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English Literature with Mandarin BA (Hons)

Enhance your cultural and historical understanding by immersing yourself in classic and contemporary English literature from around the globe, alongside studying Mandarin from beginner or post-beginner level.

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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 English literature from writers across the globe and from different eras or movements, such as Victorian literature and Romanticism, as well as classic and renowned authors including William Shakespeare and Jane Austen. Learn how texts work, and debate literature’s role in society both now and throughout the course of history. You’ll be taught by internationally renowned academics who will support you to articulate your ideas with confidence while writing with fluency and flair. 

Alongside your English Literature curriculum, you will study Mandarin from either beginner level or post-beginner level. You will develop your linguistic skills and also gain an understanding of social, cultural, political, historical and artistic topics.

By choosing to study English literature with Mandarin at DMU, you’ll join a lively and welcoming academic community. Graduates from this course are working in a wide range of professions including media, marketing, publishing, teaching, public relations and the civil service.

Key features

  • Learn Mandarin while studying English poetry, fiction and drama from different centuries and continents, with the flexibility to specialise in your areas of interest.
  • Be taught by leading academics who produce world-leading research in areas ranging from medieval to contemporary literature, language, creative writing and digital humanities.
  • Set yourself apart with a recognised competence in Mandarin. Study Mandarin at a level and pace that really suits you and your needs, alongside developing your knowledge of the country, the society, the culture and the people.
  • Gain valuable workplace skills through placement and internship opportunities. Our students have previously worked with organisations such as the National Space Centre and Leicester Mercury newspaper, charities including the English Association, as well as local schools and colleges.
  • 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.
  • Our English graduates have succeeded in wide-ranging careers with well-known publishing companies including Penguin Random House and Pan Macmillan, as well as news organisations such as HomeStyle Magazine and the BBC.
  • 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:

Creative Writing, English Literature, English Language and History

  • UK
  • EU/International

Institution code: D26

UCAS course code: Q3T1

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: Mandarin Beginner or Mandarin Post-Beginner
  • Block 4: Poetry and Society

Second year

  • Block 1: Exploration and Innovation: 14th Century to 18th Century Literature
  • Block 2: Romantic and Victorian Literature
  • Block 3: Mandarin Post-Beginner or Mandarin Intermediate
  • Block 4: Screen and Literary Adaptations of The Classics

Third year

  • Year long: Dissertation
  • Block 2: Remediating Texts
  • Block 3: Mandarin Intermediate or Mandarin Advanced
  • Block 4: Modernism and Magazines

Overview

You will be taught by internationally-recognised academics who are friendly, approachable and experts in their fields. You will debate literature from different centuries and different continents in lectures, seminars, workshops and one-to-one tutorials. 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 have Mandarin language classes throughout each year as this continuous approach is recognised as the best way to learn a language, with the majority of teaching taking place in Block 3.

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. For the Mandarin language modules, assessment is focused on evaluating your competence in the four key skills of Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Hearing and your knowledge of the cultural, social, and historical context of your chosen language.

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

You will be taught through a combination of seminars, workshops, lectures, tutorials, group work and self-directed study. 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.

Previous students have taken up placements in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors, including some international posts, across a range of companies including public relations agencies and local schools.

Our Careers Team can help to hone your professional skills with mock interviews and practice aptitude tests, and an assigned personal tutor will support you throughout your placement.

Students on the #DMUglobal trip to New York

DMU Global

Our innovative international experience programme DMU Global aims to enrich your studies and expand your cultural horizons, helping you to become a global graduate, equipped to meet the needs of employers across the world.

Through DMU Global, we offer a wide range of opportunities including on-campus and UK-based activities, overseas study, internships, faculty-led field trips and volunteering, as well as Erasmus+ and international exchanges.

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

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Graduate careers

Our graduates are taught to acquire highly developed communication and reasoning skills and hone their ability to work independently and as part of a group.

Many of 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. English Literature 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.

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