No matter how we communicate – whether in spoken and daily interactions or in literary works – we always use language. Without understanding of how language actually works, we would not be able to engage in proper production or understanding of it. This is what this module is all about. Being focused primarily on the English language, the module seeks to familiarise you with, first and foremost, the building blocks of language including its smallest units of sound and meaning. Along the way, the module explores how such small units of meaning can be used to create longer stretches of meaningful texts, including non-literal uses of language such as metaphors. You will also be invited to reflect on different kinds of voice and meaning which such devices give rise to. The module will give you the terminology which helps you to begin to explore the various aspects of the samples of language you are likely to encounter. You’ll be taught over two hours a week and over a period of two trimesters, with teaching consisting of a weekly lecture plus a one-hour seminar, in which you will work in groups, provide feedback to your peers and reflect on your own understanding. The topic of the week is typically introduced in the lecture and explored further in seminar discussions and activities.
View the full module definitionIn this module you will survey the history of English Literature between William Blake and the present day. Mainly using Volume 2 of The Norton Anthology of English Literature you will study period, genre and form through a range of texts including: the novel; the short story; the essay and manifesto; poetry; drama; letters and graphic art.
View the full module definitionCommunication seems natural. But it follows a structure, with rules of understanding and expressing meaning. This module will introduce you to semiotics and structuralism, which examine and deconstruct the structure of communication. You will apply theories of structuralism to a variety of forms of communication, written, spoken and visual, in order to explore the ways in which structures of language and image inform, develop and control society. You will be introduced to the work of, for example, Saussure, Barthes, Foucault, Derrida, Irigaray and others, to discover the history connecting the structure of communication with ‘post’-structuralism, reflecting how oral and visual language creates and informs meaning. These ideas are then applied to various kinds of visual communication to investigate how written, spoken and visual language informs identity, difference, social inclusion and exclusion. By applying structuralism and post-structuralism to fine art, television, film, advertising, digital images and other representations of rhetoric and communication, you will advance your understanding of how all modes of communication structure the world. You will develop tools for challenging structures of language within a contemporary context. This opens spaces for new world views, for a general acceptance of difference, including gender, race, ability, sexuality and other elements of difference and diversity toward sustainable ethical futures.
View the full module definitionThe way we communicate may depend on a wide variety of factors including the place we grew up in, our age, our gender, and so on and so forth. At the same time, the way others communicate with us may depend on their perception and understanding of who we are. This module introduces you to the field of sociolinguistics. It discusses the intersection between language choices in actual communication and the various factors that could influence them. The module is particularly focused on the social side of communication. In doing so, the module discusses different forms of communication including written (e.g. letters), spoken (interviews) and visual communication (e.g. linguistic landscape) in today’s contemporary societies. Key employability skills developed on this module include (i) improving knowledge of how acts of communication unfold, (ii) enhancing communication skills, and (iii) the application of basic IT skills.
View the full module definitionYou will explore the history of the novel, charting the genre’s development from its origins to the present day, focusing most closely on the 18th century English novel. The word ‘novel’ means ‘new’, and many associate the rise of the novel with the 18th century. However, the earliest precursors of the novel can be traced far back in history, for example to ancient Greek and Biblical narratives. In Medieval and Early Modern Europe, prose short stories, verse romances and travel narratives all had an important influence on the later development of the novel. You will be introduced to selected examples of these very early ancestors of the novel – indicative texts might include extracts from Achilles Tatius, Lucian, Boccaccio, Cervantes and Sir John Mandeville, as well as texts from other important traditions such as Murasaki Shikibu’s Tale of Genji. Many of these texts will seem remote from the kinds of novels we are used to, and you will consider different definitions of the novel. You will then focus on some key developments in the eighteenth-century novel, developing an understanding of some important concepts and subgenres, such as the Gothic, sentimental, epistolary and picaresque traditions, as well as different types of narrator. You will begin to explore the cultural and historical contexts most relevant to the growth of the novel’s popularity and significance in the eighteenth century, such as the spread of literacy and the importance of women as both readers and writers of novels. You will then have the opportunity to trace some aspects of the later development of the novel, with possible focuses including developments in experimental, realist and genre fiction.
Entering higher education is exciting; but it can also be a daunting experience. At ARU, we want all our students to make the most of the opportunities higher education provides, reach your potential, become lifelong learners and find fulfilling careers. However, we appreciate that the shift from secondary education, or a return to formal education is, in itself, quite a journey. This module is designed to ease that transition. You'll be enrolled on it as soon as you receive an offer from ARU so you can begin to learn about university life before your course starts. Through Into ARU, you'll explore a virtual land modelled around ARU values: Courage, Innovation, Community, Integrity, Responsibility, and Ambition. This innovative module is designed as a game, where you collect knowledge and complete mini tasks. You'll proceed at your own pace, though we you to have completed your Into ARU exploration by week 6. If for any reason you're unable to complete by that date, we'll signpost to existing services so that we can be confident that you are supported.
View the full module definitionRuskin Modules are designed to prepare our students for a complex, challenging and changing future. These interdisciplinary modules provide the opportunity to further broaden your perspectives, develop your intellectual flexibility and creativity. You will work with others from different disciplines to enable you to reflect critically on the limitations of a single discipline to solve wider societal concerns. You will be supported to create meaningful connections across disciplines to apply new knowledge to tackle complex problems and key challenges. Ruskin Modules are designed to grow your confidence, seek and maximise opportunities to realise your potential to give you a distinctive edge and enhance your success in the workplace.
This module will introduce you to practical and theoretical aspects of the study of intercultural communication. It offers insights into interpersonal communication in a culturally diverse world and will explore how to effectively build bridges between cultures. This module will benefit your social, academic and professional life where you are likely to meet people from diverse backgrounds. You will build on your own cultural and linguistic knowledge, sense of identity and communication skills. You will examine your own culture and gain insights into the way in which cultural assumptions affect judgements of the behaviour and communication codes of other cultures. The key theoretical, analytical and descriptive terms will be introduced in weekly lectures, you will then be given the opportunity to explore these topics in seminars. These seminars will encourage to reflect on your own experiences.
View the full module definitionThis module addresses key topics in what is known as the ‘Culture Wars’. In this module you will become familiar with areas currently contested between different arguing camps around social justice, identity, inclusivity and attaining a society which recognises difference, including gender, race, sexuality, ability, class and economic status, species and ecology. In this course you will explore the linguistic and philosophical techniques of differing arguments around the role of power and prejudice invested in discussions on what it means to be ‘woke’, and specifically how these arguments fall into either/or structures which prevent full ethical inclusivity. By studying the diversity of definitions of differences, and the structures of language which bring them into being, you can look at the elements involved in the way society attributes value, and justice, to different individuals. The course will analyse language structures of difference from linguistic signs, philosophical discussions, and a variety of media including social media, mainstream news, as well as more experimental and personal narratives from different people telling their stories and ‘speaking truth to power’. You will be able to reveal the structures of power which benefit from fuelling arguments, and recognise the deeper value of diversity, justice and inclusivity.
View the full module definitionIn this module you'll study 20th-century literature. You'll start by examining the literary experiments of Modernism which arose as an artistic response to the social conditions and technological advances of modernity. You'll learn to identify the distinctive features of Modernist writing - subjectivity, the psychological, innovations in form, style and genre – in order to consider their continued creative and critical impact on the literature that followed. You'll consider trends and movements of the later part of the century, including Postmodernism, which refuted “grand narratives” and deployed self-conscious appropriation of a mix of styles in order to challenge epistemic certainty and consider the role of ideology in maintaining power. You'll also consider how the study of literature developed during the 20th-century from the close reading of IA Richards’ Practical Criticism in the 1920s to theories which considered history, society and identity by the end of the century.
View the full module definitionThis module will introduce you to the system of sounds used in the English language, focussing on standard southern British English. You'll learn how the various speech organs, such as the tongue and lips, are used to produce the range of sounds found in the language. We'll explore how spectograms and computer software can be used to visualise these sounds, and the terminology used to describe and classify them. You'll also learn how the sounds of English are represented using the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
View the full module definitionOn this module you will explore the contemporary expansion of the podcast. Since the pandemic we have been listening as much as looking at media. Podcasts have become a space to digest information while we work, rest and play. The agility of audio content is arguably the reason there has been a boom over these last two years. This module is a space for you to create your own audio program on a topic of your choice. You will research a subject that interests you and create a story with sound using participants appropriate to the subject area. Over the course of 12 weeks, you will develop your idea through a series of individual and group exercises, workshops, tutorials, and peer review via in work in progress sessions and the end-of-module critique. You will look at both pre-recorded and live streamed systems of exhibition. Work can be documentary, journalistic or experimental in nature. The module will introduce to you the importance of audio in media culture and its relationship to technological change that have increased its potential for networking, mobility and interactivity with audience, and environment.
View the full module definitionOn this module you will study how nineteenth-century literary texts respond to environmental change. You will trace the literary responses to global and mass industrialisation and to climate events such as the year without summer in 1816, following on from the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815. Moving through texts in roughly chronological order, you will consider emerging understandings of nature and the environment in Romantic and Victorian texts before turning to fin de siècle apocalyptic writings. Through the module, you will learn to evaluate the field of ecocriticism and to integrate approaches and lenses as you assess the significance of reading nineteenth-century poetry, fiction, prose, and life-writing in a time of climate emergency.
View the full module definitionIn this module, you will be introduced to various strategies of adaptation and to the afterlives of a range of nineteenth-century literary texts. We will look at sequels and prequels to nineteenth-century novels and will also analyse the move from page to screen, web series, and other forms. The module is likely to cover the afterlives and adaptations of the work of writers including Jane Austen, the Brontës, and Charles Dickens. Throughout, you will develop a comprehensive knowledge of the texts studied in relation to their original context, as well as the context in which they have been adapted.
View the full module definitionThis module gives you the opportunity to undertake valuable and rewarding learning and career development opportunity. The School of Humanities and Social Sciences Professional Placement module provides you with the chance to embark on a work placement, where you can gain important skills and experiences which will support your career planning and your personal development. This module supports you to explore your career aspirations and opportunities, immerse yourself in a work environment, and then critically reflecting on the experience. The module requires you to independently research, select, and secure a work placement where you can apply the knowledge and skills from your degree to-date. You'll commit to a regular schedule of work, and regularly reflecting on the experience through a Placement Diary. At the end of the placement, you'll reflect and evaluate your work experience, and your own career goals. You'll be supported throughout your work placement by academic staff, as well as guidance from the Placements/ Employability and Careers team. The Professional Placement module is a great opportunity to explore your graduate career options, enhance your CV, develop your career plans, and put your degree skills and knowledge to work.
Contemporary media culture is primarily a culture of the digital, mediated through digital computers, mobile communication devices and networks. By now it is clear that social and networked media has transformed many of the ways that we communicate and connect, think, act, and feel in the 21st century. This module introduces you to the key themes and debates through which to understand digital culture, including the history of digital technologies and the internet. Themes discussed in the module include: the study of specific social media platforms and practices (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter); memes and virality; data visualisation and interface design; affective computing; Cyborgs, sentient robots, and AI; attention, distraction, and cognition in online cultures; GIF cultures; networked temporality; postdigital aesthetics; and other topics. You'll have the opportunity to engage directly with digital technologies and platforms, as well as to study and reflect on how they are used. The module seeks to promote digital literacy as well as foster critical thinking around digital media cultures and subjects.
View the full module definitionThe module aims to develop your skills in web-based journalism and online media production using a range of online media formats. Through a series of topic led discussions, reading, class exercises and small project briefs you will examine the language and practice of new/digital media and reflect on its uses. Online Journalism is presented as a distinct practice involving the use of a variety of writing styles from multimedia content to interactive and social media. The module includes examples from factual and non-factual content and addresses a range of topics including fake/false news, blogging, vlogging, the rise of the image driven web, implications of media sharing, online communities, citizen journalism, personal online profile management, digital storytelling, working with images, building a freelance career.
View the full module definitionOn this module you'll study an exciting period of literary history, the Renaissance, from the different perspectives of cross-cultural encounters and their impact on English imaginative writing of the period. This research-based module gives you the opportunity to explore, in-depth, the early modern literary fascination with travel and other cultures, debates around colonialism, terrestrial and extra-terrestrial ‘other worlds’, theories of creation and knowledge of nature, and relations between humans and animals. You'll explore these issues in weekly seminars, investigating the relationship between the set texts and their literary, cultural and historical contexts, including politics, race, religion, scientific knowledge, gender and the environment. Upon successful completion of the module, you'll have a greater understanding of poetic, prose and dramatic texts from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as well the cultural, historical and literary contexts in which they were written and performed.
View the full module definitionIn this module you will study the development of science fiction as a genre, concentrating on major texts from the postwar period. You are expected to acquire an understanding of the history of science fiction and an awareness of debates around its origins, as well as a critical understanding of the problems of defining it in relation to other forms of literature. The emphasis is on science fiction as a literature of ideas, and you will have the opportunity to explore and compare examples of several key science fiction tropes. These would typically include alien invasion, posthuman identity, utopias and dystopias, alternate history, time travel and post-apocalyptic science fiction. You would also be invited to consider changes in the representation of issues such as race, class and gender in science fiction. The main focus will be on science fiction as a literary form; however there will be opportunities to consider science fiction in other media – film, comics, TV and computer games – as well as engage with aspects of the history of science fiction publishing, such as book cover design and marketing.
View the full module definitionThis module will introduce you to the field of contemporary performance theory and practice in relation to Shakespeare. You'll study a range of 20th and 21st century critical and directorial interpretations of plays by Shakespeare in the theatre and on film, exploring issues like power, sexuality, gender, justice, morality, religion and war. You’ll look at how critics, directors and actors generate meanings from Shakespeare's plays, drawing on details from primary texts, secondary criticism and examples of contemporary creative responses to the plays. For your assessment, you'll select a sequence from one of Shakespeare's plays to stage as an ensemble performance, supported by practical workshops. This performance may include interdisciplinary work involving music, song and a variety of performing styles. You'll also attend seminars that will guide the development of your project proposal, and group tutorials to help you set up your group project. In preparation for the ensemble performance, you'll submit a 1,500-word analysis of how your chosen play has been interpreted in contemporary criticism, and examine a range of creative responses to it in the theatre and on film.
View the full module definitionIn this module you’ll learn the tools of effective short fiction writing, beginning with the literary short story and moving on to explore short fiction for younger readers and some areas of genre fiction. You will understand the scope and the conventions of short fiction in English through analysis of a diverse range of classic and contemporary examples. You’ll look at the creative process from the collection of ideas at the notebook stage to the production and editing of a finished narrative, and you will engage in this process by maintaining a reading journal and writer's notebook where responses to literature that is read, and created, are recorded.
View the full module definitionWe are surrounded by complex imagery all the time, but many people feel confused by contemporary art and what it is ‘supposed to be about’. In this module we’ll address some key themes and questions that arise in the modern art scene, but that have their roots in philosophical problems of aesthetics. We will begin by co-curating our own on-line art gallery and observing the key features of a range of works of art. As part of the module we will also visit a local art gallery (free of charge). The key themes that we will study include questions about the social usefulness or relevance of art; what (if anything) separates public artworks and graffiti; how the mass reproduction of imagery might change the way we think of the ‘value’ of a work of art, how the idea of the portrait and the self-portrait has changed historically; issues concerning the judgement of beauty and the question of objectivity in art, and the politics of the art gallery and the choices that curators make. We will also look at the case of music as an art form ‘without’ imagery. The module is designed to be highly interactive, encourages creative and imaginative responses to art works, supports independent thinking, and develops cultural and intercultural awareness. In studying this module, you will be encouraged to co-create content, undertake projects that put you in the position of real-life curators, and think about issues of identity, from the history of portraits to the modern ‘selfie’.
View the full module definitionBuilding on the knowledge you gained in previous modules, here you'll engage in a more critical and analytic exploration of the notion of equality, including critiquing notions of justice and social justice. We explore the notion of community through the role of the individual and groups in communities and wider social arenas. You'll discuss what it means to hold rights, children’s rights and the link between being a rights holder and a responsible citizen. We also consider the notion of the individual, individual freedom and identity and the impact of culture on identity and life in a wider social arena. This module builds on concepts introduced at Level 4. It provides a more critical and analytic exploration of the notion of equality, including critiquing notions of justice and social justice. The module develops the notion of community through the role of the individual and groups in communities and wider social arenas. It explores what it means to hold rights, children’s rights and the link between being a rights holder and a responsible citizen. During the module students will explore the notion of the individual, individual freedom and identity. They will consider the impact of culture on identity and life in a wider social arena, as well as explore the concept of a global citizen, and develop awareness of social and professional responsibility to contribute to the creation of sustainable futures for all. At the end of the trimester students will have demonstrated an understanding of the interrelationship between key aspects of the module in relation to education. Students will analyse the role of education in promoting an understanding of equality, culture and citizenship. The module provides students with the opportunity to develop skills related to synthesising ideas from a variety of sources in order to demonstrate a well-structured line of argument within their writing. This module will support students to recognise the links between an educational settings and the community.
View the full module definitionIn this module you will be introduced to the art of creative non-fiction. You'll explore the art of the essay as it has developed in the English Language and explore the concept of what creative non-fiction is. Using the key text, and additional collections, you'll explore issues of style, research, and personal expression as we investigate various genres of creative non-fiction writing including travel and food writing, writing about history, and science writing for lay audiences. You will practice applying fiction-writing skills such as characterisation, point of view choices, description, and plotting to non-fiction narratives. In class, you will participate in workshopping your ideas and drafts. We will further discuss platforms, contexts, and readerships in the current market.
View the full module definitionThis module focuses on the idea of ‘cult’ in relation to film, television and wider media. It explores key themes and debates concerning the distinction between cult and mainstream media, and how cult media, along with its cultures and practices, influences and shapes trends within mainstream media. In this module, we’ll explore the historical development and varied applications of the term ‘cult’, while also addressing theories of quality, taste, and cultural capital in a media context. We’ll look at how cult media articulates and explores alternative conceptions of cultural identity (in terms of sexuality, gender, youth cultures and fan cultures). You'll consider how discourses such as text, industry and audience contribute to the formation of cult genres, with case studies that may include horror, sci-fi, fantasy, anime and comic book media. Throughout the module, you'll engage with theoretical concepts such as genre, media convergence, fan studies, taste, cultural capital and camp.
View the full module definitionIn this module, we will look at different types of texts, also known as genres, and discuss their underlying structures. We'll discuss key technical concepts which enable you to explore how different text-types work, and how they are a response to their potential or imagined users. You'll look at how language is used to convey not only overt but also hidden meanings, and how such hidden meanings can be systematically analysed. In doing so, you'll learn to use a variety of traditional approaches as well as modern computational technologies. The latter will enable you to analyse larger amounts of texts with much rapid speed.
View the full module definitionKnowledge of a foreign language can be a major asset both in your academic and professional life. The Anglia Language Programme offers you the opportunity to study a foreign language as part of your course.
We easily make assumptions about people based on the way they speak, whether this is a regional accent, a second language accent or a different language. In this module, we will explore the reasons for and mechanisms behind these beliefs, attitudes and ideologies about language and how they can lead to prejudice against individuals and groups. We will look at approaches from sociolinguistics and social psychology to explain examples and case studies. We will also look at methodologies that have successfully collected data to investigate people’s attitudes towards how other people speak.
View the full module definitionThis module will support you to communicate your final-year dissertation research beyond the traditional dissertation format, helping you to develop your abilities to create, adapt, select, and communicate your ideas and arguments to a range of audiences through a variety of creative and digital forms and formats. You'll be supported to develop creative or digital output such as artworks, podcasts, films, posters, exhibitions, or installations, based on the research of your final-year major project or dissertation. This module will also guide you to reflect on degree journey more generally, as you review and consolidate a range of transferable, professional skills, competencies, and confidences that you will be able to articulate, evidence, and take forward into your graduate future.
View the full module definitionThe individual Major Project will allow you to undertake a substantial piece of individual research, focused on a topic relevant to your specific course. Your topic will be assessed for suitability to ensure sufficient academic challenge and satisfactory supervision by an academic member of staff. The project will require you to identify/formulate problems and issues, conduct research, evaluate information, process data, and critically appraise and present your findings/creative work. You should arrange and attend regular meetings with your project supervisor, to ensure that your project is closely monitored and steered in the right direction.
This module explores the importance and significance of computer-mediated communication, digital media and contemporary communication methods. It explores how new technologies have changed the way we communicate with others. You'll be introduced to a wide range of theories and theoretical and analytical frameworks. As well as critical sociolinguistics and critical discourse analysis, this will also include more pragmatic approaches to the study of digital communication. You'll understand how these approaches could be meaningfully used to analyse real and authentic digital texts. The key employability skill developed in this module is the development of digital communication skills, which are of contemporary relevance and popularity
View the full module definitionIn this module you will focus on language as a symbolic system and practice where meaning is produced and reproduced under specific cultural conditions and is characterised by fragmentation and conflict as much as by cohesion and consensus. You will relate the study of language to issues concerning, for example, identity, cultural power and domination, representation, and real life, examining the social corpus, the individual body and the radical/transgressive body. You will explore post-structuralist critiques of linguistics, which may include theories of language as a means by which identity is produced through the interconnectedness of language and ideology. In addition, you will encounter the physical body not as ‘natural’ but as a linguistic phenomenon: where the body is a text to be read. Challenging binaries such as mind/body and biological/textual, you will query the role of language in creating bodies and the ways in which the flesh has been historically created through discourse. You will also look at the ways the body has transgressed these discourses. In examining the relationships between language, power and bodies, you will explore the links between language, power, knowledge, ‘truth’ and identity, especially in reference to difference (gender, race, sexuality, ability) and extend these links to ecological concerns and the connectedness of the human to the nonhuman and nature. You will learn to question how truth and knowledge are challenged in post-structuralist/ deconstructionist projects, and how this challenge can lead to what is known as posthuman ethics and the ecological revolution: currently known in linguistic philosophy as ‘ecosophy’. You will be expected to give short presentations in class, based on your preparatory reading. Assessment will consist of a 2,500 word essay that will require you to make connections between different ideas explored in the module, and a supporting task, on which you will receive feedback to help in the development of your essay.
View the full module definitionWhat can we learn from studying celebrities and celebrity culture? While the very idea of celebrity is often denigrated and dismissed as so much cultural fluff, it is a profoundly important and socially significant subject – perhaps now more than ever. This module offers you a unique chance to dig into the world of celebrity culture -a topic that has deep cultural and social significance. You'll examine what celebrity means in a 21st-century mediascape from the ‘insta-famous’ to YouTubers, from reality TV presidents to young environmental activists, from film stars to sporting icons. Drawing from a range of academic literature, this module seeks to define and interrogate the notion of ‘celebrity’ across different historical and national contexts, from pre- to post-digital eras. You'll explore fraught political and range of spheres including film, TV, music, politics, and sports.
View the full module definitionYou will consider a range of plays from the period 1580 to 1642 in the light of issues of stage spectacle and representation in a variety of forms, including identity, sexuality, violence, and death. You will experience one of the greatest periods of dramatic writing that English literature has known, which has subsequently continued on the English stage under the UK’s great acting companies, including the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre. Primary texts will be taken from Shakespeare and his chief contemporaries, including a changing range of authors chosen from Thomas Kyd, George Chapman, Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, John Marston, Thomas Middleton, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, John Webster, John Ford, Richard Brome, and James Shirley. You should check the reading list each year to determine specific plays. You will become familiar with relevant theory and criticism of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. In seminars you will be attentive to issues of performance, which can include active learning through play-reading and walking through a scene, or in independent learning through attending relevant performances or viewing film adaptations.
View the full module definitionThis module introduces you to a range of C20th and C21st literary representations of exile. To be in exile is to be banished from one’s home, to be displaced and/or estranged from one’s country, family, community, and even one’s self. Exile takes many forms: it can be literal or metaphorical; it can be enforced or self-imposed. Through close readings of novels, graphic novels, poetry, autobiography, and short stories, many of which were written by authors in exile, you will explore various forms of exile writing and consider various conditions and contexts of exile, including politics, race, sexuality, gender and disability. At the start of the module, you will be introduced to a range of theories of exile; you will explore these theories each week in relation to the selected literary texts and related themes of memory, home, identity, community, nostalgia, self, and language.
View the full module definitionOn this module, you'll study historical and contemporary works of crime and detective fiction in English. Texts will include classics of the genre, particularly from the ‘Golden Age’ of detective fiction, being further attuned to how the genre accommodates female writers and writers of colour. Your key considerations will be the development of the genre across time, while being inclusive of new developments and contexts, especially gender, race, and national identity, and how these concerns are crafted by in the novel form. Your understanding of the representation of trauma, victim and police perspectives, and wider contexts of identity will be showcased in the final assessment.
View the full module definitionOn this module you'll have the opportunity to specialise in an exciting period of literary history – the English Renaissance – and to pursue a thematic interest: the early modern literary fascination with magic. ‘Renaissance Magic’ explores the intersections between imaginative literature, science, religion and the occult, through the close study of various literary forms (from journal entries and essays, to epic poetry and drama) both canonical (including the works of Shakespeare, Jonson and Spenser) and more marginal (including seventeenth-century women’s writing, and anonymous alchemical poetry.) You'll be introduced to various aspects of magic/occult culture of the early modern period: attitudes toward angelology and demonology; the learned figure of the ‘Renaissance magus’; alchemy; the fascination with and persecution of witches; and early science fiction. The variety of different texts is designed to challenge perceptions of the ‘canon’, and to broaden views of what constituted ‘literature’ in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
View the full module definitionIn this module you’ll gain the technical skills required in the writing of poetry by facilitating a flexible use of traditional forms and rhythms. You’ll look at contemporary and modern poetry and explore important developments in technique and learn to appreciate the benefits of close reading to open up possibilities for language use. Seminar workshops focus on reading poetry and on creative exercises, aimed at helping to develop sophisticated approaches to the relationship between form and content.
View the full module definitionThis module introduces you to what is known as ‘forensic linguistics’, i.e. the application of language skills and relevant methods to forensic contexts. The module seeks to enable you to explore the intersection between ‘language’ and topics/issues such as law, crime and trial processes. The module also sheds light on the role of language in such emerging phenomena as cybercrime. The focus of the module is on all forms of language use including spoken, written and computer-mediated communication. The module, taught over two hours a week and over a period of one trimester, consists of a weekly lecture plus a one-hour seminar, in which you will work in small groups, provide feedback to your peers and reflect on your own performance with a view to sharpening your forensic analytical abilities. The topic of the week is introduced in the lecture and explored in seminar discussions. The key employability skill developed on this module is forensic data analysis opportunities, especially the ways language analysis skills could be used in resolving real-life forensic scenarios.
View the full module definitionIn this module you will focus on language as a symbolic system and practice where meaning is produced and reproduced under specific cultural conditions and is characterised by fragmentation and conflict as much as by cohesion and consensus. You will relate the study of language to issues concerning, for example, identity, cultural power and domination, representation, and real life, examining the social corpus, the individual body and the radical/transgressive body. You will explore post-structuralist critiques of linguistics, which may include theories of language as a means by which identity is produced through the interconnectedness of language and ideology. In addition, you will encounter the physical body not as ‘natural’ but as a linguistic phenomenon: where the body is a text to be read. Challenging binaries such as mind/body and biological/textual, you will query the role of language in creating bodies and the ways in which the flesh has been historically created through discourse. You will also look at the ways the body has transgressed these discourses. In examining the relationships between language, power and bodies, you will explore the links between language, power, knowledge, ‘truth’ and identity, especially in reference to difference (gender, race, sexuality, ability) and extend these links to ecological concerns and the connectedness of the human to the nonhuman and nature. You will learn to question how truth and knowledge are challenged in post-structuralist/ deconstructionist projects, and how this challenge can lead to what is known as posthuman ethics and the ecological revolution: currently known in linguistic philosophy as ‘ecosophy’.
View the full module definitionWe live in a world dominated by media. Our first port of call when we want to know something is to Google it. Landmark books have shaped and influenced wide-ranging historical and contemporary issues such as the French Revolution, feminism and Black Lives Matter. Social media has played a central role in presidential elections, as well as been linked to a decline in people’s mental health. In this module you'll learn about the past, present and future of media and its role in society. Media is very broadly defined here to include the publishing industry, the internet, social media, TV, radio and many more. Each week, we will focus on one particular form of media and consider its history, before moving on to analyse its role in today’s society and its future. To do this, we will use a wide range of case studies relating to elections, referendums, conspiracies, celebrity culture, censorship, and many more. You'll develop a keen awareness of the importance of media from this and have a sound understanding of how the industries look today. This will put you one step ahead of many candidates on the job market as digital proficiency and understanding media is vital to many positions and businesses.
View the full module definitionIn this module, you'll examine biographical and autobiographical writings from St Augustine to the present day. You'll consider the history of biography; from early hagiographic accounts of revered men (largely) and (some) women to irreverent portraits of celebrities or glimpses into the lives of “ordinary” people in the present day. You'll examine auto/biographical theory in which the forward slash denotes the relationship between the self and the other, the private and the public, and consider the inevitability of the impact of the biographer on the biography. You'll look at source material such as letters when considering the choices made by biographers. You'll consider the impact of social and historical contexts on whose lives are written and how generic conventions impose structures onto the lives written. You'll learn the difference between an autobiography and a memoir and think about the variety of methods used to write a life, including those which blur fact and fiction, and those which disrupt linear chronology.
View the full module definitionDeconstructing the education system will help you to gain greater understanding of the complexities of how the education system works and how the parts of a system are related to one another and to society. You will explore policy, practice and curriculum in the UK and across the globe. Learning about education systems in other countries and making a comparison with your own will enable you to view educational issues systematically. If you have an interest in working in the educational sector overseas after graduating, this will also allow you to develop country-specific knowledge. This module builds on the year one and two modules (Key Paradigms 1 and 2) by exploring policy, practice and curriculum in the UK and across the globe. Through learning about education systems in other countries and making a comparison with their own, students will be able to analyse educational issues systematically. This will provide students with opportunities to accommodate new knowledge and principles which can then be applied across education systems. It will support them to critically justify teaching and learning opportunities for all children, considering current educational issues such as assessment, inclusion and behaviour management as part of the analysis. The module provides a broad perspective on how educational policy across the globe differs and interrelates. It will also allow students with an interest in working in the educational sector overseas after graduating to develop country specific knowledge. This module will support students to develop a greater understanding of the focus on assessment, inclusion and behaviour management within schools and as national priorities.
View the full module definitionStarting with an exploration of the various modes within which film journalism functions, you'll explore the world of professional film journalism, enabling you to create original features for a variety of readerships in a range of media. Seminars are structured around an exercise designed to illustrate - with the aid of examples from the professional context - how to work with editors; planning and structuring interviews; developing, drafting and revising reviews and features; tailoring output according to a professional brief and/or a specific audience type; and developing a personal style. You will understand the practicalities of professional journalism in print and other media, with examples drawn from mainstream and specialist sources, at national, regional and local level.
View the full module definitionDiscover the potential of digital methods in gaining insights into contemporary societies and cultures with this optional module. It aims to equip you with advanced digital tools and methodologies and strongly emphasises developing valuable employability skills that are in demand across various industries. Practical application is at the core of the module, ensuring you can effectively tackle real-world social challenges. You don't need prior coding experience; we provide step-by-step guidance into digital methods, like data wrangling, text analysis, or machine learning. The course strikes a balance between theory and hands-on practice, allowing you to grasp the concepts and apply them effectively. Whether you're considering a future in academia or a career in industry, this module offers a gateway to a world of opportunities in the digital age. Digital methods are highly sought after, and this is your opportunity to master them while acquiring skills employers value.
View the full module definitionKnowledge of a foreign language can be a major asset both in your academic and professional life. The Anglia Language Programme offers you the opportunity to study a foreign language as part of your course.