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Students
Tuition Fee
GBP 9,000
Per year
Start Date
2025-09-01
Medium of studying
On campus
Duration
2 years
Program Facts
Program Details
Degree
Masters
Major
English Literature | Linguistics | Translation
Area of study
Humanities | Langauges
Education type
On campus
Timing
Full time
Course Language
English
Tuition Fee
Average International Tuition Fee
GBP 9,000
Intakes
Program start dateApplication deadline
2025-09-01-
2026-01-01-
About Program

Program Overview


Course 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.


Attendance and Duration

  • Part-time day - September 2026
  • Full-time - September 2025
  • Part-time day - September 2025
  • Full-time - January 2026
  • Part-time day - January 2026
  • Full-time - September 2026

Fees

  • UK Fees: £4,950 *
  • International Fees: £9,000 *
  • Alumni Discount: See details

Duration

  • 2 years

Campus

  • Regent, Central London

Course Structure

The following modules are indicative of what you will study on this course.


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.


  • 60 credits

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. Furthermore, it gives you the opportunity to carry out original empirical work relating to the concepts and methods you are acquiring.


  • 20 credits

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. The module adopts a cross-linguistic perspective and will include contexts ranging from dominant language ecologies to cases of severe language endangerment.


  • 20 credits

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. Topics will 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 you to think historically and comparatively through 19th and 20th century representations of crisis.


  • 20 credits

Writing the Self

This module introduces you 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. Through the close analysis of short literary texts and engagement with theoretical ideas, the module explores issues such as life-writing, autofiction, embodiment, biography, memory, otherness, and the non-human.


  • 20 credits

Option Modules

Analysing Spoken and Written Discourse

This module offers a range of different linguistic tools for exploring texts. They are analysed for lexical and grammatical cohesion, metonymy and metaphor, and register and thematic progression (Hallidayan functional grammar). Texts are also analysed using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA). You will acquire a theoretical understanding of the main approaches to discourse analysis, and the practical skills for carrying out these analyses on real texts. You will 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.


  • 20 credits

Language and Gender

This module critically considers different approaches to the sociolinguistic study of language and gender. This includes knowledge of theoretical frameworks used to understand why and how sex and gender can be viewed as significant social categories in relation to language use. The module also aims to equip you with the knowledge and skills to enable you to carry out independent empirical investigations in the field of language and gender research.


  • 20 credits

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.


  • 20 credits

Languages for Specific Purposes

The module introduces Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP). The module examines the different requirements in terms of needs, aspirations, and appropriate modes of instruction and assessment, of different types of language learner. It will enable the you to add to your existing ELT knowledge and experience, and to engage meaningfully in relevant LSP/ESP developments.


  • 20 credits

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. You'll 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, you will 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 will be explored through readings of key theorists and commentators.


  • 20 credits

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.


  • 20 credits

Careers

A Route to an Academic Career

Studying our MA will give you sophisticated analytical skills and a widely applicable knowledge base, which will enable you to study at MPhil or PhD levels.


Choose from a Variety of Career Paths

Our course prepares you for a variety of careers involving the study and use of language and literary texts, particularly in the creative and cultural industries.


Employers Around the World

The University’s Careers and Employability Service has built up a network of over 3,000 employers around the world, helping all our students explore and connect with exciting opportunities and careers.


Graduate Employers

Graduates from this course have found employment at organisations including:


  • BBC
  • Bergahn Books
  • Hamdard University, Bangladesh
  • Kingston Grammar School
  • The Pratt Institute, New York

Job Roles

This course will prepare you for a variety of roles, including:


  • Content writer
  • Copy editor
  • Editorial assistant
  • Production assistant
  • Proofreader
  • Research assistant
  • Teacher in mainstream schools
  • Teacher of English to speakers of other languages

Westminster Employability Award

Employers value graduates who have invested in their personal and professional development – and our Westminster Employability Award gives you the chance to formally document and demonstrate these activities and achievements.


The award is flexible and can be completed in your own time, allowing you to choose from a set of extracurricular activities.


Activities might include gaining experience through a part-time job or placement, signing up to a University-run scheme – such as mentoring or teaching in a school – or completing online exercises.


Course Leader

Dr Petros Karatsareas

Reader

Petros is Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics at the School of Humanities. He specialises in multilingualism focusing on the languages of the UK’s minority ethnic communities. He explores the factors that play a role in intergenerational transmission and maintenance, looking specifically at ideologies of monolingualism, attitudes towards multilingualism, and attitudes towards non-prestigious linguistic varieties. He addresses these issues based on his research on London’s Greek Cypriot diaspora.


Petros teaches undergraduate and postgraduate modules in multilingualism and languages of London, language contact, history of the English language, morphology as well as introductory modules in linguistics. He also holds the role of Global Engagement Coordinator for the School and he is also Co-Director of the Cyprus Centre at Westminster.


Entry Requirements

UK

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


If your first language is not English you should have an IELTS 6.5 with at least 6.0 in all components.


Once you have applied, you’ll be asked to work on the following assignment:


“Provide a 1,500 word critical essay. The essay should incorporate at least one primary text of your choice and at least one piece of critical theory and/or literary criticism. Please include you Westminster id number and name of the course you are applying for in the document.”


International

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


If your first language is not English you should have an IELTS 6.5 with at least 6.0 in all components.


Once you have applied, you’ll be asked to work on the following assignment:


“Provide a 1,500 word critical essay. The essay should incorporate at least one primary text of your choice and at least one piece of critical theory and/or literary criticism. Please include you Westminster id number and name of the course you are applying for in the document.”


Applicants are required to submit one academic or professional reference.


Teaching and Assessment

How You’ll Be Taught

Teaching methods across all our postgraduate courses focus on active student learning through lectures, seminars, workshops, problem-based and blended learning, and where appropriate practical application. Learning typically falls into two broad categories:


  • Scheduled hours: examples include lectures, seminars, practical classes, workshops, supervised time in a studio
  • Independent study: non-scheduled time in which students are expected to study independently. This may include preparation for scheduled sessions, dissertation/final project research, follow-up work, wider reading or practice, completion of assessment tasks, or revision

How You’ll Be Assessed

Our postgraduate courses include a variety of assessments, which typically fall into two broad categories:


  • Practical: examples include presentations, podcasts, blogs
  • Coursework: examples include essays, in-class tests, portfolios, dissertation

Research Groups

Our research achieves real-world impact and we are proud to claim a rich and diverse profile of high-quality research and knowledge exchange in a wide range of disciplines.


Find out more about our research groups related to this course:


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

Supporting You

Our Student Hub is where you’ll find out about the services and support we offer, helping you get the best out of your time with us.


  • 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

Our Regent Campus is composed of three sites, situated on and around Regent Street – one of the most famous and vibrant streets in London.


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


Related Courses

English Language and Linguistics MA

Duration 2 years


Campus Regent


Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) MA

Duration 2 years


Campus Regent


English Literature: Modern and Contemporary Fictions MA

Duration 2 years


Campus Regent


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University of Westminster


Overview:

University of Westminster is a public university located in London, England. It offers a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate programs across various disciplines. The university is known for its focus on practical learning and its strong connections to the industry.


Services Offered:


Student Life and Campus Experience:

The university has four campuses across London, providing students with a vibrant and diverse campus experience. Students have access to various facilities, including a cinema, gallery spaces, and sports facilities. The university also offers a range of student support services, including career guidance, academic support, and mental health services.


Key Reasons to Study There:

    Location:

    The university's location in London provides students with access to a wealth of cultural and professional opportunities.

    Practical Learning:

    The university emphasizes practical learning, with many programs incorporating work placements and industry projects.

    Industry Connections:

    The university has strong connections to industry, providing students with opportunities for networking and career development.

    Diverse Student Body:

    The university has a diverse student body, creating a welcoming and inclusive environment.

Academic Programs:

The university offers a wide range of academic programs, including:

    Undergraduate courses:

    A broad range of undergraduate courses in various disciplines, including business, design, creative industries, and liberal arts.

    Postgraduate courses:

    A variety of postgraduate study options, including master's degrees, research degrees, and short courses.

Other:

The university has a strong commitment to research and innovation, with a focus on areas such as sustainability, social justice, and digital technologies. It also has a dedicated alumni network, providing support and opportunities for graduates.

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