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Introduction
Why choose this course?
Key features
 Learn Mandarin while studying English poetry, fiction and drama from different centuries and continents, with the flexibility to specialise in your areas of interest.
 Be taught by leading academics who produce world-leading research in areas ranging from medieval to contemporary literature, language, creative writing and digital humanities.
 Set yourself apart with a recognised competence in Mandarin. Study Mandarin at a level and pace that really suits you and your needs, alongside developing your knowledge of the country, the society, the culture and the people.
 Gain valuable workplace skills through placement and internship opportunities. Our students have previously worked with organisations such as the National Space Centre and Leicester Mercury newspaper, charities including the English Association, as well as local schools and colleges.
 Experience a range of teaching activities and a variety of assessment methods, ensuring your learning remains dynamic and enabling you to develop a broader range of skills.
 Our English graduates have succeeded in wide-ranging careers with well-known publishing companies including Penguin Random House and Pan Macmillan, as well as news organisations such as HomeStyle Magazine and the BBC.
 Benefit from Education 2030, where a simplified ‘block learning’ timetable means you will study one subject at a time and have more time to engage with your learning, receive faster feedback and enjoy a better study-life balance.
Overview
Study an exciting range of English literature from writers across the globe and from different eras or movements, such as Victorian literature and Romanticism, as well as classic and renowned authors including William Shakespeare and Jane Austen. Learn how texts work, and debate literature’s role in society both now and throughout the course of history. You’ll be taught by internationally renowned academics who will support you to articulate your ideas with confidence while writing with fluency and flair.
Alongside your English Literature curriculum, you will study Mandarin from either beginner level or post-beginner level. You will develop your linguistic skills and also gain an understanding of social, cultural, political, historical and artistic topics.
By choosing to study English literature with Mandarin at DMU, you’ll join a lively and welcoming academic community. Graduates from this course are working in a wide range of professions including media, marketing, publishing, teaching, public relations and the civil service.
Modules
First year
 Block 1: Approaches to Reading and Writing
 Block 2: Introduction to the Novel
 Block 3: Mandarin Beginner or Mandarin Post-Beginner
 Block 4: Poetry and Society
Second year
 Block 1: Exploration and Innovation: 14th Century to 18th Century Literature
 Block 2: Romantic and Victorian Literature
 Block 3: Mandarin Post-Beginner or Mandarin Intermediate
 Block 4: Screen and Literary Adaptations of The Classics
Third year
 Year long: Dissertation
 Block 2: Remediating Texts
 Block 3: Mandarin Intermediate or Mandarin Advanced
 Block 4: Modernism and Magazines
Entry Criteria
ENTRY REQUIRED DOCUMENTS
Home Office Share Code
For EU students only.
IF no Qualification
Please provide CV with at least 2 years of work experience, and employee reference letter.
Entry criteria
Typical entry requirements
 112 points from at least 2 A'levels
 BTEC Extended Diploma DMM
 International Baccalaureate: 26+ Points or
 T Levels Merit
Plus five GCSEs grades 9-4 including English Language or Literature at grade 4 or above.
 Pass Access with 30 level 3 credits at Merit and GCSE English (Language or Literature) at grade 4 or above.
We will normally require students have had a break from full-time education before undertaking the Access course.
 We also accept the BTEC First Diploma plus two GCSEs including English Language or Literature at grade 4 or above
Interview required: No
English language requirements
If English is not your first language an IELTS score of 6.0 overall with 5.5 in each band (or equivalent) when you start the course is essential.
English language tuition, delivered by our British Council-accredited Centre for English Language Learning, is available both before and throughout the course if you need it.
Assessment
ASSESSMENT METHODS
1. INTERNAL ENGLISH TEST if you don't have an English accredited certificate
2. Academic Interview
Teaching and assessments
You will be taught by internationally-recognised academics who are friendly, approachable and experts in their fields. You will debate literature from different centuries and different continents in lectures, seminars, workshops and one-to-one tutorials. There are opportunities to attend guest lectures by exciting writers and thinkers; previous speakers include Simon Armitage, Andrew Davies (screenwriter), Carol Ann Duffy, Jackie Kay, Andrew Motion and Benjamin Zephaniah. You will learn to write fluently and persuasively, to articulate complex ideas and arguments, to research topics comprehensively and to challenge existing opinions.
The first year expands your knowledge of the major literary genres (poetry, drama, fiction) and develops foundational skills in research, writing and critical analysis. It also introduces you to adaptation studies – an area of study bridging English and other media, including film and television, which you can study in each year of your course at DMU if you choose. The second year broadens your understanding of the development of English literature through time. You will also develop your awareness of text production and learn to apply digital skills. The third year allows you to build on the knowledge already gained to pursue your own interests within the taught modules and through your dissertation. You will have Mandarin language classes throughout each year as this continuous approach is recognised as the best way to learn a language, with the majority of teaching taking place in Block 3.
Teaching sessions might be structured around discussion, a film screening or based in a computer lab. You will complete reading and research in advance and join in conversation with your tutor and your peers. Individual tutorials with module tutors are available in weekly ‘office hours’, at which you can discuss any aspect of your course or get help with assignments. You will experience varied forms of assessment, including essays, presentations, preparation worksheets, journals, examinations, practical work (such as the production of a sonnet using a replica of a sixteenth-century printing press), website production, peer evaluation, creative work, self-evaluation, blogs and dissertation. This range of assessment methods will enable you to develop a broad spectrum of communication and technological skills, alongside an ability to think critically, independently, flexibly and imaginatively. For the Mandarin language modules, assessment is focused on evaluating your competence in the four key skills of Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Hearing and your knowledge of the cultural, social, and historical context of your chosen language.
You will be supported by a personal tutor with access to specialist guidance in writing and study skills. Our postgraduate students also run a popular peer mentoring scheme providing friendly and informal advice for undergraduate students in English at DMU.
Contact hours
You will be taught through a combination of seminars, workshops, lectures, tutorials, group work and self-directed study. In your first year you will normally attend around 7 hours of timetabled taught sessions (workshops and seminars) each week, and we expect you to undertake at least 30 further hours of independent study to complete project work and research.
Career Opportunities
Placements
This course gives you the option to enhance and build your professional skills to progress within your chosen career, through a placement. Our dedicated team offers a range of careers resources and opportunities so you can start planning your future.
Previous students have taken up placements in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors, including some international posts, across a range of companies including public relations agencies and local schools.
Our Careers Team can help to hone your professional skills with mock interviews and practice aptitude tests, and an assigned personal tutor will support you throughout your placement.
DMU Global
Our innovative international experience programme DMU Global aims to enrich your studies and expand your cultural horizons, helping you to become a global graduate, equipped to meet the needs of employers across the world.
Through DMU Global, we offer a wide range of opportunities including on-campus and UK-based activities, overseas study, internships, faculty-led field trips and volunteering, as well as Erasmus+ and international exchanges.
Students on this course have previously undertaken exciting opportunities to study overseas in Tokyo, Japan, and Vancouver Island in Canada.
Graduate careers
Our graduates are taught to acquire highly developed communication and reasoning skills and hone their ability to work independently and as part of a group.
Many of our graduates go on to work in careers in a variety of areas such as archival work, the media, the civil service, marketing, journalism, the arts, library services, teaching English as a foreign language, and public relations. English Literature graduates have earned roles such as Associate Producer at the BBC, Picture Book Editor at Pan Macmillan and a Senior Press Officer in the Children's Department at Penguin Random House.
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