English BA (Hons)

In your second year, you will study language variation in society as well as Renaissance and Victorian literature. You can hone your ability to communicate in academic writing, and be introduced to Stylistics.

You will also have the opportunity to choose a range of very different option modules:

• a literature option – ‘The American West: Real and Imagined’
• a language option –‘Language and New Media’
• the International Study Trip.

Modules

• Shakespeare’s Renaissance (20 credits)

  The module aims to introduce you to a broad range of authors, texts, periods and genres from Medieval mystery plays, to later poems and plays, that both influenced and were influenced in turn by William Shakespeare. The module will explore and evaluate the reasons both for seeing Shakespeare as being at the heart of the English Renaissance.

  Compulsory

  Assessment: Coursework

• Language and Society (20 credits)

  The aim of this module is to introduce you to the fundamental concepts in the study of language as a social phenomenon. We will explore the topic of identity through discourse analysis by analysing: register, constructed identity, incorporating gender, ethnicity and age. We will also learn about how ideologies, cultural ways, speaking and social attitudes affect patterns of language use.

  Compulsory

  Assessment: Coursework, presentation

• Writing for Success (10 credits)

  This module aims to develop your writing skills in several ways. We will cover the basic conventions of academic writing and identify what can go wrong in the formal construction of written sentences. You will be encouraged to examine your own writing carefully and critically.

  Compulsory

  Assessment: Coursework

• The Victorians and Empire (20 Credits)

  This module examines literature and critical approaches to literature between the years 1830-1900. Roughly half of the module will be devoted to poetry, and half to prose. By situating the Victorian era in a global context, this module aims to better understand the effects of empire upon British, anglophone and indigenous literature.

  Compulsory

  Assessment: Coursework

• Stylistics (20 credits)

  The aim of this module is to equip you with an understanding of the linguistic models and analytic techniques that can be used to describe, analyse and interpret different texts. Stylistics is a field of study where linguistic theories are used to identify and describe the distinguishing features (or style) of a text. Analysing style involves looking closely and systematically at the formal features of a text and then considering how those features affect and contribute to the meaning and interpretation of the text in question.

  Compulsory

  Assessment: Coursework

• Add+vantage (10 credits)

  You will also be able to take an Add+vantage module which can allow you to develop your CV by taking credits in an area of study that doesn’t have to be related to your degree. The assessment type will depend on the type of Add+vantage module you wish to take.

  Compulsory

  Assessment: Coursework, exam

• Option modules (Choose 1 from 3):

  The American West: Real and Imagined - 20 credits

  This module introduces you to a range of literary and non-literary narratives about the American West. The focus of the module turns to the voices of those who have been excluded from the mythic narrative of the West. You will have the opportunity to study the revisionist writings of a selection of contemporary native Americans, black Westerners, gay Westerners, and female Westerners.

  Assessment:  Coursework

  Language and New Media - 20 credits

  This module introduces key issues relevant to the study of language used in digital contexts. We explore the use or language by drawing on sociolinguistic, discourse-analytic, and ethnographic approaches. There will be a focus on identity performance, social engagement, and aggression and conflict.

  Assessment:  Coursework

  International Study Trip - 20 credits

  This module aims to enable you to conduct primary field research in an international setting. You will consider international influences on both English literature and the English language, particularly as a lingua franca. These themes will be analysed either in the field study location or in a simulated/online environment. For example, a study trip to Valencia or similar simulated/online environment could entail the analysis of linguistic landscapes, intercultural communication and local authors.

  Assessment: Coursework

  Optional

  Assessment: Coursework

After the end of the second year, you have the option to take either a Professional Placement year* (in the UK, or abroad) or a Study Abroad year*, and if you do so, you will take a non-credit bearing module which will help you learn from and reflect upon your experiences.

N.B. You will be given guidance but may be responsible for finding your own placements. Similarly, study-abroad years with your first choice of international institution cannot be guaranteed. You pay no fees to Coventry University for your placement or study-abroad year, though are responsible for covering your own costs.

In your final year, you will study the relationship between language and power (using the methods of Critical Discourse Analysis) and have the opportunity to explore works of 20th century literature after 1945.

Your studies can lead to a dissertation where you can investigate a topic independently that intrigues you.

Modules

• Language, Identity and Power (20 credits)

  The aim of the module is to enable you to take a critical perspective on language, and to recognise how language is instrumental in constructing an ideologically framed view of reality. Ideology and power are fundamental concepts in this module as it examines representations of social groups and individuals in the media and beyond. We will discuss the impact how different representations change our understanding of the world.

  Compulsory

  Assessment: Coursework

• Post-War Literature (20 credits)

  This module will consider the literature that emerges in the final years after and during WWII, up to the end of the twentieth century. Students will study 'late' modernists such as Anthony Burgess and Vladimir Nabokov as well as the writers of the British 'New Wave' of science fiction, while also evaluating the movement from Neo Modernism to Postmodernism.

  Compulsory

  Assessment: Coursework

• Advanced Writing Skills (10 credits)

  This module aims to encourage you to develop and refine your own writing style, including writing for academic purposes and key skills you would need after graduation. You will develop a sense of 'style' by gaining a deeper understanding of a text’s purpose and audience.

  Compulsory

  Assessment: Coursework

• Optional modules (Choose 60 credits)

  Language and Globalisation (20 credits)

  This module takes a sociolinguistic approach to the study of language and globalisation. We draw on a variety of theories and methodologies to examine issues around language, culture and society in a range of contexts. We explore topics such as: language attitudes and ideologies, bilingualism and multilingualism, identities in a globalised world, the politics of English as a lingua franca, language globalisation and social media, tourism discourse, food and lifestyle discourses, linguistic landscapes and workplace communication, among others.

  Assessment:  Coursework, presentation

  Language in the Mind and the Machine (20 credits)

  You can learn the difference between the brain and the mind, and will become familiar with the processes that help people to store language, comprehend it and produce it under typical conditions. The module will also look at language disorders such as aphasia, stuttering and autism to see how language is produced in atypical circumstances. Finally, the module will look at how artificial intelligence in machines such as neural networks and video games simulates human linguistic behaviour.

  Assessment:  Coursework

  Speculative Fiction (20 credits)

  This module will focus around the reading and analysis of 'Speculative Fiction'. It embraces the great diversity of fantasy, gothic and science fiction texts and will explore their relationship to each other. It will investigate the rise and development of modern speculative fiction focussing on the social, cultural, and historical forces which influence its conventions, subjects, themes and which make it such a valuable genre for the study of Self and the Other.

  Assessment: Coursework

  African-American Literature (20 credits)

  This module introduces students to a diverse range of literary texts produced by African Americans post-World War Two up to the present day. The module will also explore how Black writers have employed particular genres and literary forms to address and challenge dominant discourses which have marginalised African Americans in American life.
  Assessment:  Coursework and presentation

  Enlightenment: Literature, Culture and Modernity (20 credits)

  This module aims to introduce you to the literature, philosophy, and theory of the Enlightenment. It is divided into two sections. The first focuses on eighteenth-century debates about progress and modernity (and their relationship with conceptions of culture, gender, status, race and nationality). The second section will explore the contemporary significance of ideas about Enlightenment.

  Assessment:  Coursework

  English Dissertation (40 credits)

  The optional module aims to provide an opportunity for you to exercise greater autonomy over your learning and study in the final semester of your degree. You may write about any area of English Studies that staff in the School can supervise, either in Language or Literature that interests you.

  Assessment: Coursework

  Optional

• Add+vantage module (10 credits)

  You will also be able to take an Add+vantage module which can allow you to develop your CV by taking credits in an area of study that doesn’t have to be related to your degree. The assessment type will depend on the type of Add+vantage module you wish to take.

  Compulsory

  Assessment: Coursework, exam