crime Fiction

This pod explores the detective novels of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh and Margery Allingham. It opens up the social and cultural world of interwar detective fiction, examining how these books handle questions of gender, Empire and class whilst unravelling mysteries. We read critically, uncovering the ideologies encoded into famous characters and how those ideologies are transformed through adaptation.

The Reader in Stylistics

Across this pod, we will explore the role, position and identity of the reader, thinking in detail about who we are referring to when we talk about ‘the reader’ in stylistics. We will investigate a range of experimental and naturalistic methods of gathering reader-response data, and examine the benefits and limitations of empirical approaches in stylistic analysis.

The Reading Public in the Romantic Period

Through this pod, we will explore book production and publication in the Romantic period, including literary publication and commercialism, and evaluate concepts of popularity and quality in literary works. We will reflect on the role of the bookselling market in contemporary society, and consider how the selection of authors on academic curricula can (mis)represent literary history.

Understanding Performance

This pod presents key contexts and frameworks in order to enable a critical exploration of the changing relationships between the making and reception of drama, theatre and performance. The focus throughout is on the multiple potential relationships between text, stage, performance and audience in a variety of contexts, drawing upon your own encounters with performance.

Vampire

This pod examines the origins of the vampire myth, and traces its evolution from the late eighteenth century to contemporary cultural productions. We explore early vampire texts and how they relate to modern representations of the vampire, using theories associated with the Gothic, adaptation, gender and sexuality in analysing vampire literature, cinema and television.

World Literatures

This pod provides a detailed study of world literatures in the twenty-first century. You will: 

  • look at key developments and trends in the study and theory of world literatures 
  • consider how these affect the ways in which we read contemporary literary texts from around the world 
  • study the historical development of different global economic and political systems from colonialism to the present day

Focusing on the novel, we will look at texts with origins in Pakistan, Morocco and the UK - all of which have English as a common language.  

World Utopia in the Early Twentieth Century

This pod explores the ways in which utopian studies and world-literature studies intersect. We interrogate three texts from the ‘superpowers’ of the early twentieth century: Russia, the UK and the USA. The pod considers the political and aesthetic qualities of utopia, and considers how literary forms cross and recross world borders.

Writing Poetry

In this pod we introduce a range of techniques and skills for writing poetry, and for reflecting on and developing you creative practice. You are guided through explorations of contemporary poetry, and supported to consider craft and style, while reflecting on the social context and the social function of poetry and creative production.

Modern and Contemporary Literature:

Cognitive Narratology

In exploring the relationship between narrative, language and cognition, this pod investigates a range of approaches to the study of worldmaking, fictional minds, perspective, and intertextuality. It engages with theories of cognitive reception, and examines emotion, ethics and empathy in relation to literary reading.

Cognitive Poetics

This pod investigates the processes of creativity, interpretation, imagination, emotional involvement, aesthetic experience, and literary texture, applying current understanding of language and mind (as drawn from research in cognitive linguistics and cognitive psychology) to questions of literary reading.

Comics and Graphic Novels

This pod presents students with an introduction to the study of comics and graphic novels, exploring a range of work in the medium, from single issue comics to full-length graphic novels, and from independent to mainstream. We also consider the relationships between comics and adaptation, with opportunities for comparative work across countries and traditions.

Constructions of Madness, Nineteenth Century to the Present

This pod introduces the ways in which popular constructs of ‘madness’ are represented in literature and theatre from the nineteenth century to the present day. In tracing how these popular representations of ‘madness’ have developed over time, you will critique the relevant medical, political and social discourses with which they engage.

Through your analysis of this interplay between public discourse and private experience you will draw on debates surrounding patriarchal authority and female agency, individual and collective responsibility and the role of culture in determining what it means to be ‘mad’.

You will have the opportunity to apply these theoretical frameworks through close analysis of significant literary works by writers such as Willkie Collins and Sarah Waters, and of high-profile theatrical productions which include Nell Leyshon’s Beldam and Peter Brook’s Marat/Sade.

Contemporary Fairy Tale Literature

This pod is concerned with literary retellings of traditional fairy tales, taking a global approach to the choice of fairy tale traditions as well as literary adaptations. We study historical and political contexts behind the late-twentieth-century resurgence of fairy tale literature, with gender and feminist theory providing the major theoretical framework of the pod.

Corpus Stylistics

This pod introduces a particular application of corpus linguistics which focuses on issues of style, especially in literature. We examine the main principles that underlie corpus design and compilation, and investigate the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of corpus-stylistic analysis, considering the implications of corpus linguistics for literary-linguistic and literary-critical research.

Ecocriticism

This pod presents a theoretical and critical introduction to ecocriticism and to environmental writing. It takes in broad chronological and generic perspectives, introducing the ways in which environmental ideas manifest themselves in poetry, fiction and the ‘new nature writing’, taking in not only anglophone writing from the UK, the United States, Australia and India, but also writing in translation.

Ethical Criticism

This pod provides an overview of Ethical Criticism, with its blend of moral philosophy, politics, and literary analysis, through the lens of two twentieth-century writers: Henry James and Samuel Beckett. You will analyse literary texts with the theoretical frames supplied by practising ethical and cultural critics.

Indian Literature of the Twentieth Century

This pod explores a range of Anglophone literature from the Indian sub-continent written during the period spanning the last decades of the British Empire and the growth of post-independence India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The pod focuses in particular on the intersection between literary texts and wider political debates around nationalism, caste, sex and gender.

Literary Linguistics

All literature is written in language, so understanding how language and the mind work will make us better readers and critics of literary works.

This module brings together the literary and linguistic parts of your degree. It gives you the power to explore any text from any period by any author.

You will study how:

  • Literature can feel rich, or pacy, or suspenseful, or beautiful
  • Texts can make you laugh, cry, feel afraid, excited, or nostalgic
  • Fictional people like characters can be imagined
  • We can get inside the thoughts, feelings, and hear the speech of characters, narrators and authors
  • Imagined worlds are built, and how their atmosphere is brought to life
  • You as a reader are manipulated or connect actively with literary worlds and people

This module is worth 20 credits.

Modernism and D.H. Lawrence

This pod explores the relationship between the works of D.H. Lawrence and the contemporary artistic and intellectual climate of modernism. You will study a range of Lawrence’s writings and reflect on their relationship to trends and events in social and intellectual history, to specific modernist literary and artistic movements, and to the broader ambitions of modernist experimentation.

Narratology

In this pod, we will investigate how narratives are structured, presented, and conceptualised in the mind of the reader. We consider key topics which are fundamental to the creation of narrative, from the representation of point of view through to the articulation of time, reflecting critically on contemporary narratological theory and practice.

Performing Space and Place

In this pod we consider how theatre and performance engage with concepts of place, space and spatiality. In doing so, you will draw on theoretical, practical and personal paradigms to understand how notions of place, space and site are represented, read, received and practised within the context of theatre and performance.

Religion and Fantasy Literature

This pod investigates the relationships between religion (specifically Christianity) and fantasy literatures. The pod centres on the works of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, exploring the ways Narnia and Middle Earth present different religious visions. It sets these authors in their historical and intellectual contexts, and discusses the historical roots of fantasy tropes.

Southeast Asian Literature

Through the literatures and contexts of Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, you will develop an understanding of how literary texts are imbricated with their national contexts and literary traditions. The pod compares different national and literary manifestations of colonialism and postcolonialism, multiculturalism and multilingualism, globalisation, climate catastrophe and political oppression.

Text World Theory

This pod offers a comprehensive overview of the literary-linguistic framework ‘Text World Theory’. Through a focus on scholarship from the last twenty years, you will apply, augment, and critically evaluate the framework, explore a range of Text-World-Theory applications to discourse, both literary and otherwise, and consider the future potential of text-world scholarship.

Texts in a Digital World

This pod explores stylistic, cognitive and narratological approaches to digital fiction, examining literary texts which are designed to be read and engaged with on a screen. Particular focus is given to hypertext fiction, ludic narratives, interactive film and app-based fiction, as we investigate the experience of reading and engaging with digital texts. 

The Language of Dystopia

Taking a stylistic perspective, this pod examines the features of language that characterise dystopian narratives, analysing a range of textual examples from across time periods, and investigating the evolution and hybridity of contemporary dystopia. We will explore the construal of dystopian worlds, the conceptualisation of dystopian minds, and the experience of dystopian reading.

The Language of Multimodal Literature

Moving beyond traditional presentations of the written word, multimodal texts experiment with more than one semiotic mode, for instance incorporating graphics, creatively employing typeface, or featuring tactile elements. Taking a mixed stylistic, cognitive and narratological perspective, this pod will analyse a range of literary texts which manipulate and experiment with narrative across modes.

The Language of Surrealism

This pod explores the artistic movement of surrealism, with emphasis on the form and technique of literary surrealist writing in English. Surrealist output is considered from a literary-linguistic and cognitive poetic perspective in order to explore a view of surrealism and surrealist activity from the vantage point of current understanding of language and linguistics.

The Modernist Short Story

This pod explores the formal and thematic features of the modernist short story, identifying important nineteenth-century influences and showing how key practitioners innovated with interiorised narration, the presentation of character, form and chronology, and symbolism. You will gain an understanding of the modernist short story form and construct your own responses to modernist texts.

The Queens of Crime Fiction

This pod explores the detective novels of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh and Margery Allingham. It opens up the social and cultural world of interwar detective fiction, examining how these books handle questions of gender, Empire and class whilst unravelling mysteries. We read critically, uncovering the ideologies encoded into famous characters and how those ideologies are transformed through adaptation.

The Reader in Stylistics

Across this pod, we will explore the role, position and identity of the reader, thinking in detail about who we are referring to when we talk about ‘the reader’ in stylistics. We will investigate a range of experimental and naturalistic methods of gathering reader-response data, and examine the benefits and limitations of empirical approaches in stylistic analysis.

Understanding Performance

This pod presents key contexts and frameworks in order to enable a critical exploration of the changing relationships between the making and reception of drama, theatre and performance. The focus throughout is on the multiple potential relationships between text, stage, performance and audience in a variety of contexts, drawing upon your own encounters with performance.

Vampire

This pod examines the origins of the vampire myth, and traces its evolution from the late eighteenth century to contemporary cultural productions. We explore early vampire texts and how they relate to modern representations of the vampire, using theories associated with the Gothic, adaptation, gender and sexuality in analysing vampire literature, cinema and television.

World Literatures

This pod provides a detailed study of world literatures in the twenty-first century. You will: 

  • look at key developments and trends in the study and theory of world literatures 
  • consider how these affect the ways in which we read contemporary literary texts from around the world 
  • study the historical development of different global economic and political systems from colonialism to the present day

Focusing on the novel, we will look at texts with origins in Pakistan, Morocco and the UK - all of which have English as a common language.  

World Utopia in the Early Twentieth Century

This pod explores the ways in which utopian studies and world-literature studies intersect. We interrogate three texts from the ‘superpowers’ of the early twentieth century: Russia, the UK and the USA. The pod considers the political and aesthetic qualities of utopia, and considers how literary forms cross and recross world borders.

Writing Poetry

In this pod we introduce a range of techniques and skills for writing poetry, and for reflecting on and developing you creative practice. You are guided through explorations of contemporary poetry, and supported to consider craft and style, while reflecting on the social context and the social function of poetry and creative production.

World Literatures:

Contemporary Fairy Tale Literature

This pod is concerned with literary retellings of traditional fairy tales, taking a global approach to the choice of fairy tale traditions as well as literary adaptations. We study historical and political contexts behind the late-twentieth-century resurgence of fairy tale literature, with gender and feminist theory providing the major theoretical framework of the pod.

Ecocriticism

This pod presents a theoretical and critical introduction to ecocriticism and to environmental writing. It takes in broad chronological and generic perspectives, introducing the ways in which environmental ideas manifest themselves in poetry, fiction and the ‘new nature writing’, taking in not only anglophone writing from the UK, the United States, Australia and India, but also writing in translation.

Indian Literature of the Twentieth Century

This pod explores a range of Anglophone literature from the Indian sub-continent written during the period spanning the last decades of the British Empire and the growth of post-independence India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The pod focuses in particular on the intersection between literary texts and wider political debates around nationalism, caste, sex and gender.

Southeast Asian Literature

Through the literatures and contexts of Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, you will develop an understanding of how literary texts are imbricated with their national contexts and literary traditions. The pod compares different national and literary manifestations of colonialism and postcolonialism, multiculturalism and multilingualism, globalisation, climate catastrophe and political oppression.

The Language of Surrealism

This pod explores the artistic movement of surrealism, with emphasis on the form and technique of literary surrealist writing in English. Surrealist output is considered from a literary-linguistic and cognitive poetic perspective in order to explore a view of surrealism and surrealist activity from the vantage point of current understanding of language and linguistics.

World Literatures

This pod provides a detailed study of world literatures in the twenty-first century. You will: 

  • look at key developments and trends in the study and theory of world literatures 
  • consider how these affect the ways in which we read contemporary literary texts from around the world 
  • study the historical development of different global economic and political systems from colonialism to the present day

Focusing on the novel, we will look at texts with origins in Pakistan, Morocco and the UK - all of which have English as a common language.  

World Utopia in the Early Twentieth Century

This pod explores the ways in which utopian studies and world-literature studies intersect. We interrogate three texts from the ‘superpowers’ of the early twentieth century: Russia, the UK and the USA. The pod considers the political and aesthetic qualities of utopia, and considers how literary forms cross and recross world borders.

Medieval Englishes and Name-Studies:

Death and Dying in Late Medieval Literature

Fear of death and what would come afterwards haunted writers throughout the Middle Ages. Covering a range of late medieval literature, this pod explores the idea of a ‘good death’, and the influence of this on conceptions of identity, illness, faith, memory and emotion.

Early Medieval Women and Literature

From patronage and composition to book ownership and reading, women contributed to all stages of production and circulation of literature in the Middle Ages. This pod focuses on the early medieval period, tracing the role of women as teachers, authors, narrators, scribes, and readers in texts from England and Continental Europe.

English Field-Names

This pod introduces the study of field-names in England, and its contribution to disciplines such as agricultural history, archaeology, environmental geography, and historical linguistics. We will think especially about evidence for local and regional community and language, as well as the way the historical population perceived and described the world around them.

Old Norse Language

This pod provides an introduction Old Norse, famously the language spoken by the Vikings. Using examples from real Old Norse texts, you will acquire skills in reading and translating medieval language, and a critical awareness of the cultural and chronological contexts required for work on Old Norse language and literature.

Medieval Geographies

This pod explores representations of space and place in medieval literature and culture. Through literature, graphic maps, written descriptions, and artefacts, we will consider the local and the global; history and geography; and the ways cosmology and mythology shape conceptions of the world. We will also reflect on current critical debates about the 'Global Middle Ages'.

Old English Language

Old English was the language spoken from the fifth to the eleventh century in what would become England. It is the ancestor of modern English, but is distinct from it, with different sounds, vocabulary, and grammar. The language is studied through real Old English texts, building linguistic knowledge while exploring early medieval English culture.

Place-Names and the English Landscape

This pod discusses the background to and development of research in place-names and landscape, and consider the different types of evidence landscape and place-names provide for history, geography, language, and culture. The pod highlights recent and current research in the discipline, giving you the opportunity to engage critically with a range of recent multidisciplinary research.

Reading and Editing the Medieval Text

Before the advent of the printing press, texts circulated in hand-written copies. Each manuscript was therefore unique and tells us about the tastes and habits of medieval readers. Through a case study, you will develop and apply skills in transcription (palaeography), examine editorial choices, learn how to compile a glossary and provide an explanatory commentary.

Runes and Runic Inscriptions

Runes are a form of alphabetic writing mostly encountered in inscriptions on physical objects, which provide some of our earliest evidence for the Germanic languages. This pod introduces runic writing systems in their various forms, their development, their historical contexts, and their value for linguistic and historical study.

Saints and Heroes in Old English Poetry

This pod introduces Old English heroic poetry in its cultural and historical context. Through a selection of poems studied in both their original language and in translation, we approach the form, themes, and stylistic features of heroic poetry, and explore the way religious and cultural values are represented through this genre.

Surnames and Identities

This pod explores the origin, development and use of surnames in England. You will examine the main categories of name, including their formation and development, and will acquire the skills to identify names and their possible meanings, and to discuss the evidence they provide for linguistic, social, and cultural history.

The Languages of English Place-Names

English place-names began as transparent descriptions in the everyday languages spoken in Britain over the past millennia. This pod introduces the study of English place-names, providing a background in onomastic research methodology, and relating historical linguistics to English settlement history and the languages spoken in England’s past.

The Lyric and its Language in Middle English

This pod introduces you to Middle English language, poetics, and textual transmission through primary texts including lyrics on topics such as love, religion and politics. We will consider the ways lyric poetry was read in its manuscript context and how editorial practice shapes the experience of modern readers.

On the Applied English Programme, pods are taken in place of modules and may be subject to change over the duration of the course.

The above is a sample of the typical modules we offer but is not intended to be construed and/or relied upon as a definitive list of the modules that will be available in any given year. Modules (including methods of assessment) may change or be updated, or modules may be cancelled, over the duration of the course due to a number of reasons such as curriculum developments or staffing changes. Please refer to the module catalogue for information on available modules. This content was last updated on Friday 26 November 2021.

Learning and assessment

How you will learn

There are no fixed deadlines within each year. Instead, there are three submission points over the year and your personal adviser will help you schedule your portfolio work to submit at the time that suits you.

You will submit a portfolio of work for every six pods that you complete. Guided by your pod tutors and personal adviser, your portfolio will showcase your strengths and skills relevant to your own life and career. For example, if you currently work in teaching, you could choose to include lesson plans in your portfolio.

Your portfolio might include:

  • lesson plans
  • blog posts
  • website design
  • video presentations or films
  • conference papers
  • creative works (creative writing or performance productions)
  • essays

You’ll be supported to explore new ways of working through tasks and discussions within pods, where you will be given feedback.

Teaching methods include:

  • Videos
  • Audio lectures, interviews and discussions
  • Digital texts, databases and manuscripts
  • Interactive tasks to develop knowledge and analysis
  • One-to-one tutor support
  • Peer discussion forums

How you will be assessed

You will be assessed by your choice of assessment types, which may include:

  • Lesson plans
  • Syllabus design
  • Conference papers
  • Blog posts
  • Experiment design
  • Exhibition curation
  • Essays
  • Video/audio presentations
  • Journalism
  • Website design
  • Creative writing
  • Performance production

Contact time and study hours

This programme is designed to offer completely flexible distance learning, so you can study whenever and wherever you need.

You can study pods at your own pace, and take one or several at a time, up to six simultaneously. You can spend different amounts of time on different pods, as you prefer. You can pause your studies as your work or life determines, and pick up again easily when you are ready.

Entry requirements

All candidates are considered on an individual basis and we accept a broad range of qualifications. The entrance requirements below apply to 2021 entry.

Undergraduate degreeTypically 2:1 or above, but we will consider 2:2 (or international equivalent), in any Arts, Humanities or Social Sciences subject. If you have other qualifications or professional experience, please contact us. We consider individual cases, including non-standard qualifications.

Applying

You can apply to start your course on either 21 September 2021 or 1 February 2022.

Our step-by-step guide covers everything you need to know about applying.

How to apply

Fees

Qualification MA
Home / UK £10,188
International £10,188

Additional information for international students

If you are a student from the EU, EEA or Switzerland, you may be asked to complete a fee status questionnaire and your answers will be assessed using guidance issued by the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) .

These fees are for full-time study. If you are studying part-time, you will be charged a proportion of this fee each year (subject to inflation).

Additional costs

All students will need at least one device to approve security access requests via Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). We also recommend students have a suitable laptop to work both on and off-campus. For more information, please check the equipment advice.

Books

You'll be able to access most of the texts you’ll need through our online library, though you may wish to buy your own copies. On some pods, you may be advised to purchase texts - if this is the case, we will make students aware.

Summer school

Students who choose to attend our annual Summer School event are required to pay for their own transport and accommodation costs.

Funding

Distance learning fees

Distance learning students are charged a standard fee, with no differentiation between UK/EU and international students.

Fees are paid on a pod by pod basis. We offer a flexible payment plan, so you could choose to pay for a block of pods at a time, or all of your pods upfront, should you choose to do so. 

See information on how to fund your masters, including our step-by-step guide.

Student loans and course duration

If you are a resident of England and qualify for UK fee status, you may be eligible for a Student Finance England Master’s Loan. If you are eligible, you can apply for a three-year loan, with payments spread equally across the number of years you expect to study. While you can apply for an extension to your study period, your loan payment period cannot be extended. If you apply for a three-year loan, but complete your study in two, you will forfeit the final year of payments.

Please note: it is the student’s responsibility to check they meet the requirements of the loan provider before applying. If you have any questions about the requirements of your loan, please contact your funding provider.

There are many ways to fund your postgraduate course, from scholarships to government loans.

We also offer a range of international masters scholarships for high-achieving international scholars who can put their Nottingham degree to great use in their careers.

Check our guide to find out more about funding your postgraduate degree.

Postgraduate funding

Careers

We offer individual careers support for all postgraduate students.

Expert staff can help you research career options and job vacancies, build your CV or résumé, develop your interview skills and meet employers.

Each year 1,100 employers advertise graduate jobs and internships through our online vacancy service. We host regular careers fairs, including specialist fairs for different sectors.

International students who complete an eligible degree programme in the UK on a student visa can apply to stay and work in the UK after their course under the Graduate immigration route. Eligible courses at the University of Nottingham include bachelors, masters and research degrees, and PGCE courses.

Graduate destinations

This course will develop your ability to research and process a large amount of information quickly, and to present the results of your research in an articulate and effective way across a range of platforms and outputs.

In your assessments, you will produce work directly connected to careers in teaching, business and communications, digital and creative industries, the media and publishing, policy and more. You will also be well prepared if you are considering a PhD, or a career in academia.

Career progression

75% of postgraduates from the School of English secured graduate level employment or further study within 15 months of graduation. The average starting salary was £20,796*

*HESA Graduate Outcomes 2020. The Graduate Outcomes % is derived using The Guardian University Guide methodology. The average annual salary is based on graduates working full-time within the UK.

 

Two masters graduates proudly holding their certificates
" With twenty years of experience in distance learning, the School of English has been at the forefront of delivering effective online education, providing students with the opportunity to study English from a wide range of perspectives and work with experts in the field. Also, since our courses are offered part-time, they provide flexibility to study alongside your work and other commitments. "
Dr Paweł Szudarski, Deputy Director of Postgraduate Taught

Related courses

This content was last updated on Friday 26 November 2021. Every effort has been made to ensure that this information is accurate, but changes are likely to occur given the interval between the date of publishing and course start date. It is therefore very important to check this website for any updates before you apply.