English Language and Literature

Course summary

This is a course for students who have a keen interest in how writers use language to make meaning and influence their readers. It is also a course that affords students an opportunity to display their own creative writing skills and critically examine their work. We cover a range of texts including novels, poems, plays, nonfiction, media texts and non-literary texts. This course differs from those focused primarily on literature by extending its coverage to explore differences and similarities between non-literary texts; it differs from those primarily focused on language by bringing the nature of literary discourse into sharper view. The course offers unique opportunities to consider issues of ‘literariness’ and ‘literalness’ that tend to remain unquestioned on other English courses. Students taking this course will find that it leads into many Humanities degrees and is largely considered by most universities on par, academically, with an English Literature A Level. This course provides a broad knowledge and skill base to enter both higher education or to pursue employment.