The Department of English, Culture and Communication is a research-led department that prepares graduates for careers as English-language professionals in the fields of media and communications, finance, and international business.

Our graduates have skills that are highly sought-after in domestic and international job markets, and the innovative interdisciplinary design of each of our programmes ensures that students are well-prepared for the range of opportunities and challenges they will meet in their future careers.

BA English and Communication Studies students will graduate with a combination of critical and theoretical knowledge as well as with strong English language skills. You will acquire intellectual, interpersonal and technical skills that are highly valued by employers.

Graduates of this programme will be attractive employees in globalised workplaces and may be employed in journalism, broadcasting or advertising. Some may be employed as management trainees in a variety of businesses, while others will start their careers in retailing, computing, and librarianship. You may also be able to pursue a career as a professional translator or interpreter, or as a teacher of English as a foreign language. Additionally, the programme provides a foundation for further graduate level study in the subjects of English language, English literature and communications.

Communications and the media play an increasingly central role in modern society, economics and politics, making English, the global communications language, more important than ever before. You will gain an understanding of the changing use of language and other forms of communication, and the ways in which they inform and influence contemporary society.

By the time you graduate from the BA English and Communication Studies programme, you will be able to:

• communicate professionally in English, within the context of journalism and the media
• understand the theories and analytical techniques associated with linguistics, literature, culture and communication
• apply your knowledge and skills to solve practical challenges and problems within the context of journalism and the media.

Year One

UK degrees are three years long whereas in China they are four, therefore we do accept students with certain qualifications directly into Year Two, which is the start of the main academic programme. Most students, however, enter into Year One, which provides you with a range of interesting modules, language classes and core skills for your degree.

Year Two

• Introduction to linguistics
• Close reading
• Analysing communication
• English literature in history
• Media ethics

Choose two from the following:

• Sounds of English
• Media management
• Journalism: theory and practice

Choose one option in English from the following:

• Language of business and finance
• Semantics and pragmatics
• Literature and gender

Choose one option in communication from the following:

• Screenwriting for film and TV
• Perspectives on media
• Global journalism

Year Three

Choose two options in English from the following:

• Advertising and the media
• Translation
• Eighteenth century literature: Robinson Crusoe to Frankenstein.

Choose two options in communication from the following:

• Approaches to the media
• Adaptation across the media
• Animation.

Choose two options in English from the following:

• Business communication
• Interpreting
• Technical translation
• World English literature
• Jane Austen.

Choose two options in communication from the following:

• Global media and entertainment
• Investigative journalism
• New media: an introduction

Year Four

• Final year project

Choose one option in English from the following:

• Analysing text
• English as a global language
• Conference interpreting
• British romanticism
• The invention of love.

Choose two options in communication from the following:

• European cinema
• Film in context
• Documentary.

Choose two options in English from the following:

• Interpersonal communication in the workplace
• Language and literature
• Modern poetry
• Applied linguistics
• Literary translation
• The Gothic.

Choose one option in communication from the following:

• Intercultural communication
• Digital media and video production
• Portrayal of China in Western media