BA English Literature and Theatre Studies (For students entering from September 2023 onwards)

Programme overview

Entry requirements

• A-level AAB with A in English (English Literature, or English Language, or English Language & Literature) excluding General Studies and Critical Thinking
• International Baccalaureate: 35 points overall with 16 at Higher Level including 6 in English at Higher Level.
• Applications welcome from mature students with Access qualifications and from students with international or other non-A-level qualifications.
• IELTS 6.5 overall, with no less than 6.0 in any component.

Programme specification

The information on this page is accurate for students entering the programme from September 2023. For students who entered the programme before September 2023, you can find the details of your programme: BA English Literature and Theatre Studies



At Level 1, students take modules which guide them through the transition into university-level study, equipping them to read critically and write with rigour and persuasion. An optional module on Race, Writing and Decolonisation draws upon the school’s long history of teaching and scholarship on postcolonialism, Black and Asian British writing, and international literature in English. Other modules focus on poetry, fiction and drama, and students may also take Discovery modules from across the University. At Level 2, students take four core modules on literatures of the environment and writing identity, and on applying performance as a research methodology to appreciate other cultures and as a mode of creating or articulating community cohesion, all of which are designed to enhance intellectual independence and initiative. They also choose two further modules from eight spanning across the history and global reach of English literature, from the Medieval to the Contemporary, and Postcolonial to American, deepening and enriching subject knowledge, or have the opportunity of selecting option modules with theatre and performance foci, delivered in the School of Performance and Cultural Industries. This intermediate year prepares students for intellectual autonomy and adventure at Level 3, where they have free choice from an extensive range of specialist research modules. A final year project, in the form of a ‘Practical Essay’, transforms students into active and potentially collaborative researchers, defining, planning and producing work on a subject of their choosing, researched, developed and presented through both performance and critical writing.

After their second year of study, students may apply for transfer to an International Degree at one of a wide range of universities with which the University of Leeds has established links. They may also spend a year in industry on a work placement as an optional third year of their degree programme.

At Level 3, all students will take a 40 credit capstone project appropriate to their degree programme. Alongside the capstone projects, students will be able to take 80 further credits of optional specialist modules (selection of typical options shown below).

Year 1

(For students entering from September 2023 onwards)

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
View Timetable

Compulsory Modules

At Level 1, candidates will be required to study the following compulsory modules: 

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL1055	Writing Matters	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL1065	Reading Between the Lines	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL1195	Reading Theatre, Performing Text	20	Not running in 202425
ENGL1196	Performing Text, Making Theatre	20	Not running in 202425

Optional Modules

Candidates will be required to study 40 credits of modules from the following optional modules, OR 20 credits from the following optional modules and 20 credits of Discovery modules: 

Basket 1:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL1221	Modern Fictions in English: Conflict, Liminality, Translation	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL1261	Poetry: Reading and Interpretation	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Basket 2:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL1070	Drama: Text and Performance	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL1855	Race, Writing and Decolonization	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Discovery Modules

Year 2

(For students entering from September 2023 onwards)

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
View Timetable

Compulsory Modules

At Level 2, candidates will be required to study the following compulsory modules: 

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL2030	Writing Environments: Literature, Nature, Culture	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL2040	Performing the Past	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL2045	Body Language: Literature and Embodiment	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL2050	Theatre, Society and Self	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Optional Modules

Candidates will be required to study 2 modules from the following optional modules but may not choose 2 from the same basket. Any choice made from Basket 3 must not cause asymmetry in your credit loading between semesters.

Basket 1:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL2029	Renaissance Literature	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL2065	Postcolonial Literature	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL2085	Medieval and Tudor Literature	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL2090	Modern Literature	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL2095	Other Voices: Rethinking Nineteenth-Century Literature	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL2096	The World Before Us: Literature 1660–1830	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
PECI2112	Re-thinking Theatre & Performance Histories	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
PECI2113	Creative Practices	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
PECI2714	Politics, Identity and Performance	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Basket 2:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL2055	American Words, American Worlds	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL2080	Contemporary Literature	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL2095	Other Voices: Rethinking Nineteenth-Century Literature	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL2096	The World Before Us: Literature 1660–1830	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
PECI2706	Cultural Flashpoints in the Performing Arts	20	Not running in 202425
PECI2708	Exploring Musical Theatre	20	Not running in 202425
PECI2709	Performance Design	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Basket 3: N.B. Any choice made from Basket 3 must not cause asymmetry in your credit loading between semesters: you should avoid your selections resulting in a credit load of over 70 credits per semester.

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
FOAH2020	Towards the Future: Skills in Context	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST2260	Digital Methods for History, Art and Literature	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Year 3

(For students entering from September 2023 onwards)

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
View Timetable

At Level 3, all students will take a 40 credit capstone project appropriate to their degree programme. Alongside the capstone projects, students will be able to take 80 further credits of optional specialist modules (selection of typical options shown below).

Compulsory Modules

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL3042	The Practical Essay	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Optional Modules

Up to four optional modules to be chosen from an indicative list:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL3024	Modern Literature	20	Not running in 202425
ENGL3026	Contemporary Literature	20	Not running in 202425
ENGL3027	Shakespeare	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3031	Sex and Suffering in the Eighteenth-Century Novel	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3032	Tragedy: Classical to Neo-Classical	20	Not running in 202425
ENGL3033	Writing and Gender in Seventeenth-Century England	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3034	Romantic Lyric Poetry	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3036	Speech Acts: Contemporary Approaches to Text and Performance	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3208	Arthurian Legend: Chivalry and Violence	20	Not running in 202425
ENGL32111	Gender, Culture and Politics: Readings of Jane Austen	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL32153	Refugee Narratives	20	Not running in 202425
ENGL32155	Crime Fiction Stylistics: Crossing Languages, Cultures, Media	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL32169	Contemporary South African Writing	20	Not running in 202425
ENGL3314	Imagining Posthuman Futures	20	Not running in 202425
ENGL3321	Angry Young Men and Women: Literature of the Mid-Twentieth Century	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3365	Theatricalities: Beckett, Pinter, Kane	20	Not running in 202425
ENGL3391	September 11 in Fact and Fiction	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3394	Bowie, Reading, Writing	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3396	Fictions of the End: Apocalypse and After	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3402	Home Bodies: Domestic Animals in Contemporary Literature	20	Not running in 202425
ENGL3680	Postcolonial London	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Plus up to 20 credits of Discovery Modules

Discovery Modules

Last updated: 09/05/2024 13:20:12

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