UDENGLIT - BA English Literature

The BA English Literature course is designed to increase students’ critical and practical understanding and analysis of the place of English Literature in today’s world. Students will develop their understanding of literary history and criticism, as well as particular periods in literary history (such as the Romantic and Victorian periods, Modernism, Postmodernism, and contemporary literature) through the study of poetry, drama and prose. A particular distinction of the course is its emphasis on the historical and contemporary nature of the publishing industry, with dedicated modules and syllabus strands throughout the degree which focus on industry contact, practical project work and transferable skills. The course is situated within the making ethos of the Cass and offers outstanding connections between critical thinking, creative practice and transferable skills. English Literature students explore their creativity through engagement with ideas at the forefront of literary studies, develop their critical expression and articulacy, and emerge as writers, thinkers and collaborators who understand the critical, historical and commercial dimensions of English Literature, and its central place in the culture today.
The degree is also rigorously focussed on London as a literary capital, with structured opportunities for cultural enrichment through visits to and projects involving specialist libraries, archives and other centres of culture, and regular contact with literary, professional and publishing industry guest speakers.

The course seeks to provide and foster:

• learning through direct experience, connecting academic and creative studies;
• a culture of independent and critical thought, encouraging the challenging of received practice and ideas;
• employability attributes, through syllabus assignments and contact with external institutions, professionals and companies that create realistic expectations for students, preparing them for graduate-level employment;
• engagement across the School and University, providing opportunities for collaborative project work during study.

Teaching methods include: lectures, seminars, tutorials, external visits, group critiques, workshops and opportunities for studio practice. Teaching and learning adopts a student-centered approach that identifies individual learning styles and accommodates them.

Lectures provide and encourage a critically informed view of a topic, contextualising the subject. Lectures provide students with a managed introduction to a theme, enabling them to continue with suggested or directed self-study.

Seminars enable students to debate and explore subjects, questions and assignments with peers and tutors, encouraging an open and collaborative approach to shared learning.

Tutorials support individual learning, allowing for individual approaches to study, and catering for individual interests. Tutorials can be diagnostic or can support specific assignment or project-related questions, and support differing student paths to achievement of learning outcomes.

External visits offer opportunities for vital direct experience with literary institutions and sites of study, and to communicate with and learn from experts and specialists attached to partner institutions and bodies.

Blended learning utilises the University’s VLE platform to support and reinforce reflective learning, to monitor progress through assignments, to foster peer-to-peer communication and collaborative research activity, and to facilitate tutorial support for students and flexible approaches to learning.

Digital Literacy is embedded in the curriculum through the use of the VLE and in curriculum delivery and expectations of digital capabilities as appropriate to task set and the level of study. Students make use of digital platforms alongside traditional approaches to research, develop and communicate their projects.

The English Literature degree develops students’ understanding of modern and contemporary English Literature, with additional emphasis on aspects of literary history from the classical, ancient and medieval worlds and the early modern and post-renaissance periods. Students study the main literary genres of poetry, drama and prose, and examine local, national and global varieties of English literature. Close attention is given to the cultural, linguistic, technological and economic contexts of literary production and reception. Students examine literary creativity across a range of media and develop their critical and conceptual abilities in written and spoken discussion of these.

The main aims of the BA English Literature degree course are:

Knowledge and understanding

1. to develop students’ appreciation of literary history, development and traditions, and of the value of English Literature in the world;
2. to develop specialist understanding of literary period, context, content and genre;
3. to develop students’ understanding of the situatedness of literary production and reception;

Cognitive intellectual abilities

4. to develop students’ verbal creativity and expression;
5. to develop students’ articulation of the affective, expressive and ethical power of literature;
6. to develop students’ assessment of literature in relation to complex theoretical and critical discourses;

Subject specific skills

7. to foster wide and diverse reading and writing habits;
8. to provide rigorous training in close reading and analysis, accurate writing and scholarly research and bibliographic skills;
9. to familiarise students with a variety of professional literary practices and centres of literary excellence;

Transferable skills

10. to provide reflective, active and collaborative learning opportunities that enable students to explain, and critically assess their own development and skills;
11. to provide students with the graduate-level skills of evidence-based interpretation and analysis, of cogent and decisive argumentation and of planning and writing to feedback and deadline;
12. to develop student understanding, confidence and specialisms as a basis for further study or professional work.

By the end of their English Literature degree, students will be able to:

Knowledge and understanding

1. Explain and assess the aesthetic, expressive and thematic development of English Literature in prose, poetic and dramatic form, across different media, from 1750 to the present day, and make reference to relevant global and historical developments outside of this period.
2. Explain and assess distinct literary periods in detail, in terms of canonical and less well-known literary works, and in terms of the different values and culture of those periods.
3. Explain and assess the significance of literature with reference to political and economic contexts, to commercial production and critical reception, and to the relationship between readers, audiences and writers at a given time.

Cognitive intellectual abilities

4. Argue critically, persuasively and analytically across a range of written and spoken forms.
5. Articulate the affective, expressive and ethical power of literature.
6. Criticise literature in relation to complex theoretical and critical ideas.

Subject specific skills

7. Read widely and diversely across literary period, style and genre.
8. Read, analyse and write about literary, theoretical, journalistic and popular texts in scholarly and accurate ways.
9. Situate understanding and appreciation of literature in professional and applied contexts.

Transferable skills

10. Reflect on practice and understanding, individually and collaboratively, and assess personal and group development and skills.
11. Interpret and analyse complex work and evidence, initiate and plan solo and group projects, write to deadline and respond to feedback.
12. Confidently articulate specialist and common interests as a basis for further study or professional work.

SJ4001 Romantics to Victorians
SJ4013 Theatre and Performance: History and Craft
SJ4014 Poetic Form and Genre
SJ4015 Fiction: Critical Practice and Literary Culture
SJ5000 Genre Fiction
SJ5003 Victorians to Moderns
SJ5004 Writing and Editing Fiction and Nonfiction
SJ5016 The Writer’s Craft
SJ5017 Publishing and the Book: Then and Now
SJ6003 Moderns to Contemporaries
SJ6004 Why Literature Matters
SJ6P03 Project (Creative Writing and English Literature)
SJ6018 The Writer’s Craft
SJ6019 Publishing and the Book: Then and Now

Learning Outcones cover LO1-12

Subject Benchmark Statement; English Literature

Good assessment is about good modelling, and students’ appreciation of what is required of them as they engage with the subject matter develops in seminar discussion of their argumentative, critical and writing practice, and in exercises led by tutors designed to encourage students’ reflection on and development of their critical and expressive skills. This formative strategy requires students to contribute to seminar through individual and group discussion of prepared and unseen primary and secondary material, and to collect, reflect on and review portfolios of cultural and critical material which they research and experience themselves. Bolted onto this is a cumulative assessment strategy where different research and critical skills are developed through successive assignments which focus variously on descriptive and summary skills, close-reading, development of argument, selective attention and emphasis, engagement with secondary material in terms of argument and research reach, curriculum overview, exercises in concision and cohesion, editing exercises, portfolio production and review, presentation and group project work, all of which grow in complexity and demand between levels 4, 5 and 6.

Assessments are posted up on WebLearn and included in module handbooks and, depending on the assessment strategy and pedagogical aim, are either available for the whole module at the beginning of the academic year or released no later than four weeks before an assignment is due. Regular seminar discussion of assignment remits and tutor expectations are conducted in class, and clear assessment rubrics are posted up on all WebLearn modules for all assessment instruments. Further guidance about planning, research and writing assignments is given in regular workshop sessions, and for L4 students in continuous induction.

The entirely of level 4 is diagnostic, which gives students the space to explore, experience problems, and even fail assignments, with a safety net of a 40% overall pass rate to ensure progression into level 5, with no effect on their overall degree class. In effect, all of level 4 is an exploratory year for assessment practice, allowing students to learn from mistakes without penalty.

Feedback on assessment is provided across all levels via WebLearn, the virtual learning environment, and provides students with a growing portfolio of criticism, encouragement and commentary. There is a standard, rigorous attention to the marking of student work amongst all staff, with granular commentary at the level of argumentation, expression and presentation, and conceptual, creative and developmental summary advice given on every piece of work. Staff are also available in weekly one-to-one tutorials to address any student concerns about future or completed pieces of work.

Assessment support is given in advance to students through clarity of instruction and expectation, and external examiners oversee and guarantee marking standards, which are reviewed regularly through quality assurance processes and monitoring throughout the year.

The assessment strategy for the course has been designed holistically, to ensure manageable timing, workloads and clarity of expectations for students, and to avoid duplication of assessment of learning outcomes.

Work-related learning is an integrated and mandatory part of the course, with at least 70 hours working on engagement with live organisations, delivered through establishing contacts with professionals and companies and participating in publishing sector activities and events. The 30 credit module Publishing and the Book, taken at either level 5 or 6, is designated as the employability and placement, or work-related learning module. Students will work on group publishing projects, pitch to and receive advice from professionals, and are required to reflect on their experience of the project and undertake forward career action planning. The publishing core module is supported by ancillary activities and syllabus content on other modules at levels 4, 5, and 6.

ACADEMIC PROGRESSION: As a condition of progressing from level 3 to 4, level 4 to 5 and level 5 to 6, students are required to have gained 120 credits per level, that is, by achieving pass marks (40%) in all four modules in the preceding level of study.

COURSE COMPLETION
Level 6: In order to achieve an honours degree award on this course, students must have completed and passed each Level 6 module at 40% or above.

PART-TIME MODE OF STUDY
Part-time study is defined as 60 credits per year. Consequently, in part-time mode, the duration of study for a 360-credit degree will be 6 years.

This course operates “optional core” modules. Students must take SJ5016 or SJ6018, but may not take both. Students must take SJ5017 or SJ6019, but may not take both

BA (Hons) English Literature

Level 4:

SJ4001 Romantics to Victorians
SJ4013 Theatre and Performance: History and Craft
SJ4014 Poetic Form and Genre
SJ4015Fiction: Critical Practice and Literary Culture

Level 5:

SJ5000 Genre Fiction
SJ5003 Victorians to Moderns
SJ5004 Writing and Editing Fiction and Nonfiction
Either – SJ5016 The Writer’s Craft
Or – SJ5017 Publishing and the Book: Then and Now

Level 6:

SJ6003 Moderns to Contemporaries
SJ6004 Why Literature Matters
SJ6P03 Project (Creative Writing and English Literature)
Either - SJ6018 The Writer’s Craft
Or – SJ6019 Publishing and the Book: Then and Now

N.B. The alternative core taken at level 5 may not also be taken at level 6

The course is designed to encourage students to reflect upon their learning and make connections between historical, critical and applied perspectives on literature, between their personal experiences and the literary explorations of and challenges to individual and society, and between critical, creative and commercial literary engagement. In addition the course is designed to help students reflect on the learning and skills acquired throughout the course and how these can be applied to subsequent employment. Students develop written portfolios and reflective and group projects from the beginning of the course, drawing together their independent learning, their study at university, their scheduled field visits and their wider informal learning. Students are supported throughout their degree to become independent learners: this is reinforced by their own research and essay writing, project work and development, and in particular their final year project. Digital literacy is embedded in all modules so that students can develop their thinking and professional skills in a range of learning contexts, within and beyond the university.

The course is taught so as to provide subject-specific skills highly relevant for publishing, broadcasting, journalism, literary, arts-based or teaching careers. Students also develop transferable skills such as competency in research, writing to length and deadlines, presentation and discussion skills, and use of IT: relevant to all contemporary workplaces including publishing, private sector business, and public sector careers. Students are also well-equipped for postgraduate study in literature or an associated field.

Successful completion of this course offers improved career opportunities in publishing, arts and other administration, communications work and business. Students should graduate with strong literary, verbal and presentation skills, and competency with new technologies.

The programme is also excellent preparation for further research study in English literature.

In addition to the University's standard entry requirements, you should have:

• a minimum of grades BBC in three A levels (or a minimum of 112 UCAS points from an equivalent Level 3 qualification, eg Advanced Diploma)
• English Language GCSE at grade C (grade 4) or above (or equivalent)

Applications are welcome from mature students who have passed appropriate Access or other preparatory courses or have appropriate work experience.

Mature students with previous relevant experience are encouraged to apply.

All applicants must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the English language. Applicants who require a Tier 4 student visa may need to provide a Secure English Language Test (SELT) such as Academic IELTS. For more information about English qualifications please see our English language requirements.