BA English Language and Literature

Programme overview

Entry requirements

Entry Requirements are available on the Course Search entry

Programme specification

Course Overview

How do words work to shape and express human experience? This course explores the English language, its linguistic and literary heritage, significance and future. Learn about how language varies according to geographic, historical, social, and stylistic influences. You’ll explore richly diverse texts across different literary and non-literary genres, including fiction, poetry, drama, speeches, advertising, news, and different discourse types from literary and linguistic perspectives. Working across a variety of historical periods, places, and cultures, you’ll consider how and why texts are produced, read, and understood. This course enables you to analyse the impact of creativity and power, engaging with theories that shape and underpin literary and language study, and discovering how critical approaches can change the way we see literature, language, and the world around us.  

You’ll choose optional modules covering language and literary topics in English from the Middle Ages to today. In addition, you’ll work with expert tutors with a wide range of research interests and develop your digital and communication skills.  The School of English is home to the University of Leeds Poetry Centre, and we regularly host readings and talks by well-known and emerging contemporary writers. The highly respected literary magazine, Stand, is produced in the School, and publishes the best in new and established creative writing, along with the student publication Tenterhook.

Effective communication drives the world. Studying English Language and Literature at Leeds prepares you for an exciting, rewarding and fulfilling professional future. Graduates often pursue careers in media, publishing, journalism, education, the cultural industries and creative arts, or enter fields including management, marketing, and business, where strong analytical skills are prized.

Course details

After a compulsory Level 1, the programme allows students a high degree of choice within a structure which ensures that all students explore a range of periods of and genres within English literature, and a range of topics in English Language study. Level 1 balances the study of English Language and literature with two compulsory modules in each half of the degree: English Structure, Style and Genre, and English Variation, Creativity and Use for language and Writing Matters and Reading Between the Lines for literature. In addition, students can take two optional modules, one of which may be in a discovery module in a subject outside the School of English. Level 2 continues with two compulsory modules in each half of the degree: Power of Language and Language in Society in language and Writing Environments: Literature, Nature, Culture and Body Language: Literature and Embodiment in literature, plus two optional modules in literature and language. Students may take a discovery module from outside the School of English in place of one of these options. Level 3 is all about choice. Students choose a final year project, an individual piece of research, in either English language or literature, and then they choose up to four optional modules from language and literature choices, one of which can be replaced with a discovery module.

After your second year of study, you 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, taking a year there and returning for a fourth year at the University of Leeds. You may also spend a year in industry on a work placement as an optional third year of your degree programme, returning for a fourth year of the programme.

Year 1

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

Compulsory Modules

Candidates will be required to study the following compulsory modules

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL1016	English Structure, Style, Genre	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL1017	English Variation, Creativity and Use	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL1065	Reading Between the Lines	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL1110	Literature, Culture and Critique	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Optional Modules

Candidates will be required to study between 20-40 credits from the following optional modules:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL1070	Drama: Text and Performance	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
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)
ENGL1855	Race, Writing and Decolonization	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
LING1065	Languages of the World	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
LING1100	Language: Meaning and Use	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
MODL1060	Language: Structure and Sound	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Discovery Modules

Candidates may take up to 20 credits of discovery modules

Year 2

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

Compulsory Modules

Candidates will be required to study the following compulsory modules: 

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL2023	Power of Language	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL2051	Language in Society	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Optional Modules

Students should select at least one of the following modules, or they may select both options:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL2030	Writing Environments: Literature, Nature, Culture	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL2045	Body Language: Literature and Embodiment	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Student should select at least one and up to four modules from the options below, subject to credit requirements and to maintain a balance of credits across the two semesters. Students can select a maximum of one module (20 credits) per basket. Student may also select 20 credits of Discovery modules.
Basket 1:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL2029	Renaissance Literature	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL2144	Life, Love and Death from Chaucer to Marlowe	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Basket 2:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL2065	Postcolonial Literature	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL2090	Modern Literature	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Basket 3:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
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)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Basket 4:

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)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Basket 5: Please note that some of the modules in this basket have pre-requisites for enrolment

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL2034	Cursing and Courtesy: (im)politeness in English	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL2037	Forensic Approaches to Language	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL2042	Language Policy, Planning, and Politics	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL2049	Language of the Media	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Basket 6: Please note that some of the modules in this basket have pre-requisites for enrolment.

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL2032	Children, Talk and Learning	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL2033	Crime Fiction Stylistics: Crossing Languages, Culture, Media	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL2047	Trial Discourse: The Proceedings of the Old Bailey 1674-1913	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL2048	Dialect Hunting	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL2143	Writing in the Age of Digital Media and AI	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL2181	Digital Discourse: language, social media, AI	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Discovery Modules

Candidates may take up to 20 credits of discovery modules

Year 3

[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 project, students will be able to take 80 further credits of optional specialist modules (selection of typical options shown below). Students are able to take 20 credits of discovery modules in place of one of the optional modules.

Optional Modules

Choose one FYP from:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL3005	Textual Editing Project	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)	PFP
ENGL3022	English Language Dissertation	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)	PFP
ENGL3041	Final Year Project	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)	PFP

Candidates will be required to study between 60 and 80 credits from the following specialist research modules. They may choose up to two modules from Basket 1 and up to 2 modules from Basket 2. The list of specialist research modules provided below is indicative and subject to change year by year depending on staff availability. Modules will be timetabled clash-free.

Up to 20 credits of Discovery modules may be taken in place of one specialist research module. Students are not eligible to take Level 1 Discovery modules in Level 3 (with the exception of up to a maximum of 20 credits in Discovery Skills modules – these can be identified by the code ‘skd’ in the online module catalogue).

Basket 1:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL3031	Sex and Suffering in the Eighteenth-Century Novel	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3033	Writing and Gender in Seventeenth-Century England	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3034	Romantic Lyric Poetry	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3037	Speech Acts: Contemporary Approaches to Text and Performance	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3046	Parts, Periodicals, Newspapers: Literature and the Nineteenth-Century Press	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3073	Turks, Moors and Jews: Race and Identity in Early Modern Drama	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3114	Forming Victorian Fiction	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3321	Angry Young Men and Women: Literature of the Mid-Twentieth Century	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3477	Cursing and Courtesy: (im)politeness in English	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3479	Forensic Approaches to Language	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3482	Language Policy, Planning, and Politics	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3491	Language of the Media	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3579	Law and Literature: Transgression, Justice, and Interpretation	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ENGL3680	Postcolonial London	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
FOAH3001	Global African Writing	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Basket 2:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ENGL3008	Writing Modern Sexualities	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3027	Shakespeare	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3061	Heart Disease in Contemporary Literature	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3062	Charles Dickens Then & Now	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3065	Page, Publication and Audience	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3068	African American Narrative	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3072	Narratives of Witchcraft and Magic	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3164	Imagining Posthuman Futures	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3181	Digital Discourse: language, social media, AI	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL32111	Gender, Culture and Politics: Readings of Jane Austen	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
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)
ENGL3462	Slavery and Antislavery in the Atlantic Imagination	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3475	Children, Talk and Learning	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3476	Crime Fiction Stylistics: Crossing Languages, Culture, Media	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3481	Keywords: the words we use and the ways we use them	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3485	Trial Discourse: The Proceedings of the Old Bailey 1674-1913	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ENGL3489	Dialect Hunting	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Discovery Modules

Students may take up to 20 credits of discovery modules

Last updated: 12/05/2026 17:13:38

Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team