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English Language

Entry Year: 2024

2 study options

English Language BA (Hons)

Key information

Degree
BA (Hons)
Duration
3 years
Start
September 2024
UCAS code
Q310
Institution code
Q50
Typical A-Level offer
Grades ABB at A-Level. Excludes General Studies.
Full entry requirements (including contextual admissions)
Home fees
£9,250
Overseas fees
£23,350
Funding information
Paying your fees

English Language with Year Abroad BA (Hons)

Key information

Degree
BA (Hons)
Duration
4 years
Start
September 2024
UCAS code
Q311
Institution code
Q50
Typical A-Level offer
Grades ABB at A-Level. Excludes General Studies.
Full entry requirements (including contextual admissions)
Home fees
£9,250
Overseas fees
£23,350
Funding information
Paying your fees

Year abroad cost

Finances for studying abroad on exchange

View details

Overview

Travel back to the origins of the English language, and study its evolution into the 21st century.

Language is central to how we think, create, and reason. Studying with us, you’ll discover the foundations of the English language including sound, structure and meaning, along with discourse, style, and vocabulary. You’ll also study sociolinguistics, examining the diversity of English around the world and how it’s learned by children and non-native speakers.

Our work provides vital insights into the nature of language, as well as into the role language plays in shaping our identity and how we interact with others. Throughout the course, you’ll also hear from guest speakers with backgrounds in speech and language therapy, film and acting, government, and more.

Structure

Practical skills are key to this course. You’ll develop and hone your skills in transcribing English using the International Phonetic Alphabet, analysing its structure and variations in form, alongside strengthening your academic writing and critical thinking. In your final year, you'll carry out original data analysis, focusing on an area of the English Language that interests you such as digital communication, language and gender, or communication disorders. From BBC London to the Cabinet Office, our graduates find a range of exciting career destinations. Where will our English language degree take you? If you choose to study abroad, this will take place in Year 3 and Year 3 modules will instead be studied in Year 4.

Year 1

Compulsory

  • Foundations of Language
  • Thinking Linguistics: Approaches to Writing and Analysis
  • Phonetics 1: The Sounds of English
  • language in the UK
  • Language Acquisition
  • Syntax I: The Structure of English
  • Sociolinguistics: English in Use

 

 

Please note that all modules are subject to change.

Year 2

Compulsory

  • Research methods in Linguistics
  • History of English

Choose from a range of modules including

  • Applying Linguistics in the Real World
  • Explaining Grammatical Structure
  • History of English
  • Interaction and Discourse
  • Language and Mind
  • Sociolinguistic Variation and Change

Please note that all modules are subject to change.

Year 3

Compulsory

  • English Language/Linguistics Research Project

Choose from a range of modules including

  • Beyond Language
  • Bilingualism and Multilingualism
  • Formal Semantics
  • Health Communication
  • Philosophy of Language
  • Sex, Gender and Language
  • Structures of Spoken English
  • Syntactic Theory
  • Unfamiliar Languages

Please note that all modules are subject to change.

You may also be able to choose modules from the School of English and Drama, or in Comparative Literature, Psychology or Computer Science.

Study options

Apply for this degree with any of the following options. Take care to use the correct UCAS code - it may not be possible to change your selection later.

Year abroad

Go global and study abroad as part of your degree – apply for our English Language BA with a Year Abroad. Queen Mary has links with universities in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia (partnerships vary for each degree programme).

Find out more about study abroad opportunities at Queen Mary and what the progression requirements are. 

 

Teaching

Teaching and learning

You'll receive approximately eight to 10 hours of teaching per week, comprising lectures, seminars and workshops.

For every hour spent in class, you'll complete a further two to three hours of independent study.

Assessment

Assessment typically includes a combination of research diaries, poster presentations, class tests and exams. In your final year, you’ll carry out a research project based on real-world data and applying cutting-edge theory, which will bring together everything you have learned.

Resources and facilities

The School offers excellent on-campus resources to aid your studies, including:

  • the Queen Mary library
  • a phonetics laboratory, including a soundproof recording studio
  • Ling Lunch talks
  • Departmental guest speaker seminars, which allow you to hear from Queen Mary academics, researchers and experts from institutions in Europe and North America.

Learn another language

If you’re interested in learning another language, you can sign up for a course at Queen Mary’s Language Centre, where you can choose from Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), French, German, Japanese, Bengali, Catalan, Italian or Spanish.

Entry requirements

A-LevelGrades ABB at A-Level. Excludes General Studies.
IBInternational Baccalaureate Diploma with a minimum of 32 points overall, including 6,5,5 from three Higher Level subjects.
BTECSee our detailed subject and grade requirements
Access HEWe consider applications from students with the Access to Higher Education Diploma. The minimum academic requirement is to achieve 60 credits overall, with 45 credits at Level 3, of which 18 credits must be at Distinction and 15 credits at Merit or higher. Applications are considered on a case by case basis. Due to the high volume of applications, we do not make offers of study purely on the basis of meeting grade requirements.
GCSEMinimum five GCSE passes including English at grade C or 4.
EPQ

Alternative offers may be made to applicants taking the Extended Project Qualification.

For further information please visit: qmul.ac.uk/undergraduate/entry/epq

Contextualised admissions

Our standard contextual offer: Grades BBC Excludes General Studies, Critical Thinking.

Our enhanced contextual offer (for care experienced students, refugee/asylum seekers or students who have completed Realising Opportunities or Access to Queen Mary): Grades BBC Excludes General Studies, Critical Thinking.

More information on how this information is used for a contextual offer can be found on our contextualised admissions page.

A-LevelGrades ABB at A-Level. Excludes General Studies.
IBInternational Baccalaureate Diploma with a minimum of 32 points overall, including 6,5,5 from three Higher Level subjects.
BTECSee our detailed subject and grade requirements
Access HEWe consider applications from students with the Access to Higher Education Diploma. The minimum academic requirement is to achieve 60 credits overall, with 45 credits at Level 3, of which 18 credits must be at Distinction and 15 credits at Merit or higher. Applications are considered on a case by case basis. Due to the high volume of applications, we do not make offers of study purely on the basis of meeting grade requirements.
GCSEMinimum five GCSE passes including English at grade C or 4.
EPQAlternative offers may be made to applicants taking the Extended Project Qualification. For further information please visit: qmul.ac.uk/undergraduate/entry/epq
Contextualised admissionsOur standard contextual offer: Grades BBC Excludes General Studies, Critical Thinking.

Our enhanced contextual offer (for care experienced students, refugee/asylum seekers or students who have completed Realising Opportunities or Access to Queen Mary): Grades BCC Excludes General Studies, Critical Thinking.

More information on how this information is used for a contextual offer can be found on our contextualised admissions page.

Non-UK students

We accept a wide range of European and international qualifications in addition to A-levels, the International Baccalaureate and BTEC qualifications. Please visit International Admissions for full details.

If your qualifications are not accepted for direct entry onto this degree, consider applying for a foundation programme.

English language

Find out more about our English language entry requirements, including the types of test we accept and the scores needed for entry to the programme.

You may also be able to meet the English language requirement for your programme by joining a summer pre-sessional programme before starting your degree.

Further information

See our general undergraduate entry requirements.

Funding

Loans and grants

UK students accepted onto this course are eligible to apply for tuition fee and maintenance loans from Student Finance England or other government bodies.

Scholarships and bursaries

Queen Mary offers a generous package of scholarships and bursaries, which currently benefits around 50 per cent of our undergraduates.

Scholarships are available for home, EU and international students. Specific funding is also available for students from the local area. International students may be eligible for a fee reduction. We offer means-tested funding, as well as subject-specific funding for many degrees.

Find out what scholarships and bursaries are available to you.

Support from Queen Mary

We offer specialist support on all financial and welfare issues through our Advice and Counselling Service, which you can access as soon as you have applied for a place at Queen Mary.

Take a look at our Student Advice Guides which cover ways to finance your degree, including:

  • additional sources of funding
  • planning your budget and cutting costs
  • part-time and vacation work
  • money for lone parents.

Careers

Graduates from the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film go on to work in a wide variety of roles. Some apply their degree knowledge directly, entering sectors such as journalism, teaching and the creative arts, while others transfer skills gained during study into areas such as marketing and public relations. Some go on to further study, for instance choosing the School’s highly regarded MA in Linguistics.

Recent graduates have been hired by:

  • BBC London
  • Cabinet Office
  • Embassy Language School
  • Progressive Digital Media
  • RandomStorm
  • Teach First.

Career support

You’ll have access to bespoke careers support every step of your degree, including one-to-one academic support. The Linguistics Department runs regular career workshops to help you plan your next step.

Our careers team can also offer:

  • specialist advice on choosing a career path
  • support with finding work experience, internships and graduate jobs
  • feedback on CVs, cover letters and application forms
  • interview coaching.

Learn more about career support and development at Queen Mary.

Data for these courses

English Language - BA (Hons)

English Language with Year Abroad - BA (Hons)

The Discover Uni dataset (formerly Unistats)

About the School

The School of Languages, Linguistics and Film explores global culture and communication through a vibrant interdisciplinary environment with five distinct but interconnected areas of academic excellence. Our multilingual community brings together brilliant minds from across the world to share a wealth of expertise – from practical film-making and contemporary literature to experimental neurolinguistics and 11 different modern languages – so that students can become truly global citizens.

Our School’s five Departments are united by the common threads of communication and culture, opening the doors to new worlds of opportunity. Both a single and richly varied entity, our School’s work enables creative thinking that goes beyond national, linguistic and cultural boundaries. We combine research excellence with an unrivalled commitment to social justice and social mobility, true to the Queen Mary spirit, achieving the previously unthinkable through our School’s unique mix of bright minds.

 

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