BA English Language and Literature
About this course
Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature, a modern languages degree focused on the history, structure, and cultural impact of the English language alongside its literary traditions. Core topics include Statistics, Research Methods, Human Behaviour, and Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning. Students combine literary and linguistic methodologies, with opportunities to complete an independent dissertation in their final year. The first year covers core foundations through modules such as Academic Skills for Modern languages and Linguistics Students, Elements of Linguistics: Sound, Structure and Meaning, From English to Englishes, Poetic Language, The Making of Modern English, and Theory and Criticism. The second year progresses into specialised studies with compulsory modules including Syntax: Studying Language Structure and Variation and Change in English. Optional modules across the programme allow students to explore diverse subjects such as corpus linguistics, scriptwriting, world dramas, and psycholinguistics. The final year involves independent research culminating in either the English Dissertation or the Languages, Cultures and Linguistics Dissertation, alongside a wide selection of advanced optional modules.
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: ABB IB: Pass, with 32 points overall with 16 points at Higher Level.
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What students say
Based on about 7 final-year students who answered, across similar courses at this university (a small group: a rough guide only)
- Teaching on my course: 98%
- Learning opportunities: 88%
- Assessment and feedback: 84%
- Academic support: 95%
- Organisation and management: 95%
- Learning resources: 93%
- Student voice: 83%
Do students stay on the course?
Based on about 10 students who started, across similar courses at this university (a small group: a rough guide only)
- Continued on course: 85%
- Left higher education: 15%
What graduates do next
Based on about 13 graduates who answered, across similar courses at this university (a small group: a rough guide only)
- Working: 50%
- Working and studying: 15%
- Further study: 10%
- Unemployed: 10%
Most common jobs
- Business and public service associate professionals: 20%
- Leisure, travel and related personal service occupations: 15%
- Artistic, literary and media occupations: 15%
- Sales occupations: 10%
- Managers, directors and senior officials: 10%
- Find their work meaningful: 70%
- Feel on track for their future plans: 60%
- Use what they learnt on the course: 50%
Where graduates work (5 years on)
Based on about 155 graduates, across similar courses at this university
- North West: 2%
- Yorkshire and the Humber: 1%
- East Midlands: 1%
- West Midlands: 2%
- East of England: 10%
- London: 27%
- South East: 38%
- South West: 13%
- Wales: 5%
- Scotland: 1%
- Northern Ireland: 1%
Who gets in
Based on about 10 students who started (a small group: a rough guide only)
- A levels: 100%
Accreditation & quality ratings
TEF 2023 (whole university): Silver overall, Silver for student experience, Silver for student outcomes.
Modules
- Academic Skills for Modern languages and Linguistics Students
- Elements of Linguistics: Sound, Structure and Meaning
- From English to Englishes
- Poetic Language
- The Making of Modern English
- Theory and Criticism
- Applications of Linguistics
- Language Acquisition
- Literary Transformations
- The Act of the Essay
- The Invention of English Literature: Medieval to Early Modern
- World Dramas
- Syntax: Studying Language Structure
- Variation and Change in English
- Eve and the Angels: Love, War, and the End of Epic in Milton's Paradise Lost
- AI Utopias and the Climate Crisis
- African Freedoms and the Novel
- Brief Encounters: Writing Short Stories
- Cities of the Dead: Death, Mourning and Remembrance in Modern Britain
- Corpus Linguistics: Working with Large-scale Text Data
- Darwin and the Making of Evolutionary Thought: Myth, Memory, and Modern Society
- Data, Culture, and Justice
- Decolonising Modernity
- Desire and Decay: Literature of the Long Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
- Digital Futures of the Past: Power, Ethics, and Representation
- Discourse Analysis
- Globalisation: Culture, Language and the Nation State
- Health, Culture, and Discrimination
- Language, Power and Institutions: How Linguistic Practices Can Shape Our Lives
- Mind, Matter, Machine: Writing and Technological Change
- Multilingualism
- Pirates, Princesses and the Politics of Romance
- Psycholinguistics
- Queens, Devils and Players in Early Modern England
- Queering the Digital
- Researching Language, Culture and Communication in the Global World
- Retail Therapy: A Journey Through the Cultural History of Shopping
- Romantics and Victorians
- Scriptwriting
- Sound and Voice
- Speech Acts
- Teaching English as a Foreign Language
- The Worlding of English Literature
- Women, Writing and the Canon, 1770-1900
- English Dissertation
- Languages, Cultures and Linguistics Dissertation
- Burning Worlds, Drowning Worlds: Oil Cultures, Climate Crisis, and Traumatic Desires in World Literatures
- English as a Global Language
- AI Utopias and the Climate Crisis
- American Cinema Since 1965
- American Gothic
- Cities of the Dead: Death, Mourning and Remembrance in Modern Britain
- Creative Writing in Schools
- Darwin and the Making of Evolutionary Thought: Myth, Memory, and Modern Society
- Data, Culture, and Justice
- Digital Futures of the Past: Power, Ethics, and Representation
- Digital Life: Myths, Social Media, And Artificial Intelligence
- Digital Media, Language and Communication
- Environmental Cinema and Media
- Eve and the Angels: Love, War, and the End of Epic in Milton's Paradise Lost
- Fantasy Film and Fiction
- Framing the Past:Stardom, History and Heritage in the Cinema
- Holocaust Literature
- Language and Speech Disorders
- Money and Meaning in American Fiction
- Pirates, Princesses and the Politics of Romance
- Queering the Digital
- Scriptwriting
- Second Language Acquisition
- Shakespeare Then and Now
- Sociophonetic Project Module
- Streaming, Social Media, and Stans: Music Culture in the Platform Era
- Telling True Stories: Narrative Non-Fiction
- The Origins of Climate Crisis: Ecology in Victorian Literature
- Utopias and Dystopias in Literature and Culture
Questions about this course
How much do graduates of BA English Language and Literature at University of Southampton earn?
The median salary is £29,000 after 15 months, £26,000 after 3 years, £32,000 after 5 years. After five years the middle half of graduates earn between £26,000 and £38,500. The £32,000 median after five years is £1,000 less than the UK median for Language and area studies (other).
What do graduates of BA English Language and Literature at University of Southampton do next?
75% were in work or further study 15 months after finishing (Graduate Outcomes 2023-24).
Are students happy with the teaching on BA English Language and Literature at University of Southampton?
98% of final-year students were positive about the teaching in the National Student Survey 2025-26.
What grades do I need for BA English Language and Literature at University of Southampton?
The typical offer is ABB at A level, or 32 points in the IB. The average entrant had 131 UCAS points.
Does BA English Language and Literature at University of Southampton include a placement year or year abroad?
The course has an optional year abroad.
How many students continue on BA English Language and Literature at University of Southampton?
85% of students continued into their second year, and 15% left higher education.