BA Modern Languages and English Literature
About this course
Bachelor of Arts in Modern Languages and English Literature, an English and Modern Languages degree focused on literature and linguistic acquisition. Core topics include Research Methods and Global & Comparative Perspective. The course includes a compulsory third-year period abroad. The first year covers language study and literary history through modules such as Literary Worlds: From Revolution to Postmodernity, French Language 1 (Advanced), and Approaches to Critical Reading. The second year expands into specialized historical and cultural study via modules like Shakespeare: Elizabethan, 19th Century Russia through the Lens of the Novel, and Gothic. Optional modules cover areas such as translation, cinema, and cultural history. The final year focuses on advanced language proficiency and specialized textual analysis through modules including French Language Final Year and Exploring the self: Dante and Leopardi.
Written by AI from the university's course page and module list. It can get details wrong, so check the official course page before you rely on it.
Entry requirements
A Level: AAB - see below for full requirements.. IB: 6,6,5 - 32 points overall.. BTEC: BTEC Extended Diploma: DDM.
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Real offers for this course
Applicants have posted 1 UCAS decision for BA Modern Languages and English Literature (7Q6Q) at the University of Birmingham for 2027 entry so far. The published offer is AAB at A level.
What students say
Based on about 49 final-year students who answered, across similar courses at this university
- Teaching on my course: 93%
- Learning opportunities: 85%
- Assessment and feedback: 88%
- Academic support: 94%
- Organisation and management: 89%
- Learning resources: 94%
- Student voice: 76%
Do students stay on the course?
Based on about 60 students who started, across similar courses at this university
- Continued on course: 87%
- Left higher education: 13%
What graduates do next
Based on about 6 graduates who answered (a small group: a rough guide only)
- Working: 75%
- Further study: 10%
- Unemployed: 10%
Most common jobs
- Business and public service associate professionals: 23%
- Teaching Professionals: 13%
- Artistic, literary and media occupations: 12%
- Administrative occupations: 11%
- Elementary occupations: 7%
- Find their work meaningful: 80%
- Feel on track for their future plans: 75%
- Use what they learnt on the course: 50%
Where graduates work (5 years on)
Based on about 50 graduates, across similar courses at this university
- North West: 15%
- East Midlands: 5%
- West Midlands: 15%
- East of England: 5%
- London: 40%
- South East: 10%
Who gets in
Based on about 35 students who started, across similar courses at this university
- A levels: 95%
- Baccalaureate: 5%
Accreditation & quality ratings
TEF 2023 (whole university): Silver overall, Bronze for student experience, Gold for student outcomes.
Modules
- Discover: Personal, Academic and Professional Development in Modern Languages
- Literary Worlds: From Revolution to Postmodernity
- Literary Worlds: From Riddles to Novels
- Exploring Identities in the French and Francophone world
- French Language 1 (Advanced)
- French Language 1 (Beginners)
- Nation, Democracy, Diversity in the German-speaking world
- German Language 1 (Advanced)
- German Language 1 (Beginners)
- Italian Language 1 (Beginners)
- Visions of Italy on paper and screen
- Visions of Italy through music
- Red Lives: A Cultural History of Soviet Life and Its Afterlife
- Roots of the Rus': Language, Culture, and Civilisation
- Russian Language 1 (Beginners): Decoding and Discovering Russian
- Environment, Sustainability and Development in the Portuguese-speaking world
- Portuguese Language 1 (Beginners): Boas-vindas!
- Approaches to Children's Literature A
- Approaches to Children's Literature B
- Approaches to Fantasy, Sci Fi and Dystopia A
- Approaches to Fantasy, Sci Fi and Dystopia B
- Approaches to Medieval Literature A
- Approaches to Medieval Literature B
- Approaches to North American Literature A
- Approaches to North American Literature B
- Approaches to Plays and Performance: Shakespeare and Beyond A
- Approaches to Plays and Performance: Shakespeare and Beyond B
- Approaches to Critical Reading
- Approaches to Literary Cultures
- French Language 2(Intermediate)
- French Language 2 (Advanced)
- German Language 2 (Intermediate)
- German Language 2A (Advanced)
- Cultural Industries: Creativity in Change
- Portuguese Language 2 (Intermediate): Vamos lá!
- Exploring Italian cities: texts and contexts
- Italian Language 2 (Intermediate)
- 19th Century Russia through the Lens of the Novel
- Russian Language 2 (Intermediate): Russian Language in Action
- Gothic
- Imagined Worlds: Genre Fiction and Popular Culture
- Shakespeare: Elizabethan
- Eighteenth-Century and Romantic Literature
- Literature 1950-Present
- Restoration and Revolution
- Earliest English
- Popular Fiction Before the Novel
- Reading the Renaissance
- British Theatre
- Colonial/Postcolonial
- Literature and Environment: Crisis and Resistance
- Shakespeare: Jacobean
- Our Digital World
- Rags and Riches: Wealth and Poverty in American Literature and Culture
- The Social Life of Literature
- Aspects of Modernism
- Gender and Sexuality Studies
- Victorian Literature
- Global French: Communities, Politics and International Relations
- Sources of Inspiration: Creativity and Adaptation through French Texts
- Ideals and Ideas: The Making of Modern Germany
- Obedience and Autonomy in German Culture and Thought
- Beginners Catalan Language A
- Beginners Catalan Language B
- Artistic and Literary Representations of Barcelona
- Gender, New Media and Cultural Identity
- Cross-Cultural Cinema: Film Adaptation beyond the Nation-State
- Cross-Cultural Cinema: Migration and Displacement
- Global Enterprise Project
- Language and power
- Teaching and Learning (languages) in the 21st century
- Work, The Future and You
- Translation in the Workplace
- French Language Final Year
- German Language Final Year
- Exploring the self: Dante and Leopardi
- Italian Language Final Year
- Portuguese Language Final Year: Avante!
- Thinking Otherwise: Decolonial Approaches to Contemporary Thought and Culture
- Audio-Visual Translation Project: Russian to English
- Business Russian
- Russian Language Final Year: Towards Fluency
- Dissertation in English Literature
- Final Year Extended Independent Study Module in Modern Languages
- Joint Honours Link Dissertation
- Interpreting A
- Interpreting B
- Adapting Nineteenth-Century France
- Breaking New Ground: Innovative French Writing and Visual Culture
- Colonial and Postcolonial Cultures in the Francophone Worlds
- Discourses, Disciplines and Dissidence: The Construction of Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century France
- Franco-African Relations from de Gaulle to Macron (1944 to the present)
- Francophone Caribbean Literature and Film
- From Princesses to Poisoners: Gender, Identity and Society in Seventeenth-century French texts
- The Algerian War
- Seeing Differently: German-Language Cinema since 1960
- Sex, Seduction and Submission: Gender in German Literature from 1900 to Today
- War in Peace: Writing the First World War in Germany, 1918-1939
- From Plato to the Postmodern: Theories of Literature and Art
- Hidden Romanticism
- Interactivity: The Theory and Practice of Getting Stuck In
- The Art of Translation
- Literature at Sea: 1851 to present
- Multiple Voices: New York City Poetics, 1960-1985
- Orwell's Books: Writing Politics, Resisting Tyranny
- Politics and Terror in the Age of Revolutions
- Shakespeare's Afterlives
- Writing/Painting
- Bringing Out the Bodies: Technology, Transhumans and Skin
- Fantasy and fandom: writing back to the medieval in modern fantasy
- Islamophobia and the Novel
- Jane Austen’s Fiction
- Literary Ecologies: Environmental Crisis in American Writing
- Chaucer: Key Works
- Daphne du Maurier: Horror, Romance & Obsession
- Making Global Literatures in Britain
- Shakespeare's Tragedies
- Single Author: Virginia Woolf
- The Figure of the Witch: Witch Writings c. 1400-1700
- Back to the Future – Hidden Histories and Utopian Possibilities, 1800-present
- Contemporary representations of the body: literature, theory and art
- Echoes of Colonialism and Imperialism Across Cultures
- From Text to Tech: Digital Approaches to Languages and Cultures
- Language, Culture and Communication: Digging into the text
- The Romance languages: structure, variation and change
- Translation and Creativity in the Digital Age I
- Translation and Creativity in the Digital Age II
- Uniformity and diversity in the Iberian-Romance speaking world
Questions about this course
How much do graduates of BA Modern Languages and English Literature at University of Birmingham earn?
The median salary is £28,000 after 15 months, £27,500 after 3 years, £34,000 after 5 years. After five years the middle half of graduates earn between £27,500 and £49,000. The £34,000 median after five years is £5,000 more than the UK median for English studies.
What do graduates of BA Modern Languages and English Literature at University of Birmingham do next?
80% were in work or further study 15 months after finishing (Graduate Outcomes 2023-24).
Are students happy with the teaching on BA Modern Languages and English Literature at University of Birmingham?
93% of final-year students were positive about the teaching in the National Student Survey 2025-26.
What grades do I need for BA Modern Languages and English Literature at University of Birmingham?
The typical offer is AAB at A level, or 32 points in the IB. The average entrant had 147 UCAS points.
Does BA Modern Languages and English Literature at University of Birmingham include a placement year or year abroad?
The course has a compulsory year abroad.
How many students continue on BA Modern Languages and English Literature at University of Birmingham?
87% of students continued into their second year, and 13% left higher education.