Skip to main content

University of Reading Cookie Policy

We use cookies on reading.ac.uk to improve your experience. Find out more about our cookie policy. By continuing to use our site you accept these terms, and are happy for us to use cookies to improve your browsing experience.

Continue using the University of Reading website

  • Schools and departments
  • Henley Business School
  • University of Reading Malaysia
  • Applicants
  • Student
  • Staff
  • Alumni
  • Local Community
Show/Hide navigation
University of Reading University of Reading
Mobile search categories
  • Clearing 2025
  • Study and life
  • Research
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • View courses
  • Home
  • Clearing 2025
    • Clearing courses
    • How to apply
    • International applicants
    • Accommodation
    • Register your interest
  • Study and life
    • Study
    • Student life
    • Accommodation
    • Open Days and visiting
    • International students
  • Research
    • Themes
    • Impact
    • Innovation and partnerships
    • Research environment
    • Get involved
  • About us
    • Our global community
    • Business
    • Local community
    • Visit us
    • Strategy
    • Governance
    • Governance
  • Contact us
  • Applicants
  • Student
  • Staff
  • Alumni
  • Local Community
  • Schools and departments
  • Henley Business School
  • University of Reading Malaysia
  • View courses
mask
CHOOSE A SUBJECT
2025/26
2026/27
Undergraduates
Postgraduates
Undergraduates
Postgraduates

Subjects A-B

  • Accounting
  • Agriculture
  • Ancient History
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Architectural Engineering
  • Architecture
  • Art
  • Biochemistry
  • Biological Sciences
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Biomedical Sciences
  • Bioveterinary Sciences
  • Building and Surveying
  • Business and Management

Subjects C-E

  • Chemistry
  • Classics and Classical Studies
  • Climate Science
  • Computer Science
  • Construction Management
  • Consumer Behaviour and Marketing
  • Creative Writing
  • Criminology
  • Drama
  • Ecology
  • Economics
  • Education
  • Engineering
  • English Language and Applied Linguistics
  • English Literature
  • Environment

Subjects F-G

  • Film & Television
  • Finance
  • Food
  • Foundation programmes
  • French
  • Geography
  • German
  • Graphic Communication and Design

Subjects H-M

  • Healthcare
  • History
  • International Development
  • International Foundation Programme (IFP)
  • International Relations
  • Italian
  • Languages and Cultures
  • Law
  • Linguistics
  • Marketing
  • Mathematics
  • Medical Sciences
  • Meteorology and Climate
  • Microbiology
  • Museum Studies

Subjects N-T

  • Nutrition
  • Pharmacology
  • Pharmacy
  • Philosophy
  • Physician Associate Studies
  • Politics and International Relations
  • Psychology
  • Real Estate and Planning
  • Sociology
  • Spanish
  • Speech and Language Therapy
  • Surveying and Construction
  • Teaching
  • Theatre & Performance

Subjects U-Z

  • Wildlife Conservation
  • Zoology

Subjects A-C

  • Accounting
  • Agriculture
  • Ancient History
  • Archaeology
  • Architecture
  • Art
  • Biological Sciences
  • Biomedical Sciences
  • Business (Post-Experience)
  • Business and Management (Pre-Experience)
  • Classics and Ancient History
  • Climate Science
  • Computer Science
  • Construction Management and Engineering
  • Consumer Behaviour
  • Creative Enterprise

Subjects D-G

  • Data Science
  • Dietetics
  • Digital Business
  • Ecology
  • Economics
  • Education
  • Energy and Environmental Engineering
  • Engineering
  • English Language and Applied Linguistics
  • English Literature
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Film, Theatre and Television
  • Finance
  • Food and Nutritional Sciences
  • Geography and Environmental Science
  • Graphic Design

Subjects H-P

  • Healthcare
  • History
  • Information Technology
  • International Development and Applied Economics
  • Law
  • Linguistics
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • Meteorology and Climate
  • Microbiology
  • Nutrition
  • Pharmacy
  • Philosophy
  • Physician Associate
  • Politics and International Relations
  • Project Management
  • Psychology
  • Public Policy

Subjects Q-Z

  • Real Estate and Planning
  • Social Policy
  • Speech and Language Therapy
  • Strategic Studies
  • Teacher training
  • Theatre
  • Typography and Graphic Communication
  • War and Peace Studies
  • Zoology

Subjects A-B

  • Accounting
  • Agriculture
  • Ancient History
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Architectural Engineering
  • Architecture
  • Art
  • Biochemistry
  • Biological Sciences
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Biomedical Sciences
  • Bioveterinary Sciences
  • Building and Surveying
  • Business and Management

Subjects C-E

  • Chemistry
  • Classics and Classical Studies
  • Climate Science
  • Computer Science
  • Construction Management
  • Consumer Behaviour and Marketing
  • Creative Writing
  • Criminology
  • Drama
  • Ecology
  • Economics
  • Education
  • Engineering
  • English Language and Applied Linguistics
  • English Literature
  • Environment

Subjects F-G

  • Film & Television
  • Finance
  • Food
  • Foundation programmes
  • French
  • Geography
  • German
  • Graphic Communication and Design

Subjects H-M

  • Healthcare
  • History
  • International Development
  • International Foundation Programme (IFP)
  • International Relations
  • Italian
  • Languages and Cultures
  • Law
  • Linguistics
  • Marketing
  • Mathematics
  • Medical Sciences
  • Meteorology and Climate
  • Microbiology
  • Museum Studies

Subjects N-T

  • Nutrition
  • Pharmacology
  • Pharmacy
  • Philosophy
  • Physician Associate Studies
  • Politics and International Relations
  • Psychology
  • Real Estate and Planning
  • Sociology
  • Spanish
  • Speech and Language Therapy
  • Surveying and Construction
  • Teaching
  • Theatre & Performance

Subjects U-Z

  • Wildlife Conservation
  • Zoology

We are in the process of finalising our postgraduate taught courses for 2026/27 entry. In the meantime, you can view our 2025/26 courses.

BA Modern Languages and English Literature

  • UCAS code
    R9Q3
  • A level offer
    BBB
  • Year of entry
    2026/27 See 2025/26 entry
  • Course duration
    Full Time:  4 Years
  • Year of entry
    2026/27 See 2025/26 entry
  • Course duration
    Full Time:  4 Years

Study a modern language, and explore a variety of writers from across the globe, with our BA Modern Languages and English Literature degree.

This highly flexible degree enables you to study a modern language – choosing from our core languages of French, German, Italian and Spanish – alongside your studies in English literature.

You'll be taught by experts from the Department of Languages and Cultures and the Department of English Literature, both of which prioritise learning in small seminar groups. This enables you to interact directly with your teachers and fellow students, and to add your own voice to discussions. 

In your third year, you will go abroad to enhance your language learning and undertake a placement at the same time.

  • For more information, please visit the Department of Languages and Cultures website.

In the latest National Student Survey, 98% of our students in the Department of Languages and Cultures said teaching staff are good at explaining things (National Student Survey 2024, 97.87% of responders from the Department of Languages and Cultures), and 100% of students in the Department of English Literature said that teaching staff are good at explaining things (National Student Survey 2024, responders from the Department of English Literature). 

In the Guardian University Guide 2025, we are ranked 9th for English. 

Learn a language

At the University of Reading, you’ll join a lively, multilingual community and study alongside students from all over the world.

Learn from internationally recognised researchers whose wide-ranging expertise includes migration, literature, history, cinema, linguistics, publishing, and translation. 100% of our research is of international standing in both departments (REF 2021, combining 4*, 3* and 2* submissions – Modern Languages and Linguistics; REF 2021, combining 4*, 3* and 2* submissions – English Language and Literature).

Choose to study one of our four core languages:

  • French
  • German
  • Italian
  • Spanish

These languages are offered at beginner’s, intermediate or advanced level, depending on your experience.

Our flexible, supportive teaching style will enable you to become confident and highly skilled in your chosen core language. You will master the fundamentals of the language – both written and spoken – graduating with a high level of proficiency.

Direct access to our staff for help and feedback ensures you develop your language skills to the best of your ability.

The study of language includes cultural modules that develop your understanding of the cultures of the countries in which the language is spoken, from their literary and cinematic traditions to their history, politics and linguistics. As well as complementing your joint studies, this enables you to develop as a specialist with an international, comparative approach.

Optional modules also include introductory study of one of the following languages (subject to approval and availability):

  • Arabic
  • British Sign Language
  • Chinese (Mandarin)
  • French
  • German
  • Italian
  • Modern Greek
  • Japanese

Year Abroad

On the Year Abroad, you expand your linguistic skills and intercultural understanding in the language you study while doing a work placement, studying at a partner university or working as a language teaching assistant. The Year Abroad is organised by the Department of Languages and Cultures which runs preparation sessions throughout Part 2 and supports your preparation process as well as your stay abroad.

For more information, visit the website for the Department of Languages and Cultures.

Overview

Study a modern language, and explore a variety of writers from across the globe, with our BA Modern Languages and English Literature degree.

This highly flexible degree enables you to study a modern language – choosing from our core languages of French, German, Italian and Spanish – alongside your studies in English literature.

You'll be taught by experts from the Department of Languages and Cultures and the Department of English Literature, both of which prioritise learning in small seminar groups. This enables you to interact directly with your teachers and fellow students, and to add your own voice to discussions. 

In your third year, you will go abroad to enhance your language learning and undertake a placement at the same time.

  • For more information, please visit the Department of Languages and Cultures website.

In the latest National Student Survey, 98% of our students in the Department of Languages and Cultures said teaching staff are good at explaining things (National Student Survey 2024, 97.87% of responders from the Department of Languages and Cultures), and 100% of students in the Department of English Literature said that teaching staff are good at explaining things (National Student Survey 2024, responders from the Department of English Literature). 

In the Guardian University Guide 2025, we are ranked 9th for English. 

Learn a language

At the University of Reading, you’ll join a lively, multilingual community and study alongside students from all over the world.

Learn from internationally recognised researchers whose wide-ranging expertise includes migration, literature, history, cinema, linguistics, publishing, and translation. 100% of our research is of international standing in both departments (REF 2021, combining 4*, 3* and 2* submissions – Modern Languages and Linguistics; REF 2021, combining 4*, 3* and 2* submissions – English Language and Literature).

Choose to study one of our four core languages:

  • French
  • German
  • Italian
  • Spanish

These languages are offered at beginner’s, intermediate or advanced level, depending on your experience.

Learning

Our flexible, supportive teaching style will enable you to become confident and highly skilled in your chosen core language. You will master the fundamentals of the language – both written and spoken – graduating with a high level of proficiency.

Direct access to our staff for help and feedback ensures you develop your language skills to the best of your ability.

The study of language includes cultural modules that develop your understanding of the cultures of the countries in which the language is spoken, from their literary and cinematic traditions to their history, politics and linguistics. As well as complementing your joint studies, this enables you to develop as a specialist with an international, comparative approach.

Optional modules also include introductory study of one of the following languages (subject to approval and availability):

  • Arabic
  • British Sign Language
  • Chinese (Mandarin)
  • French
  • German
  • Italian
  • Modern Greek
  • Japanese

Year Abroad

On the Year Abroad, you expand your linguistic skills and intercultural understanding in the language you study while doing a work placement, studying at a partner university or working as a language teaching assistant. The Year Abroad is organised by the Department of Languages and Cultures which runs preparation sessions throughout Part 2 and supports your preparation process as well as your stay abroad.

For more information, visit the website for the Department of Languages and Cultures.

Entry requirements A Level BBB

Select Reading as your firm choice on UCAS and we'll guarantee you a place even if you don't quite meet your offer. For details, see our firm choice scheme.

 Our typical offers are expressed in terms of A level, BTEC and International Baccalaureate requirements. However, we also accept many other qualifications.

Typical offer

BBB, including English Literature or a related subject (English Language, English Language and Literature, Drama & Theatre Studies, and Creative Writing)

International Baccalaureate

30 points overall, including 5 in English Literature or a related subject (English Language, English Language and Literature, Drama & Theatre Studies, and Creative Writing) at higher level

Extended Project Qualification

In recognition of the excellent preparation that the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) provides to students for University study, we can now include achievement in the EPQ as part of a formal offer.

BTEC Extended Diploma

DDM, with comparable subject modules

English language requirements

IELTS 7.0, with no component below 6.0

For information on other English language qualifications, please visit our international student pages.

Alternative entry requirements for International and EU students

For country specific entry requirements look at entry requirements by country.

International Foundation Programme

If you are an international or EU student and do not meet the requirements for direct entry to your chosen degree you can join the University of Reading’s International Foundation Programme. Successful completion of this 1 year programme guarantees you a place on your chosen undergraduate degree. English language requirements start as low as IELTS 4.5 depending on progression degree and start date.

  • Learn more about our International Foundation programme

Pre-sessional English language programme

If you need to improve your English language score you can take a pre-sessional English course prior to entry onto your degree.

  • Find out the English language requirements for our courses and our pre-sessional English programme

Structure

  • Year 1
  • Year 2
  • Year 3
  • Year 4

Compulsory modules 

Poetry in English

From the Renaissance to the present, uncover the history of poetry as you explore key genres related to love, politics, pastoral, elegy, satire, the sonnet, the ode, and the dramatic monologue. You’ll study poems drawn from the wider English-speaking world including Ireland, the Caribbean and North America, encountering the diversity of voices found in gender and sexuality. 

Theory and Practice of Writing

Discover the key concepts that shape our understanding of literature from the perspective of composition and of critical work. Consider how writers are connected to other authors, editors and publishers as you articulate your own and others’ ideas in a portfolio of written work.  

You'll also take at least one of the following:

Beginners French, German, Italian or Spanish Language

If you have no experience of the language, this module will develop your skills to a level comparable to level A2 of the Common European Framework of Reference. You’ll learn the basics and gain the proficiency needed to undertake a degree in or involving the language. 

Intermediate French, German, Italian or Spanish Language

If you have a good GCSE grade or AS level in the language, this module will develop your skills to a level comparable to B1 of the Common European Framework for Reference. You’ll learn the speaking and writing skills required to study the language to honours degree level.  

Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language I

If you’ve achieved an A level in the language, this module will develop your skills to a level comparable to level B1.2/B2.1 of the Common European Framework of Reference. You’ll advance your written and spoken skills, enabling you to study the language to honours degree level. 

Further compulsory modules will depend on your chosen core language(s):

Ideas of Frenchness 1

Gain a foundation in the history, culture, literature and ideas of France and the Francophone world, helping you to understand key ideas and developments that shaped the concept and perception of ‘Frenchness’. 

The Making of Contemporary Germany

You’ll analyse and assess social and political developments in Germany since 1945, interacting films, official documents, media discourse, documentaries, national symbols, and song lyrics to identify themes of the historical period. 

Making Italians: A Journey in the History and Culture of Modern Italy

Explore the history and culture of modern Italy, from unification to the present. You’ll consider what and who contributed to the birth of Italy, including how they shaped the political landscape of the Fascist regime and the Republic.   

The Making of Modern Spain and Latin America

Discover the factors that contributed to the development of modern Spain and Latin America from 1492 to the present day. You’ll gain a broad overview from the days of Spanish empire to its decline through revolutions, experiences of dictatorship and globalisation. 

Optional modules

Introduction to Drama

Discover the genre of drama as you explore a historical range of texts from the early modern periods. You’ll focus on four plays as you explore comedy, tragedy, form, structure, and the elements of change and continuity found within the genre. 

Modern American Culture and Counterculture

Discover American countercultures in work, from 1950s Beat poetry to fiction responding to the Black Lives Matter movement. You’ll study the perspectives of African-American, Native American and white American creatives in a variety of genres: poetry, short stories, YA fiction, science fiction, drama, songs, films, war reportage and the graphic novel.  

Shelf Life

Become acquainted with English literature’s material dimension and how writers, both past and present, have depicted the library as a symbol. As you study, you'll interpret poems, novels and plays, and investigate books and other archival documents as physical objects.

Ideas of Frenchness 2

Build on your existing knowledge of ‘Frenchness’ by critically assessing cultural, historical, and literary materials, texts, and artefacts. Concepts covered include war, colonisation, decolonisation and changing conditions for women.

Introduction to Linguistics (for students of Italian)

Investigate human language including aspects of acquisition, multilingualism, and non-verbal communication. Focusing on Italian, you’ll consider the phonological, morphological, syntactical, semantic, and pragmatic features of the language. 

Introduction to Spanish and Latin American Culture

Using short stories, poetry, documentaries, films, and popular music from Spain and Latin America, you’ll analyse culture in the Hispanophone world, identifying themes of national identity, resistance, cultural and social revolution, power, and religion. 

Liberty and Empire in the Making of the Modern World

Consider how the modern world was shaped by liberty and empire. You’ll examine the movements for democracy and national independence globally, the rise of a new European imperialism in Africa and Asia, and how these affect the lives of ordinary people. 

Greats of European Cinema

Explore some of the main developments and key achievements of European cinema. Through analysing a selection of major films from Germany, France, Italy and Spain, you’ll develop an understanding of the broader cultural contexts in which these films were produced. 

Introduction to Linguistics

Investigate the origin, development, and characteristics of human language. You’ll focus on topics such as language endangerment, bilingualism and multilingualism in childhood, and non-verbal communication. You’ll also explore different linguistics aspects of modern European Languages.

Thinking Translation: History and Theory

Learn about the current thinking on translation by exploring some specific case studies. The historical approach to translation will allow you to develop a critical awareness of the role played by: genres, readership, institutional influences, market constraints, gender attitudes and discourses, purpose. In seminars, you will explore the challenges facing translators when dealing with literary, scientific, philosophical and political texts.

What Is Comparative Literature?

Learn about the major critical and theoretical issues in the study of Comparative Literature, as well as the important methodologies for studying literature in a comparative context. Approach a cluster of texts from different cultural and historical traditions, you'll be be encouraged to reflect on the practices and consequences of reading transnationally.

Belonging in Germany

Examine the changing ideas that address national belonging and exclusion in Germany. Using various media, you’ll gain insight into the question of how ‘belonging’ has been defined in different periods of German history. 

These are the modules that we currently offer for 2024/25 entry. They may be subject to change as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.

Compulsory modules

You'll take at least one of the following:

Intermediate French, German, Italian or Spanish Language

Develop your language skills and advance your proficiency to undertake your final year. Upon successful completion, you’ll have achieved the equivalent of level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference.  

Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language I

Develop your language skills to a level comparable to level B1.2/B2.1 of the Common European Framework of Reference. You’ll advance your written and spoken skills, enabling you to study the language to honours degree level.  

Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language II

Further develop your speaking and writing skills to achieve the language level required to your final year. Upon successful completion, you’ll achieve the equivalent of level B1.2/B2.1 of the Common European Framework of Reference. 

Further compulsory modules will depend on your chosen core language(s):

The First World War: Then and Now

To understand the French experience of the First World War and its wider impact on twentieth-century France, you’ll analyse experiences and responses to the conflict and consider representations and memory of the war. 

Cinema of Germany

Cinema has become a site of identity discourse for many Germans. You’ll analyse and assess films produced between the First World War and unification, relating these to changing political regimes and the wider cultural context of Germany. 

'Apocalittici e integrati': Intellectuals and Society in Twentieth Century Italy

Gain insight into the conflicts between the intellectual class and state in Fascist and Republican Italy. Exploring case studies will reveal the relationships between key Italian intellectuals and institutions such as the state, universities, media, and the Mafia. 

Transatlantic Exchanges: Latin America in the Global Nineteenth Century

Explore how Latin America faced challenges in the nineteenth century such as wars of independence and the abolition of slavery, and how the period has left its political and cultural mark on the region today. 

Culture and Revolution in Modern Latin America

Explore key moments of revolution and cultural policy in Latin America. You’ll examine how these events have been represented in different media, while developing an understanding of the various interactions and relationships between radical political change and culture.

How to Think in French

Strengthen the links between the linguistic and cultural study of French language and achieve ‘thinking in French’. You’ll focus on French rhetoric and style and how writing and thinking are taught within the French education system. You’ll also explore the way ideas about the French have developed and have been debated over time.

Children’s Books in France

Discover some of the important texts, authors and themes in the study of children’s literature in modern France.

Glorification, Denial and Contempt – Reconstructing Austria's Past

Critically examine discourses about Austrian identity and culture, while discussing key events and turning points in Austrian history. You’ll closely examines the commemoration, evaluation, and potential reinterpretation of these events by different generations or political groups. 

One Country, Many Languages: Linguistic Variety and Society in Contemporary Italy

Prepare for your year abroad in Italy and explore the linguistic complexity of the Peninsula, focussing on the socio-historical events that contributed to the spread of Italian as a standard language and to the survival of regional dialects and minority languages. You’ll be assessed through a variety of methods, familiarising yourself with techniques of oral assessment and independent study that you’ll use while preparing for exams in the Italian universities.

Modern and Contemporary Spanish Narratives

Discover pivotal narrative trends in modern and contemporary Spanish culture, including realism, the uncanny, the fantastic, metafiction, and symbolic representation. You’ll study various fictional works, including short stories, novels, and films from the late 19th century, exploring narrative devices and situating the texts within their intellectual and socio-cultural contexts. 

Optional modules

Science, Perversion, and Dream in Global Fantastic Literature

You’ll examine how French, Hispanic, Italian, and German literary traditions have impacted global fantastic literature, considering the usage of Gothic, grotesque, supernatural and uncanny elements in selected key texts. 

Myth, Legend and Romance: Medieval Storytelling

Explore storytelling in medieval England as you take in the fantastical tales of ancient heroes, drama that blends comedy and religious devotion, and magic and supernatural beings. You’ll consider the stark contrast of narrative structure, character development and language use by medieval writers in contrast to our own.  

Modernism in Poetry and Fiction

Examine the concepts of modernity, modernism, and the history of early twentieth-century poetry and fiction. You’ll explore experimentation and innovation in poetic and narrative form, and their relation to wider social upheaval and cultural movements in the period. 

Contemporary Fiction

Study a selection of fiction from the 1980s to the present day, exploring the formal, thematic and cultural diversity of Anglophone fiction produced in this period. You’ll consider these texts within a number of social, political and historical contexts, such as multiculturalism, feminism and globalisation.  

Critical Thinking

Study literature designed to prompt social and political change as you examine speeches, pamphlets, tracts and political posters from the early modern period to the present. Consider how such literature shapes debates on race, class, religion, nationality and women’s rights across Britain and Ireland.  

The Business of Books

You’ll cover the history and development of modern trade publishing and have focused sessions on some of its key players, including publishers and literary agents. Through a combination of theoretical, methodological, and hands-on teaching sessions and workshops, you’ll study the role and function of books in historical and institutional contexts including libraries, bookshops, publishing houses, and board rooms. 

Writing America: Perspectives on the Nation

Examine the construction of American national identity in American literature from a range of different perspectives. You’ll study a diversity of American voices and central themes including myths of the frontier, Manifest Destiny, personal and political liberty, and the construction of race, gender and sexuality.

Writing the Public Sphere

Study literature designed to prompt social and political change as you examine speeches, pamphlets, tracts and political posters from the early modern period to the present. Consider how such literature shapes debates on race, class, religion, nationality and women’s rights across Britain and Ireland.   

Society, Thought, and Art in Modern Europe

Discover the birth of modern humanity in late 18th-century Europe and the revolutionary changes that Enlightenment and Romanticism intellectual movements brought in all spheres of thought and social life. You’ll also explore how different European nations contributed to innovation, how modernity diffused beyond the Western world, the transformations brought by non-European influences, and the leading role of art in the modernisation process.

Unity, Nationalism and Regionalism in Europe

Discover how modern ideas of nation, national identity, the nation-state and nationalism have shaped modern Europe and the rest of the world from the 18th century to the present day. You’ll examine the impact of the idea of the nation and the persistence and profound significance of regionalist tendencies across Europe. You’ll also explore the dynamic relationship between nationalism and other ideologies of community and identity.  

Early Modern Literature

Discover the rich and fascinating literary culture of the early modern or Renaissance period. You'll explore the ways that English literature was shaped by, and helped to re-shape, English culture in the years between the Reformation and the Civil Wars.

Global Ecologies: Discourse, Environment and Society 

Explore case studies of climate discourse and activism from around the world. You’ll gain the skills needed to think critically about environmental issues and discourses and their wider implications. 

These are the modules that we currently offer for 2024/25 entry. They may be subject to change as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.

Study Year Abroad

On the Year Abroad, you expand your linguistic skills and intercultural understanding in the language you study while doing a work placement, studying at a partner university or working as a language teaching assistant. The Year Abroad is organised by the Department of Languages and Cultures which runs preparation sessions throughout Part 2 and supports your preparation process as well as your stay abroad.

For more information, visit the website for the Department of Languages and Cultures.

Compulsory modules

Language and Power

Language is a powerful tool that can construe reality, challenge power, harm and discriminate individuals and foster social cohesion. You’ll investigate a range of genres, discourse, and theoretical approaches to disclose a text’s underlying ideological stance. 

Future Worlds in Film

Explore genre features, contexts, and aesthetic genesis of science-fiction films from different traditions and periods. You’ll analyse formal and thematic features of the films and identify central ethical questions they raise, evaluating each film in its specific cultural, political, and social context.

Extended Essay

Prepare for postgraduate study and engage in extended research on a topic of your choosing, within the subject area and relevant to your degree programme. 

Identity and Conflict in Modern Europe

Explore the diversification, evolution and fluidity of definitions of modern notions of race, gender, and how individual and collective identities have been redefined by intellectuals and ideologies. You’ll be encouraged to engage with competing and conflicting visions and values both through set case studies and group projects.

You'll also take at least one of the following:

Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language I

Increase your competence in spoken and written language. Upon successful completion, you’ll achieve the equivalent of level B1.2/B2.1 of the Common European Framework of Reference. 

Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language II

Consolidate your language skills and achieve the equivalent of level B2.2 of the Common European Framework of Reference upon successful completion. 

Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language III

Advance the spoken and written language skills you developed during your year abroad to express yourself fluently. Upon successful completion, you’ll achieve the equivalent of level C1/C2 of the Common European Framework of Reference. 

Further compulsory modules will depend on your chosen core language(s):

The German Language and National identity

Investigate debates around the German language including standardisation and codification, the uses and misuses of German, and the role it has played in the development of Germany as a nation. 

Crisis, Change, Opportunity: Italy from 1968 to the Present

Discover themes and events that have contributed to change in modern Italian society. You’ll examine how moments of crisis engendered long-lasting change whilst fostering opportunity in terms of identity, citizenship, and nationhood. 

Memory, Dictatorship and Cultural Resistance in the Southern Cone

Examine the politics and aesthetics of 1970s Latin America, when authoritarian rule took hold across the Southern Cone. You’ll consider factors that led to military dictatorship, cultural resistance, and representations in literature, film and collective memory. 

Narrating the Colombian Conflict

Investigate the history of the Colombian armed conflicts, from the 1940s civil war to the present day war on drugs. Through the analysis of interdisciplinary historical and cultural texts, including essays, fiction, films and new media, you’ll explore the role stories play in both justifying conflict and creating the possibilities for peace. 

Writers and Publishers in Spain

Explore how recent history, politics, society, ideology and technology have shaped Spain’s cultural landscapes. You’ll focus on critical episodes in Spanish history, like the rise of a parliamentary system, the Republic of 1931, the Civil War, the Francoist regime, and the Transition to democracy. This module is conducted in Spanish, but assessments can be done in either English or Spanish.

War on Screen - Germany and its films about WWII

Analyse representative examples of German post-1945 war cinema and evaluate them as part of wider discourses about the legacy of the Nazi dictatorship in East, West, and unified Germany. You’ll compare war films from different post-war decades and German states, focusing on central ethical questions relating to guilt and atonement, resistance and participation as well as the representation of atrocities in a context of entertainment.

Language, Diversity, and Inclusion: The Representation of Otherness in the Italian Context

Explore how the concepts of identity, otherness, inclusion, and exclusion have been articulated and transmitted through the Italian language. You’ll examine case studies based on the Italian context, and look at issues around national stereotyping, diversity, representation of minorities, migrants and foreigners, gender, political correctness, cancel culture, and ‘inclusive language’.  

Optional modules

Dissertation in English Literature

Complete a substantial work of literary-critical argument based on sustained independent research under the guidance of a supervisor. Engage in depth with a topic of particular interest as you develop the skillset accumulated during your first two years of study. 

Philanthropy à la française: The History of Ideas and Practices in the French Third Sector

You’ll examine case studies that address the significant role that charity has played throughout French history and consider the social, economic, political, and cultural motivations and consequences of voluntary action.  

Literature and Mental Health

Discover how literature engaged with mental health in the first half of the twentieth century, a crucial turning point in psychology. You’ll consider the de-stigmatisation of mental health in the wake of World War I, the disciplines of psychiatry and psychology that emerged from it, and how literature engages with trauma, anxiety and obsession.  

Children's Literature

Explore issues surrounding children’s literature and its criticism. Questions and analyse critical assumptions and formulations around authorship, memory, observation, readership, and identity.

The Bloody Stage: Revenge and Death in Renaissance Drama

Explore the representation of revenge and death in revenge tragedies performed on the Renaissance stage. Analyse the staging of death scenes and whether there are differences in the ways that men and women die on stage.

From Romance to Fantasy

Explore the role played by fantastical or wondrous elements in English literature from the middle ages to the present day. Focus on a range of key narrative structures (such as the quest), persistent motifs such as magical objects, and influential modes, such as the gothic.

May '68

Investigate the events of May ’68 in France and put them in relation of the wider moment of global protest and counter-cultural turbulence. Through examining key texts, visual sources, ideas (and ideologies) from the period, you’ll explore the significant political, social and cultural change of these event and their legacy on contemporary French society.

French Popular Music and Society

Explore French popular music of the late 20th and 21st centuries, focusing on the development of the relevant genres and on music’s wider socio-cultural role. You’ll spend time looking at the texts, performances and personae of major artists in contemporary music genres including rap, rock, and electronica. 

Medieval Otherworlds

Learn how magic and the supernatural play an important role in medieval English literature. You’ll explore romances where questing knights arrive in uncanny fairy kingdoms or where King Arthur travels to Avalon. You’ll discover the ways authors use other worlds to explore serious themes such as desire, death, gender and political authority.

Decadence and Degeneration: Literature of the 1890s

Engage with iconic texts in English literature, including Stoker's Dracula, Stevenson's Jekyll and Hyde, and Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, while exploring what's meant by these terms 'decadence' and 'degeneration', calling, amongst many other things, on portrayals of 1890s' foppishness, Darwinian models of evolution, the emergent New Woman phenomenon, the Wilde trial, and the portrayal of prostitution.

Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury

Discover the works of the ‘founding mother’ of classic literary feminism and connect her writing with our own era’s struggles, controversies and debates. You’ll explore how contemporary Woolf’s stance is within the women’s autonomy debate, while also examining the controversial aspects of her writing.

Environment, Ecology and Literature

Investigate British writing about ecology, the environment, and rural life, from the Romantic Period (c.1800) to the present day. Study classic texts on the theory and science of climate change, sustainability, 'the wild', regenerative agriculture, and biodiversity. Hands-on work with The Museum of English Rural Life's object collections will help you consider the connections material culture provides with our receding rural heritage. 

These are the modules that we currently offer for 2024/25 entry. They may be subject to change as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.

Fees

New UK/Republic of Ireland students: The University of Reading will charge undergraduate home tuition fees at the upper limit as set by the UK government for the relevant academic year. The fee cap for 2026/27 hasn't been confirmed yet. Please check the fees and funding webpage for the latest information. The annual fee for 2025/26 is £9,535.

New international students: £25,850 for 2026/27. The International tuition fee is subject to annual increases changes in subsequent years of study as set out in your student contract. For more details, please visit our Fees for International Students page.

Tuition fees

To find out more about how the University of Reading sets its tuition fees, see our fees and funding pages.

Year abroad fees

If you spend a full year abroad, you will only pay 15% of your usual tuition fee for that year. For more information, please see our fees and funding pages or contact studyabroad@reading.ac.uk.

Additional Costs

Some courses will require additional payments for field trips and extra resources. You will also need to budget for your accommodation and living costs. See our information on living costs for more details.

Financial support for your studies

You may be eligible for a scholarship or bursary to help pay for your study. Students from the UK may also be eligible for a student loan to help cover these costs. See our fees and funding information for more information on what's available.

Careers

96% of graduates from Languages and Cultures are in work or further study within 15 months of graduation (based on our analysis of HESA data © HESA 2024, Graduate Outcomes Survey 2021/22; includes first degree Languages and Cultures responders).

Recent modern languages graduates have found careers in translation, teaching, business and finance, the arts, and marketing. Recent employers include:

  • Civil Service
  • Enterprise Mobility
  • JLL
  • PwC
  • Teach First.

(Based on HESA data © HESA 2024, Graduate Outcomes Survey 2021/22; includes past graduates who studied modern languages at Reading.)

Past English literature graduates have gone on to work for employers such:

  • BBC
  • The Telegraph
  • Oxford University Press
  • Waterstones
  • Cisco Systems
  • Royal Mint
  • local authorities and schools. 


BA Modern Languages and English Literature

I chose Reading because of the staff members I met on the day as well as students who showed us around the campus. What I enjoy most about studying my degree is that I’ve been able to tailor it the way I want to, like studying fiction novels by black British authors or the history of Germany post WW2. I highly recommend Reading because of the amazing staff and the experiences I’ve made here.

Kiran

Undergraduate English Literature at the University of Reading

Contextual offers


We make contextual offers for all our courses.

Take the next step



Apply now

Come to an Open Day

Get a prospectus

Ask us a question

Chat to our students

Related Subjects


  • English Literature
  • French
  • German
  • Italian
  • Languages and Cultures
  • Spanish

Ready for more?

How to apply
Visit an Open Day
Get a prospectus
View courses
  • Charitable Status
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • Terms of use
  • Sitemap

© University of Reading