English Language and Literature MA

Program Overview

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English Language and Literature MA

Overview

The English Language and Literature MA explores the interconnections between language and literature. Our course will provide you with a thorough understanding of the linguistic features of English from a wide range of perspectives (theoretical and applied, synchronic and diachronic), as well as leading you to explore a wide array of texts in connection with the social, historical and political circumstances from which they emerge. It will also equip you with the intellectual perspectives and scholarly skills to conduct independent research.

Course Structure

• Duration: 2 years
• Attendance: Part-time day - September 2025, Full-time - September 2025, Full-time - January 2026, Part-time day - January 2026, Full-time - September 2026, Part-time day - September 2026
• UK Fees: £4,850 *
• International Fees: £8,750 *
• Alumni Discount: See details
• Campus: Regent, Central London

Course Summary

The MA is for you if you've taken English language and/or literature modules at undergraduate level, or studied allied disciplines such as TESOL. It's of particular interest if you're wishing to pursue further study, or if you're teaching English and wish to gain a further qualification and investigate current developments in the field.

If studying the degree full-time, you'll complete 180 credits in one academic year. If part-time, you'll normally complete 180 credits in two academic years. You'll study five core modules (including a 60-credit dissertation on a topic of English language and/or literature), as well as two modules from the list of options.

Core Modules

• Dissertation: Development, execution, and writing-up of an independent research project on a topic chosen by you. All students will attend regular research seminars. Individual supervision will provide topic-specific guidance.
• English Worldwide: This module examines in detail English in its multiple varieties and multiple uses in the world: native, nativised and non-native varieties, regional variation within larger speech communities, use by monolinguals and multilinguals, and register differences according to use and user.
• Multilingualism: Concepts and Applications: This module introduces you to the major theoretical frameworks for studying language contact by exploring the different processes, causes, types, effects, and outcomes that emerge from contact contexts: e.g. bilingualism, pidginization, creolisation, diglossia, borrowing, code-switching, linguistic change.
• Themes and Problems in Modern and Contemporary Literature: This module introduces you to current major themes in contemporary literature, with a particular focus on how global crises post-2001 have been mediated in literary texts.
• Writing the Self: This module introduces you to different perspectives on how selfhood is constructed in literature.

Option Modules

• Analysing Spoken and Written Discourse: This module offers a range of different linguistic tools for exploring texts.
• Language and Gender: This module critically considers different approaches to the sociolinguistic study of language and gender.
• Language in Society: This module explores concepts and issues in sociolinguistics; research methods; languages and factors such as age, class, gender, ethnicity; language variation, choice, planning, change; language in face-to- face interaction.
• Languages for Specific Purposes: The module introduces Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP).
• Reading the Nation: This module explores how different literary and cultural forms have been used to construct and contest expressions of nationhood, nationality, and nationalism in diverse cultural and historical contexts from the Global North and South.
• Victorian Explorations: This module examines ways in which the world and 'other worlds' were formed through literary and cultural representation during the later nineteenth century.

Entry Requirements

• UK: A minimum of a lower second class honours degree (2:2) in a relevant subject (e.g. English language, English literature or TESOL). Applicants may be required to attend an interview, either face-to-face or via Skype.
• EU and International: A minimum of a lower second class honours degree (2:2) in a relevant subject (e.g. English language, English literature or TESOL). Applicants may be required to attend an interview, either face-to-face or via Skype.

Teaching and Assessment

• Teaching methods: Lectures, seminars, workshops, problem-based and blended learning, and where appropriate practical application.
• Assessment: Practical, coursework.

Research Groups

• HOMELandS (Hub on Migration, Exile, Languages and Spaces)
• Westminster Forum for Languages and Linguistics

Supporting You

• Study support: Workshops, 1-2-1 support and online resources to help improve your academic and research skills.
• Personal tutors: Support you in fulfilling your academic and personal potential.
• Student advice team: Provide specialist advice on a range of issues including funding, benefits and visas.
• Extra-curricular activities: Volunteering opportunities, sports and fitness activities, student events and more.

Course Location

• Regent Campus: Our Humanities subjects are based at 309 Regent Street, which includes recently refurbished social spaces, gym facilities and our Regent Street Cinema.

Program Outline

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Degree Overview:

The English Language and Literature MA explores the interconnections between language and literature. The program provides a thorough understanding of the linguistic features of English from a wide range of perspectives (theoretical and applied, synchronic and diachronic), as well as leading students to explore a wide array of texts in connection with the social, historical and political circumstances from which they emerge. It will also equip students with the intellectual perspectives and scholarly skills to conduct independent research. The MA is designed for students who have taken English language and/or literature modules at undergraduate level, or studied allied disciplines such as TESOL.

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Outline:

The program is structured as follows:

• Full-time: Students complete 180 credits in one academic year.
• Part-time: Students normally complete 180 credits in two academic years.

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Core Modules:

• Dissertation: Students complete a 60-credit dissertation on a topic of English language and/or literature.
Regular research seminars and individual supervision are provided.
• English Worldwide: This module examines English in its multiple varieties and uses worldwide, including native, nativised and non-native varieties, regional variation, use by monolinguals and multilinguals, and register differences.
Students have the opportunity to carry out original empirical work relating to the concepts and methods they are acquiring. The module adopts a cross-linguistic perspective and includes contexts ranging from dominant language ecologies to cases of severe language endangerment.
• Themes and Problems in Modern and Contemporary Literature: This module introduces students to current major themes in contemporary literature, with a particular focus on how global crises post-2001 have been mediated in literary texts.
Topics include the representation of capital and financial crisis; migrant narratives; ecology; the Anthropocene; and the contemporary resurgence of populist politics. While maintaining a primary focus on the 21st century, the module also encourages students to think historically and comparatively through 19th and 20th century representations of crisis.
• Writing the Self: This module introduces students to different perspectives on how selfhood is constructed in literature.
It considers the links between identity, personhood, selfhood and writing, with a particular emphasis on how recent literature has critically interrogated the connections between these concepts. Texts are also analyzed using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA). Students acquire a theoretical understanding of the main approaches to discourse analysis, and the practical skills for carrying out these analyses on real texts. They also gain a broader awareness of how written discourse is constructed by comparing it to spoken discourse, and by discussing it in terms of more general semiotic and communication theories. The module aims to equip students with the knowledge and skills to carry out independent empirical investigations in the field of language and gender research.
• Language in Society: This module explores concepts and issues in sociolinguistics; research methods; languages and factors such as age, class, gender, ethnicity; language variation, choice, planning, change; language in face-to-face interaction.
It examines the different requirements in terms of needs, aspirations, and appropriate modes of instruction and assessment, of different types of language learner. It enables students to add to their existing ELT knowledge and experience, and to engage meaningfully in relevant LSP/ESP developments.
• Reading the Nation: This module explores how different literary and cultural forms have been used to construct and contest expressions of nationhood, nationality, and nationalism in diverse cultural and historical contexts from the Global North and South.
Students engage with writing from a variety of periods and genres to examine how writers have (re)imagined ideas such as sovereignty, citizenship, belonging, and statelessness. In so doing, they consider the ways in which literature has shaped, resisted, and responded to seismic historical movements such as imperialism, postcolonialism, mass migration, globalisation, and contemporary neonationalism. These ideas and processes are explored through readings of key theorists and commentators.
• Victorian Explorations: This module examines ways in which the world and 'other worlds' were formed through literary and cultural representation during the later nineteenth century.
It focuses on themes such as mapping the Empire and the city, scientific views, the natural world, hauntings, sexology and ideas of gender, and the life of the mind.

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Assessment:

Assessment methods include submitted coursework such as essays, reviews, and exercises.

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Teaching:

Teaching is mainly delivered through weekly two- or three-hour sessions for each module, which include tutorials, seminars, practical sessions, and workshops. There's also independent self-directed study, and students are prepared for the dissertation via structured sessions in research methodology.

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Careers:

The course prepares students for a variety of careers involving the study and use of language and literary texts, particularly in the creative and cultural industries. Graduates have found employment at organizations including:

• BBC
• Bergahn Books
• Hamdard University, Bangladesh
• Kingston Grammar School
• The Pratt Institute, New York
Job roles include:
• Content writer
• Copy editor
• Editorial assistant
• Production assistant
• Proofreader
• Research assistant
• Teacher in mainstream schools
• Teacher of English to speakers of other languages

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Other:

• The University of Westminster's Careers and Employability Service has built up a network of over 3,000 employers around the world, helping students explore and connect with exciting opportunities and careers.
• The Westminster Employability Award gives students the chance to formally document and demonstrate their personal and professional development activities and achievements.
• The University of Westminster is located in the heart of a historically multilingual city such as London, making it the ideal place to study how language works and how it varies from one social group or community to another.

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This opportunity is available if you have a personal tuition fee liability of £2,000 or more and if you are self-funded or funded by the Student Loans Company.