English Literature with Mandarin

This course offers the unique opportunity to combine the study of English literature with Mandarin, starting from either beginner or post-GCSE level.

You’ll join a vibrant writing community and learn from internationally renowned academics, developing the confidence to articulate ideas clearly and write with fluency and flair. Explore themes in Victorian and romantic literature, Shakespeare, postcolonial writing, film adaptation, and text technologies – learning how texts shape society, both past and present.

Alongside your studies of English literature, you’ll develop Mandarin language skills tailored to your level, alongside an understanding of China's rich social, cultural, political, historical, and artistic contexts. This highly-sought after skill will help you stand out in today’s job market, and open up exciting career opportunities upon graduation.

• Students feel very positive about our english literature lecturers, with their votes placing us 5th in UK for teaching on their course (NSS, 2025).

• Learn from globally acclaimed guest speakers, who have previously included writers such as novelist Kate Forsyth, poet Simon Armitage, screenwriter Andrew Davies and poet Carol Ann Duffy.

• Explore print and digital technologies in our Centre for Textual Studies. Learn to use a hand printing press and gain practical training in programming language HTML.

Course Modules

First year
Block 1: Introduction to the Novel
Block 2: Journeys and Places
Block 3: Mandarin Beginner or Mandarin Post-Beginner
Block 4: Poetry and Society

Second year
Block 1: Exploration and Innovation: Medieval to Early Modern Literature
Block 2: Exploring Work and Society
Block 3: Mandarin Post-Beginner or Mandarin Intermediate
Block 4: Victorian Literature and Afterlives

Third year
Year long: Dissertation
Block 2: Textual Studies Using Computers
Block 3: Mandarin Intermediate or Mandarin Advanced
Block 4: Modernism and Magazines

https://www.dmu.ac.uk/study/courses/undergraduate-courses/english-literature-with-modern-languages-ba-degree/english-literature-with-modern-languages-ba-degree.aspx#what-you-will-study

You will be taught through a combination of lectures, seminars, workshops, tutorials, group tutorials and student-led seminars. Teaching sessions might be structured around discussion, a film screening or based in a computer lab. You will complete reading and research in advance and join in conversation with your tutor and your peers.

The first year expands your knowledge of the major literary genres (poetry, drama, fiction) and develops foundational skills in research, writing and critical analysis. The second year broadens your understanding of the development of English literature through time. The third year allows you to extend your knowledge by pursuing your own interests within the taught modules and your dissertation, which is a substantial independent written project on a literary topic of your choice.

Individual tutorials with module tutors are available in weekly ‘office hours’, at which you can discuss any aspect of your course or get help with assignments. All students are supported by a personal tutor and have access to specialist guidance in writing and study skills.

You will experience varied forms of assessment, including essays, presentations, learning journals, class tests, practical work (such as the production of a sonnet using a replica of a sixteenth-century printing press or website production), peer evaluation, creative work, self-evaluation, blogs and dissertation. This range of assessment methods will enable you to develop a broad spectrum of communication and technological skills, alongside an ability to think critically, independently, flexibly and imaginatively.

Contact hours
You will normally attend 8-10 hours of timetabled taught sessions (lectures, seminars and tutorials) each week, and we expect you to undertake around 30 further hours of independent study to complete project work and research.