English Language and Literature B.A

Course description
This degree is a uniquely integrated single honors program which focuses on the interface between language and literature. You'll have the opportunity to study language, literature and their interaction in a department dedicated to high-quality teaching, world-leading research, and innovative public engagement.

You'll be uniquely positioned to explore the interface between language and literary study. Our combination of core and optional modules in language, literature, linguistics, theatre, film and creative writing means that you have the opportunity to tailor your degree to suit your tastes and interests.

As well as having access to the range of modules available across the School of English, you'll study dedicated modules that explicitly explore the relationship between literature and language.

For example, you'll use linguistic techniques to analyse literary language, think about why audiences find some styles of writing particularly persuasive, and examine the techniques authors use to make their works feel 'realistic'. We have the largest group of researchers in the UK working in this area and their research will inform the content of the modules you will study.

Our core module in the first year is Practical Stylistics, the starting point for the integrated study of language and literature which is central to our Sheffield degree. You'll find out how to use a range of linguistic models to investigate different textual effects in prose fiction, dramatic texts, poetic texts, newspapers and political writing from a range of genres and periods. In your first year, you also take core modules in both language and literature, and are able to choose from a wide selection of optional modules across the School of English.

In your second year, your core modules continue the work that you began in Practical Stylistics, exploring the language of literary and non-literary texts and the creation of effects such as realism and persuasiveness. You're also able to select from language and literature modules across the School of English.

In your final year, you take at least two specialist modules, working with staff on an area that is closely related to their own research and that continues to bring language and literature together. You'll also have the opportunity to conduct your own research project, either through certain optional modules or by undertaking a dissertation.

Studying both language and literature allows you to explore the full range of teaching offered in the School of English and ensures that you are prepared for a wide range of careers when you graduate.