English Language and Literature

English language and literature is a combined discipline that gives you both the scientific study of language and the humanistic study of literature, two ways of understanding how human beings use words to make meaning that illuminate each other in important ways. English language study asks how language is structured, how it varies across communities and contexts, how it is acquired, and how it has changed over time. Literature study examines how authors use language creatively, how narratives are constructed, what genres do, and how literary works relate to the societies and histories in which they are produced.

Together the two develop a particularly rich and double-focused understanding of language as both a system and an art.

At the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, this three-year, full-time programme includes a sandwich placement year, a year abroad, and work placement experience, giving it a strong professional and international dimension alongside the academic content. You will engage with linguistic analysis of phonology, grammar, and discourse alongside the close reading of literary texts from across the history of English writing and from contemporary and world literature in English. The programme develops both analytical and written communication skills to a high standard, and the combination of language and literature gives you a versatile intellectual toolkit.

The sandwich year, work placements, and year abroad all extend your learning beyond the classroom. Placements might be in publishing, journalism, education, media, or communications, and the year abroad gives you direct experience of English in an international academic context.

Graduates work in publishing, journalism, education, communications, public relations, the cultural sector, and many other fields where the ability to read critically and write clearly is fundamental. Many go on to postgraduate study in linguistics, English literature, creative writing, or related fields. Newcastle's strong programme and its connections to the creative and cultural industries of the North East make it a productive environment for graduates in this combination.