English Literature with English Language BA (Hons)

The University of Winchester

• English Literature achieved 94% overall satisfaction as rated by final-year undergraduate students in the 2020 National Student Survey

From Chaucer to rap poetry, you can choose from almost 800 years of the best writing in English on a course that fires your imagination, sharpens your own written and communication skills and allows you to think critically and creatively about literature and much more beside.

Guided by our supportive teaching staff, who are all part of the university’s thriving literary research culture, you study the ideas of the most exciting critical thinkers in contemporary cultural debate, using innovative learning and teaching methods.

In Year 1, a balanced study of English Literature and English Language is pursued. English Literature modules focus on the development of critical reading skills - this includes an introduction to the various forms of literary theory that are the basis for the various forms of analysis of literary texts in modules such as Studying English Literature, Intertextuality, and World Literature. English Language modules establish a fundamental knowledge of key areas such as syntax, morphology, semantics, phonetics and phonology.

In Year 2, the majority of modules are based around a historical period and students have a free choice of modules whose content ranges from Shakespeare to contemporary postmodern literature and literature for children. There is a wide range of English Language modules for students to choose from - for instance, it would be possible to focus on the historical development of English or on sociolinguistic approaches to the study of language.

Year 3 offers modules where the study is more specialised. In English Literature, You study a collection of writings, a particular theme, or critical theory which is closely related to the research fields of teaching staff in modules such as Literature and Psychoanalysis, Utopian and Dystopian Fiction, and Teaching and Communicating English, enabling you to engage with cutting-edge developments in the discipline. English Language modules offer the opportunity to develop the depth of analysis and the sophistication of research techniques brought to bear on the topic.