Ways of Reading provides an overview of the skills and approaches necessary for the interpretation and evaluation of poetry, prose and drama. You will be introduced to a range of influential critical theories to literary texts from the early and mid 20th century. The module also encourages you to make practical applications of these approaches to the primary literary texts.

Critical Theories is based around the study of critical essays which have had a lasting impact on literary studies. The module introduces you to significant and contemporaneous ideas in literary criticism which scholars still implement in the 21st century. The content of the module has been selected to highlight the difference in literary studies between reading for understanding and interpretive readings.

Literary History introduces the development of English Literature. Beginning with the classical and biblical background which inspired examples of English Literature, the module will first focus upon international literature(which might include, but is not limited to, books of the Bible, classical epic and drama, and significant poetry and prose. You will then turn to the development of English literature from early examples to the eighteenth century/Romantic period, such as Old and Middle English, Renaissance drama, and significant poetry and prose.

The Sounds of English introduces you to the sound systems of English and enables you to gain a basic understanding and knowledge of the description and classification of speech sounds. You will also enhance your knowledge and understanding of the ways in which phonetics and phonology are directly relevant to several fields, such as speech and language therapy, second language learning, education, literary stylistics, forensic phonetics and artificial intelligence.

The Structure of English introduces you to the structure of the English language. You will learn to use grammatical terminology to label words, clauses, sentences and structures.

Studying English Language provides a foundation for the exploration of the English language. The module enables you to acquire and consolidate key skills for degree-level study of the English language, such as locating relevant sources, critical reading, taking and organising notes, constructing an annotated bibliography, collecting and analysing data, reporting results via tables and graphs, summarising and quoting, preparing presentation slides, structuring an essay, and citing and listing sources.

TLC1010 Language 1 is ideal if you want to learn a new language, or further develop your current language skills, as an integrated element of your degree. You can study French, German, Arabic, Italian, Mandarin or Spanish (subject to minimum numbers for your preferred language). Delivered at the Edge Hill Language Centre, the module will be taught in an interactive, communicative manner, using authentic materials in the target language. Emphasis will be placed on all four areas of reading, writing, speaking and listening. You will play an active role in the weekly two-hour classes, engaging in role-plays, short conversations, videos, authentic texts and listening materials. You will also be encouraged to reflect on your own learning needs. On enrolment to the module, you will complete a language induction form and be placed into a language level group appropriate for your prior knowledge of your chosen language. Please note, while we will endeavour to accommodate varying language levels per module, this is not always possible. While you can join the module with some prior experience of your target language, you will not be able to study a language you are already fluent or proficient in.

History and Development of English examines the history and development of the English language from its earliest beginnings to the present-day. The module covers the influence of Chaucer and Shakespeare on the English language, as well as the role of dictionaries and the King James Bible in the making of what English has become today. There are sessions focusing on the rise of standard English, the nature and spread of dialect over time, the effect of linguistic borrowing, recent changes in the language, and the growth of regional standards of English around the world.

Literature Dissertation Project provides an opportunity to study a topic of your choice in depth and develop your own ideas through individual research, culminating in the production of a 5,000-word long essay or ‘mini-dissertation’. The topic may develop a particular, pre-established interest or arise from a desire to study an issue or subject in more depth.

Pilgrim’s Progress: British Children’s Literature from the 18th Century to the Present Day explores British children’s literature from its origins in the eighteenth century. The module progresses through the Romantic period’s celebration of childhood and Victorian ambiguities about the angelic versus the feral child, to the Golden Age of the Edwardian period and beyond into territory darkened by war, overshadowed by the implications of empire, and the oncoming of adolescence. The module will analyse the relationships between children and adults, nature, animals, class, gender, race and sexuality, underpinned by theoretical and methodological approaches to the history and representation of childhood in literature.

Renaissance Drama explores the drama of the English Renaissance, a period of extraordinary civil and cultural change. The module evaluates the dramatic literary output of the reigns of up to ten monarchs beginning with the Tudors.  The diversity of Renaissance drama will be acknowledged and the period problematised as much as it is defined. You will explore canonical and non-canonical drama by male and female authors. Central themes and concepts under study may include monarchy, rebellion, class, nationalism, religion, heresy, superstition, witchcraft, gender and sexuality, power and self-fashioning.

Romanticism provides an introduction to texts, authors, genres and central themes from the first stirrings of what has been traditionally conceived of as the Romantic age in the 1760s, until the dawn of the Victorian age seventy years later. Poetry, the prose essay and the novel are all studied on this module.

Special Author 1 focuses on a single author (such as Hardy or Dickens) or a related group of authors (such as the Brontës) whose works are sufficiently extensive to merit a whole semester’s study. You will examine the author’s work in the light of recent critical and theoretical approaches to authorship and canonicity and develop an ability to theorise the relationship between an author and his/her literary work. You will acquire a specialist knowledge of a literary period and a major writer through examination of the author’s development in relation to relevant historical, cultural and literary contexts.

Contemporary American Literature enables you to study a range of significant contemporary American literature from post World War 2 onwards. The module enables you to examine a variety of ways in which America is imagined and constructed within fiction. You will explore how persistent figures, landscapes, and mythic concepts are engrained in American culture and embedded in the wider world’s imagination. Such concepts retain imaginative power because of frequent re-enactments in popular cultural productions. This module will trace the complex histories and fictional appropriations and discursive shifts that form these literary productions. The aim is to concentrate specific study on American fiction within its historical, social, cultural, political, critical and theoretical contexts.

Special Topic 1 enables you to begin to develop your independent research skills within a structure which provides a clear and continuing framework of support. The module will take you through weekly subject-based sessions to structured study of your chosen extended special subject research. You will have considerable choice of subject matter within three broad pathways which draw on current staff research specialisms. You will work towards producing a guided but independent research project, with specialist staff support.

Introduction to Sociolinguistic Variation immerses you in sociolinguistics, the study of language and society. At the heart of the discipline is the knowledge and understanding that there is no one ‘type’ of language used by every speaker within a given community but that it differs between social groups and contexts. Language use may vary based on factors such as age, gender, class, ethnicity and geography and this module will examine the relationship between language and these categories. Variationist sociolinguistics examines how language is used across society and explains why this variation exists. It relies on quantitative methodologies to draw results from large pools of data, and on a broader, interdisciplinary understanding of society and culture to interpret those results.

Language of Shakespeare and His Time enables you to explore distinctive Early Modern English linguistic features (including morphology, syntax and pronunciation) of Shakespeare’s work in great detail, and to compare them with corresponding features in present-day Standard British English. You will identify linguistic distinctions in Shakespeare’s language which are no longer active today, analyse the differences between Early Modern English and contemporary English in terms of vocabulary, grammatical structure and usage, and distinguish between the language of Shakespeare’s time and Shakespeare’s own creative use of the language.

Analysing Discourse takes a linguistic approach to the examination of discourse, both written and spoken. You will explore how discourse is structured and consider how meaning in discourse is created and negotiated between addressors and addressees. Furthermore, the module presents a linguistic approach to the study of the communication, creation, maintenance and contestation of ideologies via discourse.

Early English (600-1500) provides an opportunity to gain greater familiarity with linguistic features of Old and Middle English and to undertake in-depth analysis of the language of writers such as Chaucer and Gower and the writers of Beowulf, Piers Plowman and other major texts of the period. The module will enable you to understand the complexities of describing the English of an age before the rise of standard forms of the language were widely adopted. Your awareness of major literary texts written in English will also be increased.

Phonetics and Phonology provides you with the opportunity to acquire practical and theoretical knowledge and skills in the description and classification of speech sounds. Using English as its focus, the module begins with the study of articulatory phonetics, focusing on segmental and suprasegmental features of accent. You will then use this knowledge as a foundation to begin the study of basic phonology. Concepts, such as phonemes, allophones and the syllable are discussed in some detail.

Modern English Structure and Usage teaches aspects of modern English grammar (morphology and syntax) or structure, and examines their interaction with variational aspects of modern English usage. You will acquire an extensive basis of expertise in the key area of grammatical description, becoming familiar with an appropriate level of grammatical terminology and developing important practical skills in detailed grammatical analysis.

Child Language Development offers an overview of the processes involved in first language development. The module considers how children develop language in terms of perception and comprehension, phonetics and phonology, lexis and grammar. You will also be introduced to, and examine, theoretical accounts of how we acquire our first language. This will include consideration of themes around nativism and evidence-based approaches.

Investigating English Language is a module that spans two semesters. The first semester provides an overview of different types of data, discusses data selection and collection, and introduces contemporary approaches to working with linguistic data. You will explore current methodological approaches used by linguists according to the kinds of features, and levels of, language being explored. You will also be supported via workshops to identify the topic and focus of a small-scale research study for which you will develop a viable research proposal. This proposal will then form the basis of a supervised research project which you will undertake in the second semester. The aim is to engage you in a substantial piece of extended writing in preparation for a possible dissertation in Year 3.

TLC2000 Language 2 enables you to build on and develop your previous language knowledge in French, German, Arabic, Italian, Mandarin or Spanish. You must have either studied the prior language module in the previous year of your degree or be able to demonstrate equivalent knowledge of your target language (though you will not be able to study a language you are already fluent or proficient in). The language levels available will be determined by the continuation of corresponding groups from module TLC1010 Language 1. You will gain the language skills necessary to become a more proficient user of the language. Classes will be taught in an interactive and communicative manner using authentic materials to promote meaningful communication. They will be conducted in the target language as much as possible. Emphasis will be on speaking and listening, with appropriate attention also being paid to other communication skills. Other work will include a variety of tasks which may be completed in the Language Centre.

Literature Dissertation provides you with the opportunity to study any topic of your choice in depth, developing your own ideas through individual research. The topic may be a particular interest of yours or arise from a desire to study an issue or subject relevant to English Literature in greater detail. You will plan, develop and write an individually conceived and researched independent critical investigation culminating in the production of an extended dissertation.

The Victorians at Work recognises that Victorians saw literature as a form of social commentary. This period survey module explores Victorian prose and poetry that addressed the pressing social and cultural questions of the period, such as the impacts of industrialisation, urbanisation, scientific advance and secularisation. You will examine the work of a range of canonical and popular Victorian authors and place their writing in the relevant literary, cultural and historical contexts.

Modernisms develops your understanding and appreciation of the key features of early 20th century movements in the literary arts. The module will examine a range of different forms, styles and practices in order to focus on the heterogeneous interpretations of the term modernism and engage with ongoing debates in modernist studies.

Contemporary Literature in English develops your understanding and appreciation of the key features of late 20th century and early 21st century movements in the literary arts. The module examines aesthetic paradigms relevant to the period including realism, the postmodern, late modernism and metafiction. The aim is to understand the continuations and reactions to the earlier Modernist period.

Hosting a Literary Festival enables you to make a direct connection between the subject matter of your degree and your plans for a graduate career by engaging with workplace practice via a group project. You will work collaboratively to research, plan and initiate an in-house literary festival while reflecting on and evaluating your ability to do so.

Special Author 2 focuses on a single author (such as Christopher Marlowe, Jane Austen or Angela Carter) or related group of authors (such as the Brontës) whose works are sufficiently extensive to justify a whole semester’s study. The module will examine the author’s work in the light of recent critical and theoretical approaches to authorship and canonicity, and develop an ability to theorise the relationship between an author and his or her literary work. You will acquire a specialist knowledge of a literary period and a major writer through examination of the author’s development in relation to relevant historical, cultural and literary contexts.

Sexuality and Subversion is devoted to the critical analysis of textual representations of sexuality and especially of same-sex desire and sexual dissidence in British prose. The module focuses mainly on the novel, but also on key autobiographical prose texts, from the 19th century to now (with particular focus on the 20th century). It problematises perceptions that sexual radicalism originated in the late 20th century by interrogating its earlier textual representation(s). Texts, their contexts, and relevant literary and cultural theories combine to reveal the changes and continuities in the textual representation of subversive and dissident sexualities and sexual identities over time.

Special Topic 2 enables you to pursue independent research within a structure which provides a clear framework of support. The module will take you through weekly subject-based sessions to more independent study of your chosen extended special subject research. You will have considerable choice of subject matter within three broad pathways which draw on current staff research specialisms. You will work towards producing a significant independent research project, with specialist staff support.

Psycholinguistics explores the ways that we understand and produce language, from a cognitive perspective. With a primary focus on the English language, the module questions whether there is evidence for a developmental trajectory of child language comprehension and production and considers whether we can distinguish between linguistic competence and performance in either oral or written communication. You will also discover a variety of psycholinguistic methodologies, analyse how we teach and evaluate particular linguistic skills and abilities, and examine whether we can identify individuals early in life who are at risk of a slower rate of language development and give them appropriate support.

Bilingualism investigates bilingualism as a socially and culturally contextualised phenomenon. The module begins by identifying processes involved in the acquisition of more than one language in different contexts, such as within the family and community and within various formal educational settings. At the level of individual language use, you will examine conversational code-switching in the light of current research findings. At the level of communities and societies, you will explore different models for the functional distribution of languages and attempts for language planning. The focus of the module is on bilingualism as a worldwide phenomenon but attention is given to language diversity and the use of languages other than English in the UK.

An Introduction to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) examines the principles and practice of good English language teaching. Issues dealt with during the module include the history of language teaching and learning, individual learner differences, grammatical terminology, materials development and planning English for Speakers of Other Languages’ programmes and lessons.

Beyond English takes a typological approach to language. The module enables you to understand the major features of the structure of English at a more universal level, in terms of the ways in which the features of English phonetics, phonology, morphosyntax, semantics and its writing system compare with the same features in other numerically significant or otherwise relevant languages.

Language and Identity explores a variety of past and present approaches to the study of language and identity. You will examine how different identities are constructed and look at their intrinsic relationship to language and other socio-cultural phenomena. Placing a strong emphasis on the symbolic social value of language differentiation, the aim of the module is to make you aware of the importance of promoting more tolerant attitudes to language variation in society and reducing linguistic prejudices, a perspective that will be essential for those intending to develop a career in educational contexts.

Language Dissertation involves the completion of an 8,000-9000 word independent (but supervised) study of an area of language of interest to you. You will learn how to research and write about a topic agreed with your supervisor, and produce a well organised and well-structured piece of research. Potential topics which could be explored in a dissertation include, for example, phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, child language acquisition, spoken discourse analysis, psycholinguistics, language in relation to gender and sexuality, language pathology, language and pedagogy, dialectology, language contact, creolisation, place-name studies, bilingualism, or contrastive grammar.

Historical Linguistics centres around the questions of how and why language changes. This will be a platform through which to explore not only language and its structure, but also human (pre)history, society, cognition and psychology. Historical linguistics is one of the most dynamic fields in linguistics. It deals with many of the same issues and questions as other areas of the field, such as sociolinguistics, but takes a diachronic approach to them, looking at change over time. In order to understand how language works in the present day, it is crucial to achieve an understanding of how it has worked in the past and what the continuities are between past and present.

Forensic Linguistics recognises that the law is overwhelmingly a linguistic institution. Laws are coded in language and the concepts that are used to construct law are accessible only through language.  Legal processes, such as court cases, police investigations, and the management of prisoners take place almost exclusively though language. Forensic linguistics concerns the application of linguistics to describe and analyse language and discourse in the legal process.  This module takes a broad view of the subject in order to examine a wide interface between language and the law.

Language, Gender and Sexuality enables you to analyse and account for the ways in which gender and sexuality are constructed and represented through language use. Butler’s influential theory that gender is performative and that it emerges through discourse is key to the approach taken in this module. You will explore the diverse linguistic means by which gender and sexual identities are linguistically constructed and performed. The module will also encourage you to examine a variety of discourse types, such as spontaneous conversation, magazines, children’s literature, and film, in order to interrogate the ways in which gender and sexual identities are linguistically represented, regulated and constrained. In addition to this, the intersectionality of language, gender and sexuality with other aspects of social identity, such as ethnicity, age, and social class, will be explored.

Critical Discourse Studies focuses on the critical analysis of texts (spoken or written, revealing how discourse analysis can uncover implicit attitudes, ideologies and power relations. The module examines in detail the core theoretical approaches, concepts and constructs which underlie critical discourse studies. You will gain an insight into the communication and understanding of meaning beyond the conventional sense of words and structures. The module will develop your understanding of the power of discourse to construct identities and enable you to carry out critical discourse analysis of different types of texts in a variety of contexts.

TLC3000 Language 3 further enhances your language skills in French, German, Arabic, Italian, Mandarin or Spanish and introduces you to a new culture and way of life. It is suitable if you have studied the prior language module in the previous year of your degree or if you can demonstrate equivalent knowledge of your target language (though you will not be able to study a language you are already fluent or proficient in). The language levels available will be determined by the continuation of corresponding groups from module TLC2000 Language 2. You will develop language skills to a level of proficiency that will enable you to spend time living or working abroad. Classes will be conducted as much as possible in the target language. They will be taught in an interactive, communicative manner, using authentic materials in the target language. Emphasis will be on speaking and listening, with appropriate attention also being paid to other skills. Other work will include a variety of tasks which may be completed in the Language Centre.

The programme is now available to study on a full-time or part-time basis. It was previously available full-time only.

LNG2140 English Language Research Paper (20 credits) replaces LNG2128 English Language Long Essay (20 credits) and LNG2138 Methodology (20 credits) as an optional module in Year 2.

LNG3154 Critical Discourse Studies (20 credits) added as an optional module in Year 3.