English Literature and Language

English literature and language is a degree that combines two complementary but distinct approaches to the study of English: the close reading and interpretive analysis of literary texts, and the scientific study of how English as a language works. Literature explores what language has made, the poems, novels, plays, and essays that constitute the literary tradition, asking how and why they were written and what they mean. Language study examines the system itself: its grammar, history, social variation, acquisition, and its relationship to thought and identity.

Studied together, they give you a richer understanding of each.

At the University of Westminster, this three-year full-time programme focuses on English literature within its wider social context, attending closely to the language through which literary meaning is made. A sandwich year is built into the degree, giving you the opportunity to work in a relevant professional setting before your final year. A year abroad is also incorporated, and work placement is additionally available.

Westminster's central London location provides access to literary and cultural life and to the professional networks that the sandwich year and placement help you develop.

You will engage with literary texts across periods and genres alongside modules in linguistics, language in society, and the history of English. The combination develops both the interpretive and the analytical skills that each discipline separately cultivates, giving you a more rounded and versatile intellectual training.

Graduates go on to work in publishing, journalism, broadcasting, education, the civil service, marketing, communications, law, and a wide range of other fields. The combination of literary sensitivity and linguistic precision is valued by employers who need graduates who can read and write with exceptional care. Postgraduate study in literature, linguistics, applied linguistics, or creative writing is a natural next step.