English Language and Media BA(Hons)

Why study with us?

• Brighton is a vibrant, creative city, with a growing creative digital industry.

• Our talented academic team has a strong commitment to teaching excellence and draw upon their practitioner and research interests, along with industry experience, in their teaching. 

• You will develop practical, hands-on skills in media production and choose from a wide variety of options, enabling you to create a course tailored to your ambitions and interests.

• You'll gain vital transferable skills including personal organisation, independent research, team working, communication and presentation that you can use throughout your career.

• The course is delivered through lectures, seminars and workshops with a fully equipped television studio for practical work.

• In English language you will cover the breadth of the subject such as its use in the construction of texts, its historical and global development, how it helps construct identities and how it contributes to power relations.

• You have the opportunity to undertake a year abroad in year three, extending your degree to four years. 

Year 1

In year 1, you will be introduced key conceptual areas in media studies through the study of popular contemporary forms in film, television and the print media in both non-digital and digital platforms. Your first year also provides you with an essential introduction to the study of English language at degree level. The core English language modules will enable you to develop the meta language to describe language features and their use in different genres. You will also explore the historical perspective of the development of the English language.

Modules

• The Structure and Grammar of English

  On this module you'll develop your understanding of the basic structure/grammar of English and develop your awareness of how different choices of forms of spoken and written English might affect meaning.

• Digital Storytelling: Theory and Practice

  This module will introduce you to the practice of digital storytelling contextualised through a wider examination of amateur media.

  Through exploring the histories and cultures of such practices and an investigation of autobiographical storytelling, you will explore the ways in which self-representation can be given expression through digital storytelling.

• Representation: Understanding Media Works

  In this module you will focus on representation as a key concept and approach for contemporary media studies. Coupling a study of representation with the media’s relations with forms of individual and collective identity, the module will introduce you to the several roles the media play in the twenty-first century.

  • Theories of representation.
  • Modes of representation of identity (forms to be considered include gender, sexuality, ‘race’, national and class identities).
  • Key analytic concepts for understanding how representations work (discourse, ideology, hegemony, political economy and media industries).
• Narrative and Screen Media

  This module will introduces you to narrative theory as applied to screen media texts. You will examine competing narrative theories as a way of understanding systematically and critically a range of different screen media genres across fact and fiction. By examining and deploying archetypal plot theory, you will gain insights into the ways in which screen media tell familiar stories in sometimes unfamiliar ways.

• Text Design: Genre and Style

  This module will provide you with the tools of analysis required to explore and discuss texts from a stylistic perspective. It will enable you to distinguish text types through an analysis of linguistic features and will allow you to explore the stylistic choices made by authors. It will also help you develop your own ability to construct effective written and spoken texts.

• Perspectives on the History of English Language

  In this module you will trace the development of the English language from the Anglo-Saxon period to the present, by looking selectively at major social and historical influences on language change.

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 our applicant portal.

Year 2

In year 2, you study the history and theory of film, and examine the history, nature and impact of digital media in society. The second year also provides an essential grounding in understanding language in society and how it varies according to both context and the user. The focus of several second year modules is also on enabling independent study and research in preparation for the skills required in your final year dissertation or creative project.

Modules

• Cinema and Society
• Power and Persuasion
• Digital Media and Culture
• Researching English Language Use

Options*

• Narratives, Conflict and Power
• Studying Travel Writing
• British Literature and Twentieth-century History 
• Queer Writing
• Literature and Art History
• Regional Englishes
• Introduction to Journalism
• Creative Writing
• Documentary Film Making: Theory and Practice
• Image and Text: The Language of Comics and Graphic Novels
• Writing for Stage, Radio and Screen
• Media in Practice
• American Literature 1850–1945
• Literature in Practice
• Photography: From Painting with Light to Zeroes and Ones

You can also choose option modules from across our humanities and arts subjects. 

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

Final year

In year 3 you have one core module, the dissertation or creative project, and you can select four options from English language and media subject areas.

Modules

• Ethics, Power, Professionalism
• Dissertation

Options*

• World Englishes
• Approaches to Analysing Discourse
• Media Ethics and Conflict
• From Script to Screen
• Women’s Writing and Feminist Theory
• Gothic: Texts and Contexts
• Public Journalism
• Postcolonial Literatures
• Adaptations
• Contemporary British Narrative Cinema
• Community Placement: Theory in Practice
• Language, Culture and Ideology
• Language of Gender and Sexuality
• (Re)Viewing Shakespeare
• Apocalypse, Dystopia, Utopia
• Victorian Sexualities
• Writing the Contemporary
• Russian Literature
• Literature and Philosophy
• Gothic: Texts and Contexts
• European Literatures and Film
• Culture Wars: Revisiting the Great Divide
• Images of War
• Autobiography and the Screen
• Language in the Law
• Policy and Planning
• Conversation Analysis

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

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

Staff profile 

Vy Rajapillai, course leader

Vy Rajapillai lectures in media and English language. Her research interest is in the area of identity construction and second-generation immigrants. She is involved in a collaborative project with Queen Mary University, titled Consuming conflict: second generation Sri Lankan immigrant identities. Find out more...

International requirements

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

Course fees

Info

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2019–20.

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/EU 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.

What's included in the fee?

When costs such as health or DBS checks, or use of specialist materials are incurred as a mandatory requirement of the course they are included in your tuition fee.

You may incur additional costs depending on the optional modules or activities you choose. 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. Before you apply check with the school that provides your course using the contact details in the Find out more tab (at the end of this page) for advice about what is included and what optional costs you could face so you can budget accordingly.

See our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships as well as further information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status.

Local area

Campus where this course is taught

Accommodation

Maps

Accommodation

University building

Falmer campus