English Language and Creative Writing BA(Hons)

Course structure

Full-time students have 10–11 hours contact time a week in lectures, seminars and workshops, but you are also expected to carry out independent study. Part-time study is possible and can be tailored to suit individual needs.

There are placement opportunities available in the second year as well as field trips to theatres, museums, schools, retirement villages and other community organisations. You are also welcome to study abroad after your second year.

Our courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis in order to make sure that what you learn with us is relevant and that your course enables you to develop appropriate skills. When you apply to study with us, we will inform you of any new developments in your chosen programme through Student View.

Chloe Price explains how the English Language and Creative Writing BA(Hons) has positively challenged her, the support she’s had from staff and how she has found living in Brighton

Year 1

Modules

• Textual Encounters: Reading, Writing, Thinking

  How do texts make meaning? How can we understand the relationships between readers, writers, and texts? This module introduces questions crucial to the study of literature and culture through examining reading, writing and thinking as dynamic and dialogic cultural practices. You'll develop the skills necessary to become an effective writer, thinker and critic, enabling you to develop informed responses to texts and ideas in dialogue with others as members of a collaborative intellectual community.

   

• Stories and Storytelling

  How do stories create and communicate experiences, identities and cultural meaning? How do they work to perpetuate and challenge social structures? On this module you'll study fairy tales, myth, novels, short stories and visual narratives (for example, film, comics and graphic novels, gaming) to discuss these questions. Through reading and guided research you'll identify and pursue your own interests in critical, creative and reflective ways and produce a reading and research journal.

• Storying The Self

  This module will introduce you to practices of storying the self in writing and digital media. Through creating a first person story combining audio script, music and still image, you will engage with the expressive complexities of autobiographical representation. The module will also give you the creative writing tools to experiment with storying the self in a variety of written genre.

• Understanding Language

  This module introduces the study of language (linguistics) and its main branches of phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. It will enable you to carry out analysis of real language data using different linguistic frameworks. You'll be encouraged to be more critical of your own language ability and to develop and hone communication skills whilst also developing your written work.

• Introduction to Intercultural Communication

  This module explores intercultural communication in a technologically connected world. Through examining communication in national and individual-level communities and groups, you'll investigate how different narratives and positions emerge. You will explore the challenges and opportunities of intercultural communication in a complex, interconnected and inequitable world shaped by technology and other global forces.

• Investigating Language

  This module provides a solid foundation in research methodologies and methods. It will develop your abilities in reading, processing and critically assessing analytical research. It will also build your skills in investigating language and linguistic patterns.

Year 2

Modules

• Creative Writing: Process and Craft
• Research and Practice
• Image and Text: The Language of Comics and Graphic Novels
• Power and Persuasion

Options*

• Studying Travel Writing
• Twentieth-century Literary Experiments
• Queer Writing
• Literature in Practice
• Literature and Art History
• American Literature 1850–1945
• Multilingualism
• Sign Language Linguistics
• Writing for Stage, Radio and Screen
• Media in Practice
• Introduction to Journalism
• Cinema and Society
• Television Studio Production
• Photography: From Painting with Light to Zeros and Ones
• Documentary Filmmaking: Theory and Practice
• Contested Stories

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Placements 

In your second year you can choose the Literature in Practice or Media in Practice placement module which will allow you to gain professional experience in a relevant workplace environment. Students undertake a placement with local publishers, radio stations, social media marketing departments, PR firms, charities etc.

 In year 3 you can choose the Community Placement – Theory in Practice placement module to further build on your work with professional experience.

Final year

Modules

• Dissertation

Options*

• Community Placement: Theory in Practice
• Russian Literature and Culture: The Golden Age and Beyond
• (Re)viewing Shakespeare
• Apocalypse, Utopia and Dystopia
• Literature and Philosophy
• Post-war American Literature
• Women's Writing and Feminist Theory
• Restoration Drama
• Adaptations
• Creative Writing Project
• Goths: Texts and Contexts
• Victorian Sexualities
• Brighton Rocks
• Writing the Contemporary
• Postcolonial Literatures
• European Literatures and Film
• Culture Wars: Revisiting the Great Divide
• Language, Culture and Ideology
• World Englishes
• Language of Gender and Sexuality
• Language, Law and the State: The Politics of Force
• Language Policy and Planning
• Analysing Big Data: Quantitative Methods in Language Research
• Conversation Analysis
• Approaches to Analysing Discourse
• English Language Teaching
• Public Journalism
• Popular Culture: Europe and Beyond
• From Script to Screen
• Images of War
• The Autobiography and the Screen
• Media Ethics and Conflict

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Watch students talking about their experiences of the Community Placement module.

Meet the team

Dr Jess Moriarty

Jess Moriarty researches in the field of teaching writing practice, especially in auto-ethnographical academic writing and in creative writing with undergraduates.

She graduated with an MA in Creative Writing in 2002 and joined the University of Brighton soon after. Jess's doctorate looked at how to make academic writing more personal and creative and included a play based on her autobiographical and researched experiences with academic life. She won a Teaching Excellence award for her workshops with undergraduates.

Jess is the co-founder of Work Write Live, which provides a range of writing short courses and volunteering opportunities for students across arts and humanities to develop the vocational and academic skills they are acquiring on their degree programme. You can read more about Jess on her staff profile.

Dr Craig Jordan-Baker

Dr Craig Jordan-Baker is a writer, critic and academic. He is a senior lecturer and joint course leader for English Literature and Creative Writing BA(Hons). He studied creative writing before receiving his PhD in Philosophy in 2013.

Craig has been teaching creative writing since 2006 and joined the University of Brighton in 2016. He has been nominated for teaching awards several times and most recently, he was a winner of the 2018 Excellence in Facilitating and Empowering Learning Award.

Craig’s drama has been widely performed, and his writing widely published. His work has been nominated for awards and he has received funding from the Arts Council. He has worked with several museums and received commissions from The National Archives and The Booth Museum of Natural History. You can read more about Craig on his staff profile.

Dr Jess Moriarty

International requirements and visas

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visas and immigration advice

Course fees

What's included

You may have to pay additional costs during your studies. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. A summary of the costs that you may be expected to pay, and what is included in the fee, while studying a course in the School of Humanities are listed here.

• For a number of courses you will have the opportunity to attend field trips and off-site visits. These are optional and are not required to pass your course but under normal circumstances we would expect a budget of approximately £150 per year will cover the costs of particular trips. The amount spent would be based on location and number of trips taken.
• You will have access to computers and necessary software, however many students choose to buy their own hardware, software and accessories. The amount spent will depend on your individual choices but this expenditure is not essential to pass any of our courses.
• In most cases coursework submissions are electronic but you may wish to print notes and should budget up to £150 per year for printing.
• Course books are available from the university but you may wish to budget up to £200 to buy your own copies.

You can chat with our enquiries team through the Stay in touch panel at the end of this page if you require further information. Or check our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships, as well as more information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status.

Info

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2021–22.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full-time or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

Campus where this course is taught

Accommodation

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