Course overview
Do you get excited about reading and writing? Are you concerned to think for yourself and explore new ways of interpreting the world around you? Do you want to develop future-proof professional abilities in critical thinking, communication and project management? If you do, studying English will take your interests further, expand your horizons and hone vital skills, and see you make an impact in your chosen career.
You explore a traditional and respected academic subject in innovative and creative way by raising challenging questions and encompassing modern and experimental styles of writing alongside other cultural forms including digital works, film and television.
Graduates are successful in a variety of professional settings including digital copywriting, teaching, publishing, business start-ups and marketing.
This course includes a foundation year - ideal if you need additional preparation or if you don't have sufficient grades to join Year 1 of a degree.
Top reasons to study this course
- Nationally recognised: Teesside is ranked 18th out of 86 institutions for English in the Guardian University Guide 2024 (122 institutions participated, tees.ac.uk/source).
- Graduate outcomes: we are ranked 4th for Graduate Prospects – On Track for English in the Complete University Guide 2025 (96 institutions were ranked, tees.ac.uk/source).
- Explore the relationship between literature, culture, politics, and identity in our fast-changing world.
- Enquiry-based learning develops your high-level research, problem-solving, and project management skills.
- Develop your own research interests and let your creativity challenge the way the world works.
- Opportunities to present your work at a student conference and other supportive settings.
Course details
Course structure
Foundation year core modules
Discovering the Social Sciences, Humanities and Law
You are introduced to the historical and contemporary development of social science disciplines, exploring examples of theoretical challenges and ways in which research is practically applied in society. Gain an understanding of both similarities and differences between disciplines, and how interdisciplinary research is fostered through collaboration. Explore academic standards, ethical guidelines and research protocols, personal development, and both study and transferable skills relevant to your studies and career.
This is a 40-credit module.
Investigating Society and Culture: The Case of Crime
Taking a multidisciplinary approach, explore crime through history, politics, English and creative writing, criminology, sociology, psychology and education to investigate the problems within society and culture.
This is a 20-credit module.
Identify and explore an area of interest related to your area of study through small-scale research using secondary data or desk-based research. You analyse an appropriate area of focus for your project using academic support.
This is a 20-credit module.
Your Toolkit for University Success
You develop your personal and academic skills to help prepare you for searching and retrieving information, evaluating different types of evidence, critical thinking and reading skills, note-taking and summarising evidence, presentation skills, groupwork, digital literacy and employability.
This is a 40-credit module.
Year 1 core modules
Literature Now: Writing and Audience
Why do you write? Who are your readers? What do you need to consider in terms of voice? What purpose can literature serve in an era of Twitter threads, viral stories, post-truth and fake news? Do we need libraries when we have Google? How has the rise of the internet impacted on the physical book? Has the growth of social media and online lives replaced reading? Do all cultures access and read literature in the same way?
You explore and analyse professional writing including online articles, reviews, ‘how to’ guides, interpretative writing and live texts using augmented reality technologies. You work towards your final portfolio using the workshop space to experiment with different forms and approaches to professional writing.
This is a 20-credit module.
On and Off the Page: Critical and Creative Skills in Practice
Get an introduction to critical and creative skills and techniques to support you in developing your own reading and writing. Learn how to apply close reading techniques to a range of texts and voices, across different forms, genres and global perspectives. You deepen your understanding of writing and reading by analysing a range of critical approaches to novels, poetry and drama.
This is a 40-credit module.
Romantics to Victorians: Literature, Culture, and Society
Consider how romantic and Victorian literature is influenced by so many factors - the political revolution in Europe and beyond, a rising discussion of rights, the Woman Question, and industrial, economic and scientific transformations. You focus on the period between the French Revolution and Queen Victoria's death in 1901 to explore the dynamic relationship between their historical and cultural context.
Critically write about class, gender and race to explore the ideological assumptions covered in late 18th and 19th-century literature.
This is a 40-credit module.
Words Matter: Writing for Social Change
You investigate key writers, past and present, who have played or continue to play a role in social change. You address questions about why studying literature and creative writing matters.
You consider the opportunities available after graduation including becoming an educator, publisher, facilitator, communicator and creative. And you write your own manifesto, alongside a personal development plan, to achieve your goals after you graduate.
This is a 20-credit module.
Year 2 core modules
Colonial and Postcolonial Writing: Global Voices in Context
Examine colonial-era and postcolonial literary texts, including poetry, fiction, short fiction, drama, and life-writing. Consider different historical perspectives on, and legacies of, empire, from a range of country contexts including South Asia, Africa, Australasia, as well as America and Europe. Explore pressing concerns about how far such texts have questioned, and may continue to contest, dominant and often damaging perspectives on race, ethnicity, class and gender in changing colonial, postcolonial, neo-colonial and decolonising contexts.
This is a 40-credit module.
Future Directions: Research, Careers and Development in the Humanities
Develop graduate skills in preparation for further study, employment or lifelong learning, through engagement with our Student Futures team and humanities practitioners. Gain insight into career pathways and explore the opportunities available to humanities graduates, including as educators, policy-makers, publishers, facilitators, communicators, and creatives. Work on an individual project, either work focused or academic focused.
This is a 20-credit module.
Make it New: Experimental Writing
Explore modernism as one of the most innovative and artistic movements of the 20th century, whilst examining your own experimental writing practices.
You examine the diverse ways of writing in the early 20th century by experimenting with new methods of writing whilst reflecting on your own style. You investigate literature and other forms of cultural expression such as visual art, music and film to understand the relationship between modernism and modernity. You also learn how past artists and writers responded to historical and cultural change. And you analyse if current writers continue to innovate new styles in the same way.
This is a 40-credit module.
Representation and Cultural Identity: Student Conference
It is believed that our sense of who we are and how we perceive others is tied to the way identities are constructed through cultural representation. How does the way our perception is constructed tend to privilege some groups over others? Examine key theoretical perspectives on the representation of identity in relation to a range of concepts – such as class, gender, race, sexuality and disability – as constructed in and represented by contemporary culture. Investigate these ideas in relation to a contemporary cultural text of your choosing and present your research as a paper at a student conference.
This is a 20-credit module.
Final-year core modules
Doing Research: Developing Your Specialism
Gain the skills and knowledge to devise, develop and execute an extended independent research project in an area of critical or creative practice. Develop advanced research skills including reflective practice, critical research, creative practice-based research, self-management, and research project management, preparing you for your dissertation and creative writing project. Explore the work of researchers in English and creative writing through research specialism workshops, which showcase recent and active research projects, providing insights into the wide-ranging research practices underpinning this work.
This is a 40-credit module.
Study literary genres and movements and their historical, social and political contexts. You focus on the 19th century to the present, including aestheticism and decadence, black, Asian and minority ethnic writing, detective and crime fiction, the feminist movement and contemporary historical fiction. You consider the context of the texts' production and receipt. You also examine the diverse formal, technical and stylistic properties of the texts, exploring critical and theoretical perspectives.
This is a 40-credit module.
Genres, Movements, Histories, Cultures
Examine literary genres and movements and their historical, social, and political contexts. Focus on the nineteenth century to the present, exploring aestheticism and decadence, Black, Asian and minority ethnic writing, detective and crime fiction, the feminist movement and contemporary historical fiction. And consider the circumstances within which the texts were produced and received. Discuss the diverse formal, technical and stylistic properties of the texts, and explore critical and theoretical perspectives, using sophisticated critical vocabulary.
This is a 20-credit module.
Present Tense: Writing for the Twenty-First Century
What’s the current state of our literary culture? Is it ailing or thriving in the wake of the changes to the publishing industry brought about by the internet, e-books, and self-publishing? Who are the great writers of today, and which books are the modern classics? How are the diverse tensions of the present day manifested in contemporary writing? You explore this and related questions as you determine the focus of your project and the selection of texts you choose to study.
This is a 20-credit module.
Modules offered may vary.
How you learn
At Teesside you learn in a range of settings from discussion-based seminars to independent research, small group work, one-to-one meetings and workshops. You’ll work with lecturers who are experts in teaching and learning as well as being scholars, researchers and writers.
How you are assessed
With no formal examinations, you are assessed through essays, portfolios, reports, presentations, manifestos and a dissertation, all of which develop advanced skills in creative, academic and professional writing, as well as high-level presentation and communication skills.
Our Disability Services team provide an inclusive and empowering learning environment and have specialist staff to support disabled students access any additional tailored resources needed. If you have a specific learning difficulty, mental health condition, autism, sensory impairment, chronic health condition or any other disability please contact a Disability Services as early as possible.
Find out more about our disability services
Find out more about financial support
Find out more about our course related costs
Entry requirements
Entry requirements
A typical offer is 32-64 tariff points from at least two A levels, T level or equivalent.
For general information please see our overview of entry requirements
International applicants can find out what qualifications they need by visiting Your Country
You can gain considerable knowledge from work, volunteering and life. Under recognition of prior learning (RPL) you may be awarded credit for this which can be credited towards the course you want to study.
Find out more about RPL
Employability
Career opportunities
This degree opens career opportunities in journalism, media and communication, retail management, local government, the creative and cultural industries, arts administration, civil service, education, performing arts and the law.
For those interested in extending their studies, we offer four MA degrees: in English literature, creative writing, creative writing (online) and creative writing and wellbeing (online).
Information for international applicants
Qualifications
International applicants - find out what qualifications you need by selecting your country below.
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Useful information
Visit our international pages for useful information for non-UK students and applicants.