English Language and Media BA(Hons)

Course in brief

Studying language and media as a combination, you will explore the  fascinating and complex relationships between language, media and society.

You will investigate the historical and global development of the English  language and explore how media discourse is connected to identity and  power, and how media representation influences the ways in which we see the world.

You will engage with the fundamental concepts and theories necessary for a  profound understanding of contemporary media – television, film and digital media – and enjoy opportunities to develop your practical and creative skills through fiction and factual video production.

Key facts

Location Brighton: Falmer

UCAS code QP33

Full-time 3 years
With year abroad 4 years

Clearing 2017

Places are available on this course for UK, other EU and international students.

Read our Clearing guide

Applying for 2018: read our guide

Entry requirements

A-levels or BTEC
Entry requirements are in the range of A-level BCC–CCC (104–96 UCAS Tariff points), or BTEC Extended Diploma DMM–MMM. Our conditional offers typically fall within this range.

A-levels must include English language or combined English language and literature.

We will generally make you an offer if your predicted grades are at the top of this range. If your predicted grades are towards the lower end of this range we may still make you an offer if you have a good GCSE (or equivalent) profile or relevant non-academic achievements.

International Baccalaureate
27 points.

Access to HE Diploma
Pass with 60 credits overall. Humanities, history or politics courses preferred. At least 45 credits at level 3.

GCSE (minimum grade C or grade 4)
At least English language and maths.

For non-native speakers of English
IELTS 6.0 overall, with 6.0 in writing and a minimum of 5.5 in the other elements.

International equivalencies

International equivalencies by country

Albania
Algeria
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belarus
Belgium
Bermuda
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burma (Myanmar)
Cameroon
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Ecuador
Egypt
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guyana
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kosovo
Kuwait
Latvia
Lebanon
Liechtenstein
Libya
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malaysia
Malawi
Malta
Mexico
Moldova
Montenegro
Morocco
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palestinian National Authority
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russian Federation
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Syria
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Tanzania
Thailand
Tunisia
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United States
Uzbekistan
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

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

Visit our language institute

For English language preparation courses.

Visit our International College

For academic preparation courses.

Course in detail

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.

This degree provides good grounding for many different industries including film and television production, publishing and journalism, but equally provides a solid foundation for further study or research.

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

Media Communication and Representation
Digital Storytelling: Theory and Practice
Structure and Grammar of English
Text Design: Genre and Style
Perspectives on the History of the English Language
Popular Television

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*

Science Fiction
Videogames Cultures
British Television Drama
Memory, History and Trauma Onscreen
Television Studio Production
Contested Stories: The Politics of Narrative
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
French, German or Spanish (Reflective Language Learning Module)
Intercultural Awareness module
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
Science Fiction: Screens, Texts, Theories

*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

Dissertation OR Creative Project

Options*

World Englishes
Approaches to Analysing Discourse
Media Ethics and Conflict
Children’s Screen Cultures
The Cultural Politics of Screening Race
Framing Women
Popular Culture: Europe and Beyond
Language Teaching and Learning
Creative Writing project
From Script to Screen
Women’s Writing and Feminist Theory
Gothic: Texts and Contexts
Television News Production
Post-war American Literature
Postcolonial Literatures
Adaptations
Contemporary British Narrative Cinema
Community Placement: Theory in Practice
Film and Screen Journalism
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
European Literatures and Film
Culture Wars: Revisiting the Great Divide
Images of War
Autobiography and the Screen
Screening Comedy
French, German or Spanish (Cultural Project Module)
Intercultural Awareness Module

*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’.

Student views

Beth Marshall-Sabey

"I loved having the opportunity to push myself both academically and creatively. Not only did I develop a passion for the theory and practice of filmmaking, I was encouraged to critically analyse a vast range of media texts in ways that I would have never previously considered. Media is a heavily influential and powerful tool in creating, reinforcing and maintaining social, political, and historical structures and I am incredibly thankful that I am now able to pick apart such texts and challenge their underlying meanings in everyday situations."

Film by graduate Beth Marshall-Sabey who won the 2013 David Thomas Award for the most promising graduating filmmaker. As part of the award she had the opportunity of an internship with Progress Film Company, where she made this short documentary Sunny.

Student work

Our student filmmakers have the opportunity to show their work on Brighton's popular Big Beach screen over the summer months.

Careers and employability

Our graduates are currently working in the television, film and publishing industries, as well as related areas such as journalism, public relations and the public services. Students also go on to postgraduate study in, for example, researching and teaching in English language and media-related subject areas.

Fees and funding

Your fees

UK/EU (full-time) 9,250 GBP

International (full-time) 12,660 GBP

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2017–18. Tuition fees are payable for each year that you study with us.

Where UK/EU students are subject to regulated fees, the annual fee increase cannot exceed the UK government’s maximum regulated tuition fee limit set for the relevant year. For all other students, ie those not subject to regulated fees, tuition fees are subject to a maximum annual increase of the higher of 5% or RPI.

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- 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.

Location and living here

Location

About Brighton

Forward-thinking and welcoming, the city of Brighton & Hove is a community of creative and diverse people who share values like sustainability and inclusivity – just like its university.

Miles of pebble beaches, hundreds of bars, restaurants and clubs, a packed calendar of culture, music and sport and great independent and high street shopping attract visitors from all over the world. By the end of your course you’ll still be finding new things to enjoy about the city.

The Brighton Festival, England’s largest arts festival, takes place every May – as does the Great Escape Europe’s leading industry showcase for new music, 300 bands perform over three days at venues across the city. Major events celebrate Pride, digital culture, cinema, photography, food and the winter solstice. Our own Brighton Graduate show is a highlight, turning the university into the largest exhibition space in the south east as we celebrate the outstanding creativity of our students.

As a student here you’ll have a unique opportunity to experience what the city has to offer. Volunteering and placement opportunities enable you to play your part in the events, organisations and communities that make Brighton such a compelling place to be.

Campus where this course is taught

Falmer campus

Surrounded by the South Downs National Park and just five miles from the centre of Brighton, our Falmer campus has benefited from over £60million of investment over the past 10 years. 7,000 students are based here, studying subjects including English, education, social science, nursing and medicine.

Recent developments include the Falmer Sports Centre – with its fitness suites and sports hall – and the innovative Checkland Building, which has natural ventilation systems and an insulating green roof.

Falmer has also recently installed more than 600 solar panels, which reduce the campus’s carbon emissions by more than 80 tonnes. The renovation has made us one of the top universities in the UK for on-site renewable energy production.

Accommodation

Brighton

Our Brighton halls of residence are located across the city in Grand Parade, Moulsecoomb, Varley Park and Falmer.

Grand Parade is in central Brighton and has one hall of residence, Phoenix Brewery, within walking distance.
Moulsecoomb is two miles from the city centre and also has one hall of residence, Moulsecoomb Place, on campus.
Varley Park offers the biggest choice of student accommodation with ten halls of residence.
Falmer campus has two halls of residence: Great Wilkins and Paddock Field.
Varley Park and Falmer are around four miles from Brighton centre; there are good public transport services nearby.

Aside from halls, you have the option of Unihomes, which we let out to our students on behalf of private landlords.

You can also choose to join the many students who live away from campus in private rented accommodation. We have a list of high-quality, university-endorsed private sector accommodation and can help you find housemates to move in with.

Find out more on our Brighton accommodation webpages and if you have any questions, our accommodation team will be happy to help. You can contact them by email at accommodation@brighton.ac.uk or by telephone on 01273 644100.

Paddock Field

Moulsecoomb Place

Maps

Accommodation

University building

Falmer campus and Brighton and Sussex Medical School map

Unistats

Unistats and key information sets

Unistats is an organisation that collects specific data about university courses in the UK which enables you to compare information that is important in your decision-making when choosing a university. All universities publish Unistats data on their online course pages.

Wherever we can we have provided extra information here to help put the data into context so that it is as useful as possible when you are making decisions.

Programme specification

The programme specification is the official university document for each course. They are updated each year, and give a very detailed breakdown of what your course might look like.

Programme specification

Find out more

Language, literature and linguistics news

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