Program Overview

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BA (Hons) English, Media and Cultural Studies with Foundation Year

Why study this course with LJMU?

• Extensive range of texts studied, from Milton, Woolf and Dickens to Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishiguro and Arundhati Roy
• Taught by leading scholars who have published books on many topics, from Sherlock Holmes to Irish rock music and teenage bedroom culture
• Large range of option modules to choose from depending on your interests
• Work placement opportunities in Britain and overseas in teaching, public relations, international development, charities, tourism, the media, creative and heritage sectors
• 97% of students surveyed said academic support on our English courses was good or very good (National Student Survey 2024)
• 95% of students surveyed said the teaching staff on our media courses were good at explaining things (National Student Survey 2024)

About your course

The BA (Hons) English, Media and Cultural Studies with Foundation Year at Liverpool John Moores University gives you an opportunity to look at how literary and media texts address their audiences.

You will achieve this through the study of media institutions, publishing and journalism, as well as forms of applied communication in practical areas including, public relations, social marketing, fiction, documentary, video games, magazines and new media. You will also examine cultural trends and practices, including popular music, youth culture, world literature, neo-Victorianism, social media, travel, and fashion. Your study of literature will be defined by an eclectic choice of texts, from the classics to popular fiction.

We are interested in traditional authors such as William Blake, Charles Dickens and Virginia Woolf and in contemporary writers such as Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishiguro and Arundhati Roy. Alongside British literature we study American literature and culture and Irish, postcolonial and world writing.

We introduce you to many different types of text such as detective novels, children's fiction, fairy tales, ballads, prison testimonies, African American slave narratives, travel writing, protest literature, diaries and letters. Our diverse portfolio of options lets you explore new topics and choose your own pathway through the degree as your interests develop.

The programme is designed with your future employability in mind, so you are encouraged to develop transferable skills such as research, formats for professional writing, communication, problem-solving, teamwork and independent working.

Some modules ask you to engage in collaborative blogging, contributing to online archives and improving your digital skills. Although we focus on theoretical and critical study, we incorporate applied case studies and work-related learning into many aspects of the programme, including a period of work experience with a local or national organisation.

Foundation Year

The Foundation Year is ideal if you have the interest and ability to study for a degree, but do not have the qualifications to enter directly onto the English, Media and Cultural Studies honours degree programme yet.

Once you pass the Foundation Year (level 3) you will progress directly onto the first year of the honours degree. If you are a full-time UK student, you will qualify for student financial support for the full duration of your course (subject to eligibility criteria).

Course modules

Foundation Year

• Preparing for Academic Success (30 credits)
• Investigating Liverpool (30 credits)
• War: Conflict in the Humanities and Social Sciences (30 credits)
• Peace: the Pursuit of Harmony in Humanities and Social Science (30 credits)

Year 1

• Media Texts (20 credits)
• Literary and Cultural Theory (20 credits)
• Media Institutions and Audiences (20 credits)
• Professional Writing (20 credits)
• Liverpool Legacies (20 credits)
• Critical Keywords for English (20 credits)

Year 2

• Public Communication (20 credits)
• AI and the Humanities (20 credits)
• Body, Mind and Soul: seventeenth-century literature and culture (20 credits)
• Public Relations (20 credits)
• Popular Journalism: Research in Practice (20 credits)
• Modernism and Modernity (20 credits)
• Poetry Matters (20 credits)
• Postcolonial Writing: Power, Art and Protest (20 credits)
• Mediating Popular Culture (20 credits)
• Romanticism: Revolution, Reaction and Representation (20 credits)
• Short Cuts: Writing in Brief (20 credits)
• The Victorians: Realism and Sensation (20 credits)
• English Independent Study (20 credits)
• Study Year Abroad - EMCS (120 credits)
• Study Semester Abroad English and Media and Cultural Studies (60 credits)

Year 3

• Life Stories: Telling Tales and Keeping Secrets in Auto/Biographical Writing (20 credits)
• Forms of Slavery (20 credits)
• Gender Trouble (20 credits)
• Writing Race in Britain (20 credits)
• Words and Music (20 credits)
• Working Class Writing (20 credits)
• Theories 2.0 (20 credits)
• Feminist Fictions: Contemporary Women’s Writing and the Politics of Feminism (20 credits)
• English Independent Study (20 credits)
• Our House: Representing Domestic Space (20 credits)
• Digital Writing (20 credits)
• C21: British Fiction Now (20 credits)
• Race in America (20 credits)
• English and Media and Cultural Studies Dissertation (40 credits)
• Shakespeare (20 credits)
• Terrorism and Modern Literature (20 credits)
• Mediating Diversity (20 credits)
• Vamps and Villains: Exploring Gothic Fiction (20 credits)
• Social and Digital Media (20 credits)
• World Literature: Writing from the Periphery (20 credits)
• Screen Media (20 credits)
• Britain, Brexit, Europe and the Media (20 credits)
• Media and Cultural Industries (40 credits)
• Crime, Horror and the Media (20 credits)
• Transitions: Identities in the Interwar Years (20 credits)
• Violence in Nineteenth-Century Literature (20 credits)
• Green Victorians (20 credits)
• Mind Readings (20 credits)
• Space and place: travel writing at home and abroad (20 credits)
• Developments in Contemporary Writing and Publishing (20 credits)
• Modern Fiction and Environment Crisis (20 credits)
• Black Lives in American Literature (20 credits)
• Migrants to the Screen (20 credits)
• Popular Fiction and Publishing (20 credits)

Professional accreditation

This course has strong links with local, national and international media organisations providing excellent opportunities for student work placements and research projects. They include: Sky Sports, Liverpool Echo, Juice FM, Odeon Cinema, Everyman Theatre, The Royal Court, National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, TATE Liverpool and the BBC.

Your Learning Experience

Teaching Support Assessment

Excellent facilities and learning resources

We adopt an active blended learning approach, meaning you will experience a combination of face-to-face and online learning during your time at LJMU. This enables you to experience a rich and diverse learning experience and engage fully with your studies. Our approach ensures that you can easily access support from your personal tutor, either by meeting them on-campus or via a video call to suit your needs.

Teaching is delivered via lectures, seminars, workshops, online activities, peer presentations and film screenings and fieldwork trips (for example, to Copenhagen) and you are expected to spend a significant proportion of your time in private study, using our virtual learning environment, as well as our archives and special collections. Online discussion boards allow you to further debate, with your tutors and peers, ideas that arise in the classroom.

Work-related Learning

The programme is designed with your future employability in mind, so you are encouraged to develop transferable skills such as research, formats for professional writing, communication, problem-solving, teamwork and independent working.

Some modules ask you to engage in collaborative blogging, contributing to online archives and improving your digital skills. Although we focus on theoretical and critical study, we incorporate applied case studies and work-related learning into many aspects of the programme, including a period of work experience with a local or national organisation.

We offer a range of different options in English and further opportunities in Media and Cultural Studies for work-based and work-related learning. For instance, if you choose the Working in the USA module, you will have the opportunity to spend a month or more in the United States at the end of your second year.

Past students have worked for the editor of Vogue, an advertising agency in New York, a National Park in the Appalachian Mountains, an architect's office in California and theme parks in Florida.

Dedicated personal tutor, plus study skills support

If you study English, Media and Cultural Studies at LJMU, you will join a friendly and stimulating environment in which you will be encouraged to achieve your full potential in both your academic work and your future career. We pride ourselves on our informal and supportive relationship with our students.

You will be assigned a personal tutor who will be responsible for your academic and personal progress throughout the course. Along with this scheduled one-to-one support, you will receive regular feedback and guidance from your module tutors on your research, writing and study skills.

Assessment varies depending on the modules you choose, but will usually include a combination of exams and coursework.

We believe that all students perform differently depending on how they are assessed, which is why we use a combination of assessment methods. In fact this course has received national recognition for its innovative assessment methods. They include exams (seen and unseen), essays, log books and diaries, group and individual presentations, research projects, response papers, blogs, organised debates and seminars.

Throughout your course you will be given regular constructive feedback and have opportunities to discuss this with your personal tutor and course lecturers. This is particularly useful in helping you to identify your strengths as well as the areas where you may need to put in more work.

Where you will study

The School of Humanities and Social Science offers an ideal environment in which to expand your knowledge and horizons. Situated on Mount Pleasant in the new ‘Knowledge Quarter ' of Liverpool, the School is home to five subject areas: English, History, International Relations, Sociology, and Media, Culture & Communication. It has a lively programme of cross-disciplinary research seminars, conferences, visits from international scholars and public events. Research from the School is recognised nationally and worldwide.

Career paths

The career paths followed by our graduates are varied in nature.

Alumni can be found working in advertising, marketing, public relations, museums, arts administration, media production, the publishing industry, retail, leisure and charitable organisation management, educational administration, accountancy, the social services, teaching and the Civil Service.

Tuition fees and funding

Home

• Foundation first year: £5,760
• Second and subsequent years: £9,250

International

• Full-time per year: £17,750

Entry requirements

GCSEs and equivalents

• Evidence of Grade 4 or grade C or above in English Language and Mathematics/Numeracy on their application form. No exceptions considered in lieu of Maths
• GCSE Equivalences accepted:
  • Key Skills Level 2 in English/Maths
  • NVQ Level 2 Functional skills in Maths and English Writing and or Reading
  • Skills for Life Level 2 in Numeracy/English
  • Higher Diploma in Maths/English
  • Northern Ireland Essential Skills Level 2 in Communication or Application of Number
  • Wales Essential Skills Level 2 in Communication or Application of Number

A levels

• DDD-CDD (maximum of 20 AS points accepted). An English subject is preferred, e.g. English Language, English Literature, English Language/Literature or Creative Writing. Subjects such as Drama, Theatre Studies, Film Studies, Religious Education, History and Media Studies will also be considered.

BTECs

• Performing Arts, Production Arts or Creative Media Production are preferred from applicants studying BTEC qualifications.
• Extended Diploma: MMP

Access awards

• Acceptable on its own and combined with other qualifications
• Pass overall with a minimum of 72 points, including relevant subjects.

International Baccalaureate

• 72 UCAS points from IB Composite parts to include a relevant subject at Higher Level (HL).

OCR Cambridge Technical

• Extended Diploma: MMP

Irish awards

• Irish Higher - Acceptable on its own and combined with other qualifications.

T levels

• Acceptable on its own and combined with other qualifications.
• You need to obtain the required UCAS points from a related subject area.

International requirements

• Any Applicant whose first language is not English will be required to have IELTS 6.0 (minimum 5.5 in each component) or acceptable equivalent.