**Our English degree gives you the opportunity to develop the critical and verbal skills needed for confident, effective reading of literary texts and criticism.**
It develops your core skills in analytical and imaginative reading and writing and places a strong emphasis on social and cultural diversity. The flexible programme allows you to choose topics related to American literature and culture, comparisons of literature across different cultures and art forms (also known as Comparative Literature), and study all aspects of language use in linguistics modules. Throughout, your literary studies will be complemented by a series of lectures and activity-based seminars which will help you develop and consolidate your practical academic skills and research techniques.
**Why study BA English at Goldsmiths?**
- We’re not just focused on the classics. You’ll leave us with a solid understanding of key literary texts, but you’ll also have the chance to look at less traditional subjects including surrealism, Hollywood cinema, fairy tales, and writing by migrants and refugees.
- We’re inclusive. We embrace literature from a variety of cultures, giving you the chance to study writing from America, Europe and the Caribbean.
- We also offer modules on the study of authentic language use in a range of everyday, professional and media communication, exploring topics such as language and gender, raciolinguistics, digital media discourse, language learning and teaching, attitudes to (non)standard language use, political correctness and the linguistic construction of identities.
- Our option modules offer a historical view of writing, and also let you specialise in areas of interest, including thematic and genre-based approaches to literature, comparative analysis, and literary theory.
- From historic theatres to obscure bookshops, London is a constant source of literary inspiration – and it’s right on your doorstep.
- There are countless ways to get involved in English outside of your studies, whether you want to join the English and Creative Writing societies or hone your writing skills on [smiths] magazine and The Leopard newspaper.
Course Details - Modules
Year 1
In your first year, you will take the following compulsory modules.
Explorations in Literature
Approaches to Text
Introduction to Poetry
The Short Story
You will also choose two of the following option modules:
Introduction to US Literature and Culture
Introduction to Comparative Literature
Understanding Language in Use
Year 2
In your second year, you will study the following compulsory module
Literature and Power in the Victorian Period
You will also choose three modules (totalling 90 credits) from a range characterised by wide literary, historical, and contextual scope, of which at least one must encompass pre-1800 literature.
Modules may vary from year to year, but recent modules have included:
Drama and Transgression: From Prometheus to Faust
Inventing the Nation: American Literature in the mid-19th Century
Literary London, 1800 to 1900
Literature of the Later Middle Ages: Society and the Individual
Moderns
Old English
Post-Victorian English Literature
18th-Century Literature
Sensibility and Romanticism: Revolutions in Writing and Society
Shakespeare
Sociolinguistics: Language use, Variation, and Identity
Contemporary Arab Migrant Writing
Aspects of the Novel
Work Placement (English)
Discourse and Society
(Re)writing America: from the nineteenth century to the present day
Language Learning
Language Teaching
Year 3
You choose modules to the value of 90 credits. You also complete a 6,000-8,000-word Dissertation (30 credits) on a topic of your choice. A pass in this module is compulsory for the award of the degree.
Modules may vary from year to year, but recent examples have included:
Caribbean Women Writers
Creating the Text
Decadence
The Emergence of Modern America: American Literature 1890–1940
Approaches to Language and the Media
Modern American Fiction
Modern Poetry
Modernism & Drama (1880-1930)
The Art of the Novel
Oedipus: Myths, Tragedies and Theories
Postcolonial Literatures in English
Studies in Literature and Film
Renaissance Worlds
Narratives of the Great War (1923-1933)
Work Placement (English)
Professional Communication
Word Power: How words are born, live and die
Language and Gender
Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.
Course Details – Assessment Method
You’ll be assessed by a variety of methods, depending on your module choices. These include coursework, examinations, group work and projects.
Course Details – Professional Bodies
Professional Bodies are not listed for this Course.
How to Apply
26 January This is the deadline for applications to be completed and sent for this course. If the university or college still has places available you can apply after this date, but your application is not guaranteed to be considered.
Application Codes
Course code:
Q300
Institution code:
G56
Campus Name:
Main Site
Campus code:
Points of Entry
The following entry points are available for this course:
Year 1
Entry Requirements for Advanced Entry (Year 2 and Beyond)
Entry Requirements for Advanced Entry are not listed for this Course.
International applicants
Standard Qualification Requirements
Including English Literature, Language and Literature, or Language. A-level General Studies is not accepted.
Grade B in English Literature, Language and Literature, or Language is required.
Pass with 45 Level 3 credits including 30 Distinctions and a number of merits/passes in subject specific modules.
Grade B in English Literature, Language and Literature, or Language is required.
With three Higher Level subjects at 655 including English Literature, or Language and Literature, or Language.
Including English Literature, Language and Literature, or Language.
Including English Literature, or Language and Literature, or Language.
Please click the following link to find out more about qualification requirements for this course
Minimum Qualification Requirements
Minimum Further Information are not listed for this Course.
English language requirements
Test
Grade
AdditionalDetails
IELTS (Academic)
6.5
With a 6.5 in writing and no element lower than 6.0
English Language Entry Requirement Information are not listed for this Course.
Unistats information
Student satisfaction :
0%
Employment after 15 months (Most common jobs):
0%
Go onto work and study:
0%
Fees and funding
Additional Fee Information
To find out more about fees and funding, please check our undergraduate fees guidance or contact the Fees Office https://www.gold.ac.uk/ug/fees-funding/
Provider information
New Cross
Address2 are not listed for this Course.
Address3 are not listed for this Course.
Lewisham
SE14 6NW
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