english-lit

English Literature BA (Hons)

English Literature at DMU combines classic and contemporary literature, from Chaucer and Shakespeare to 21st century fiction and film adaptations.

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Block teaching designed around you

You deserve a positive teaching and learning experience, where you feel part of a supportive and nurturing community. That’s why most students will enjoy an innovative approach to learning using block teaching, where you will study one module at a time. You’ll benefit from regular assessments - rather than lots of exams at the end of the year - and a simple timetable that allows you to engage with your subject and enjoy other aspects of university life such as sports, societies, meeting friends and discovering your new city. By studying with the same peers and tutor for each block, you’ll build friendships and a sense of belonging.

Read more about block teaching

Overview


Study an exciting range of literature in English, from writers across the globe and on subjects including the novel, Victorian and Romantic literature, Shakespeare, text technologies and modernism. Learn how texts work, and debate literature’s role in society both now and throughout history, whilst developing skills in critical analysis, creative thinking and research. You can select a route through this degree in Creative Writing, Drama, Education, English Language, Film, History, Journalism or Media.

By studying English Literature at DMU you’ll join a lively and welcoming academic community – a group of people who are friendly, supportive and passionate about literature. You’ll receive excellent teaching from internationally-renowned academics and will be taught to articulate your ideas with confidence while writing with fluency and flair.

We’re proud that our English Literature graduates enter a wide range of professions including media, marketing, publishing, teaching, public relations and the civil service.

Key features

  • Learn from world-renowned academics and internationally-acclaimed guest speakers who have previously included writers Kate Forsyth and Carol Ann Duffy.
  • Select a route through this degree in Creative Writing, Drama, Education, English Language, Film, History, Journalism or Media. These carefully chosen routes will complement and enrich your understanding of your main subject, alongside broadening your skillset to give you a wider range of career paths available upon graduation.
  • 90% of students were satisfied overall with the course (National Student Survey, 2022).
  • Explore print and digital humanities and learn to use a hand printing press or gain practical training in programming language HTML through options to explore the production of literary texts from our Centre for Textual Studies.
  • Experience a range of teaching activities and a variety of assessment methods, ensuring your learning remains dynamic and enabling you to develop a broader range of skills.
  • Gain valuable workplace experience through placement and internship opportunities. Our students have worked with the National Space Centre, the English Association, Age Concern, the Leicester Mercury, and local schools and colleges.
  • Develop a range of transferable skills that make English graduates extremely employable and sought after in the workplace, find out more. Our graduates succeed in wide-ranging careers with big names that include Penguin Random House, HomeStyle magazine, the BBC and Pan Macmillan.
  • Benefit from Education 2030, where a simplified ‘block learning’ timetable means you will study one subject at a time and have more time to engage with your learning, receive faster feedback and enjoy a better study-life balance.

More courses like this

English Literature with Mandarin BA (Hons)

English Language BA (Hons)

Creative Writing BA (Hons)

  • UK
  • EU/International

Institution code: D26

UCAS course code: Q300

Duration: Three years full-time, four years full-time with a placement. Six years part-time.

Fees and funding: 

2024/25 tuition fees for UK students: £9,250

Find out more about tuition fees and available funding.

Additional costs: Here at DMU we provide excellent learning resources, including the Kimberlin Library and specialist workshops and studios. However, you should be aware that sometimes you may incur additional costs for this programme.

Contact us: For more information, call us on +44 (0)116 2 50 60 70.

Duration: Three years full-time, four years with placement

Fees and funding: 

2024/25 tuition fees for international students: £15,750

Additional costs: Here at DMU we provide excellent learning resources, including the Kimberlin Library and specialist workshops and studios. However, you should be aware that sometimes you may incur additional costs for this programme.

Contact us: For more information, call us on +44 (0)116 2 50 60 70.

Entry criteria

Typical entry requirements

  • 112 points from at least 2 A'levels
  • BTEC Extended Diploma DMM
  • International Baccalaureate: 26+ Points or
  • T Levels Merit

Plus five GCSEs grades 9-4 including English Language or Literature at grade 4 or above.

  • Pass Access with 30 level 3 credits at Merit and GCSE English (Language or Literature) at grade 4 or above.

We will normally require students have had a break from full-time education before undertaking the Access course.

  • We also accept the BTEC First Diploma plus two GCSEs including English Language or Literature at grade 4 or above

Interview required: No

English language requirements

If English is not your first language an IELTS score of 6.0 overall with 5.5 in each band (or equivalent) when you start the course is essential.

English language tuition, delivered by our British Council-accredited Centre for English Language Learning, is available both before and throughout the course if you need it.

 

Structure and assessment

 

Course modules

Teaching and assessments

 

First year

Block 1: Approaches to Reading and Writing

Block 2: Introduction to the Novel

Block 3: Introduction to Drama: Shakespeare OR you can select to study one route from the list below:

  • Creative Writing route – Writers Salon
  • Drama route – Shifting Stages
  • Education route – Childhood, Social Justice and Education
  • English Language route - Evolving Language
  • Film Studies route – Disney, Warner Bros and the Business of the Film Studio
  • History route – Global Cities
  • Journalism route – Understanding Journalism
  • Media route - Media, Culture and Society

Block 4: Poetry and Society

Second year

Block 1: Exploration and Innovation: Medieval to Early Modern Literature

Block 2: Romantic and Victorian Literature

Block 3: Text Technologies OR continue with the route selected in the first year:

  • Creative Writing route – Story Craft
  • Drama route – Theatre Revolutions
  • Education route – Preparing for Professional Practice and Cultural and Educational               Transformations
  • English Language route - Sociolinguistics
  • Film Studies route – Screen Archives - Preservation, Conservation and Usage
  • History route – Humans and the Natural World
  • Journalism route – Beyond News: Peace journalism and Opinion Writing 
  • Media route – Public Relations and Strategic Communication

Block 4: Adaptations of The Classics

Third year

Year Long: Dissertation

Block 2: Textual Studies Using Computers

Block 3: World Englishes: On the Page and Beyond OR continue with the route selected in the first year:

  • Creative Writing route – Uncreative Writing, Creative Misbehavior
  • Drama route – Performance, Identity and Activism
  • Education route – Adult Learners and Lifelong Learning OR Reflection on Practice: Teaching and Learning OR Gender and Education
  • English Language route – Language and Identity
  • Film Studies route – British Cinema - Creativity, Independents and Interdependence
  • History route – The World on Display
  • Journalism route – Music, Film and Entertainment Journalism
  • Media route – Gender and TV Fictions

Block 4: Modernism and Magazines

 

Overview

You will be taught by internationally-recognised academics who are friendly, approachable and experts in their fields. There are opportunities to attend guest lectures by exciting writers and thinkers; previous speakers include Simon Armitage, Andrew Davies (screenwriter), Carol Ann Duffy, Jackie Kay, Andrew Motion and Benjamin Zephaniah. You will learn to write fluently and persuasively, to articulate complex ideas and arguments, to research topics comprehensively and to challenge existing opinions.

The first year expands your knowledge of the major literary genres (poetry, drama, fiction) and develops foundational skills in research, writing and critical analysis. It also introduces you to adaptation studies – an area of study bridging English and other media, including film and television, which you can study in each year of your course at DMU if you choose.

The second year broadens your understanding of the development of English literature through time. You will also develop your awareness of text production and learn to apply digital skills.

The third year allows you to build on the knowledge already gained to pursue your own interests within the taught modules and through your dissertation.

You will be learn through a combination of lectures, seminars, workshops, tutorials, group tutorials, presentations, student-led seminars and reading groups. Teaching sessions might be structured around discussion, a film screening or based in a computer lab. You will complete reading and research in advance and join in conversation with your tutor and your peers. Individual tutorials with module tutors are available in weekly ‘office hours’, at which you can discuss any aspect of your course or get help with assignments. You will experience varied forms of assessment, including essays, presentations, preparation worksheets, journals, examinations, practical work (such as the production of a sonnet using a replica of a sixteenth-century printing press), website production, peer evaluation, creative work, self-evaluation, blogs and dissertation. This range of assessment methods will enable you to develop a broad spectrum of communication and technological skills, alongside an ability to think critically, independently, flexibly and imaginatively.

You will be supported by a personal tutor with access to specialist guidance in writing and study skills. Our postgraduate students also run a popular peer mentoring scheme providing friendly and informal advice for undergraduate students in English at DMU.

Contact hours

In your first year you will normally attend around 7 hours of timetabled taught sessions (workshops and seminars) each week, and we expect you to undertake at least 30 further hours of independent study to complete project work and research.

 

Facilities and features

Library and learning zones

On campus, the main Kimberlin Library offers a space where you can work, study and access a vast range of print materials, with computer stations, laptops, plasma screens and assistive technology also available. 

As well as providing a physical space in which to work, we offer online tools to support your studies, and our extensive online collection of resources accessible from our Library website, e-books, specialised databases and electronic journals and films which can be remotely accessed from anywhere you choose. 

We will support you to confidently use a huge range of learning technologies, including the Virtual Learning Environment, Collaborate Ultra, DMU Replay, MS Teams, Turnitin and more. Alongside this, you can access LinkedIn Learning and learn how to use Microsoft 365, and study support software such as mind mapping and note-taking through our new Digital Student Skills Hub. 

The library staff offer additional support to students, including help with academic writing, research strategies, literature searching, reference management and assistive technology. There is also a ‘Just Ask’ service for help and advice, live LibChat, online workshops, tutorials and drop-ins available from our Learning Services, and weekly library live chat sessions that give you the chance to ask the library teams for help.

More flexible ways to learn

We offer an equitable and inclusive approach to learning and teaching for all our students. Known as the Universal Design for Learning (UDL), our teaching approach has been recognised as sector leading. UDL means we offer a wide variety of support, facilities and technology to all students, including those with disabilities and specific learning differences.

Just one of the ways we do this is by using ‘DMU Replay’ – a technology providing all students with anytime access to audio and/or visual material of lectures. This means students can revise taught material in a way that suits them best, whether it's replaying a recording of a class or adapting written material shared in class using specialist software.

Campus centre

The home of  De Montfort Students' Union, (DSU) our Campus Centre offers a welcoming and lively hub for student life. Conveniently located at the heart of campus, it includes a convenience store, a Subway and a Starbucks. Here you can find the DSU-owned charitable accommodation service Sulets and DSU’s shop, SUpplies, selling art supplies, stationery and clothing, and printing and binding services. The building is also home to the DSU officer team. 

Opportunities and careers

Find the people who will open doors for you

DMU's award-winning careers service provides guaranteed work experience opportunities DMU Careers Team

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Placements

This course gives you the option to enhance and build your professional skills to progress within your chosen career, through a placement. Our dedicated team offers a range of careers resources and opportunities so you can start planning your future.

Rubyna Cassam secured a placement with Penguin Random House in London. She gained invaluable knowledge of the publishing world, from creating presentations for new book releases and producing spreadsheets of international sales figures, to contacting buyers about merchandise and attending marketing meetings about the London and Frankfurt book fairs.

Students on the #DMUglobal trip to New York

DMU Global

Our innovative international experience programme DMU Global aims to enrich studies, broaden cultural horizons and develop key skills valued by employers. 

Through DMU Global, we offer an exciting mix of overseas, on-campus and online international experiences, including the opportunity to study or work abroad for up to a year.

Students on this course have undertaken exciting opportunities to study overseas in Tokyo, Japan, and Vancouver Island in Canada.

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Graduate careers

English Literature graduates are eminently employable because of their highly developed communication and reasoning skills and their ability to work independently and as part of a group.

Our graduates go on to work in careers in a variety of areas such as archival work, the media, the civil service, marketing, journalism, the arts, library services, teaching English as a foreign language and public relations. Graduates have earned roles such as Associate Producer at the BBC, Picture Book Editor at Pan Macmillan and a Senior Press Officer in the Children's Department at Penguin Random House. Graduates also have the opportunity to undertake further studies at DMU.

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