Undergraduate Modules - Level 4 / Year 1

Semester 1

Foundations of Creative Writing

In this module, you will develop a rigorous and inventive writing practice by experimenting with different ways of gathering source material and generating new writing, and then with shaping and crafting that writing in prose and in poetry. You will also develop strategies for building a sustainable writing practice, reflecting on what helps and hinders you in regularly making new work. You will explore the tenet that creative writing does not emerge solely from abstract ideas and the blank page, but from a regular writing practice that engages imaginatively and playfully with stimuli and constraint. Each week, you will experiment with a different approach to gathering material and responding to stimuli, using a key primary text as a potential model for a creative written response. You will complete writing tasks every week and will use five of these tasks as the foundation for your assessment.

Foundations of Language

This module will introduce you to some of the key topics in contemporary linguistics and language studies, such as pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and psycholinguistics. You will learn to apply linguistic concepts and terminology to real-life examples of spoken and written language in use. You will study a wide range of analytical frameworks which will deepen your understanding of the structural characteristics of English, and will be introduced to the role language plays in other areas of English studies and the humanities. The module will help you develop your skills in critical thinking, in analysing different forms of data, in identifying and synthesising information from a variety of sources, and in presenting your findings in a coherent and well-organised way.

Literature, Drama and Origin

This module introduces you to various aspects of literature and drama. We will examine the concept of authorship and the idea of literary history as well as the origins of some of the forms studied. We will also explore ideas of influence and allusion, and explore the history of words with reference to the Oxford English Dictionary. To develop skills in analysing drama, we will study the principles of dramaturgy and engage in practical explorations of a range of plays.

Semester 2

Craft Of Writing

In this module, you will explore key elements of effective writing, such as character, setting, action and dialogue, and the techniques used to create and control style on the page, such as showing and telling, detail and description, imagery and viewpoint. You will examine each element or technique in a given text and then apply what you have learned in your own writing. Texts are drawn from a range of forms, such as audio drama, screenplay, poetry, monologue, the novel, short story, stage play and memoir. Each lecture and workshop will inform a different element of your writing technique, feeding into three new pieces of writing to be submitted for assessment at the end of the semester. This module provides a strong foundation for further study and practice in creative writing in years 2 and 3.

Key Critical Concepts

This module introduces you to critical concepts fundamental to undergraduate-level English studies and asks you to employ them in order to analyse literary, linguistic, dramatic and media texts. Initially, you will be asked to consider how we make sense of the world and the generation of meaning. You will learn to identify and apply relevant theoretical material before moving on to consider how works of art may resist or undermine meanings that are taken for granted in our everyday environment. Finally, the module will ask you to consider representation more broadly, focusing on how it can be applied to a wide range of texts. The lectures and seminars will develop your critical awareness of representation in two crucial senses: (1) representation as one thing ‘standing for’ or ‘taking the place of’ something else and (2) representation as embedded in wider social convention. This module will also help you develop core skills in English study: online learning, research skills, initiating, managing and completing independent research projects and effective oral and written communication.

Language in Action

This module will introduce you to a number of advanced topics in contemporary linguistics and language studies, such as phonetics, grammar, and corpus linguistics. You will expand your knowledge of linguistic concepts and terminology and develop your ability to apply this knowledge in the analysis of real-life examples of spoken and written language in use. You will be introduced to the phonetic and grammatical characteristics of English and you will analyse these phenomena in context. The module will help you develop your skills in critical thinking, in analysing different forms of data, in identifying and synthesising information from a variety of sources, and in presenting your findings in a coherent and well-organised way.

Literature and Conflict

This module seeks to engage you with a focused analysis of poetry, the short story and the novel as specific forms and to equip you with the scholarly tools used to investigate them. We will examine the idea of conflict in poetry and fiction from war and revolution to social class and gender and also at a psychological level. Conflict creates dramatic interest in narrative, but many forms of criticism assume that conflict should ideally be resolved. We will query this and consider how more overtly ideological criticism might explore the contradictions within a text and disclose what the text itself cannot say, this may lead to questioning of conflict, resolution and even how a historical understanding of conflict is important in our contemporary world.

Modern Drama

This module focuses on a period of theatre history characterised by formal innovation and revolutionary ideas. You will learn about the intersection between notions of ‘modernity’ and dramaturgical styles associated with ‘modernism’. You will engage with the artistic movements that developed in Europe from the late nineteenth century and identify key playwrights and practitioners that brought significant changes to the stage, both on the continent and in Britain. You will examine seminal works from this era, both as written texts and in performance, concluding the process with your own practical interpretation of a chosen play, which will be informed by historical and critical research.