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What makes English Language at Worcester special?

At Worcester you will study the English language as is actually used in written and spoken forms. You will be able to examine the linguistic choices we make in all levels of analysis (phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics/pragmatics). The emphasis will be on the social aspect of language and you will be working with real data (speech and texts). As part of your studies, you will familiarise yourself with quantitative and qualitative methods of analysing data, which is very important for most graduate jobs.

Additionally, you will be given the opportunity to obtain the Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA Award; subject to meeting specific criteria at the end of your second year) as part of your degree and you will become familiar with the theory and practice of applied language teaching.

This means that you will be readily equipped to teach the English Language to speakers of other languages at home or abroad. Upon graduation, you will also be eligible to apply for a PGCE and teach the English language in education. This is a course that examines language in theory and in practice and it is appropriate for students who want to understand how language is used and how it is taught!

Overview

Overview

Key features

  • Available in a range of Joint Honours combinations to suit your interests and form a solid foundation for your future (English Literature, Creative Writing, Education Studies, Media & Film Studies, Sociology, and Journalism)
  • Integrated Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA), enhancing your professional portfolio
  • Hands-on approach to the study of language using real data
  • Teaching (English as a Foreign Language) practice in small group seminars

Register your interest

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"The scope of the course content meant that I could research and write in a wide variety of areas, sometimes crossing into other disciplines such as Sociology. This kept the process of studying fresh and interesting."

Josh Crampton, BA (Hons) English Language Joint Honours graduate.

CELTA accreditation

The Cambridge CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) is an externally accredited award at level 5. The  Teaching of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) modules meet the criteria for accreditation by Cambridge Assessment English, which enables students the opportunity to gain the CELTA qualification during the second year, subject to meeting specific criteria for the CELTA award, as set by Cambridge Assessment English.

Entry requirements

Entry requirements

104
UCAS tariff points

Entry requirements

104 UCAS tariff points (for example, BCC at A Level)

The normal minimum entry requirement for undergraduate degree courses is the possession of 4 GCSEs (including English and Maths) at grade C/4 or above and a minimum of 2 A Levels (or equivalent Level 3 qualifications), one of which must be in English Language or English Literature or the combined English Language/Literature course or equivalent Level 3 qualifications.

Further information about the UCAS Tariff can be obtained from  

Other information

Recognition of Prior Learning

Acceptable level 3 qualifications in relation to mature students or applicants with few or no formal qualifications can be discussed with the admissions team.

If you have any questions about entry requirements, please contact the Admissions Office on 01905 855111 or email admissions@worc.ac.uk for advice. 

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Course content

Course content

Our courses are informed by research and current developments in the discipline and feedback from students, external examiners and employers. Modules do therefore change periodically in the interests of keeping the course relevant and reflecting best practice. The most up-to-date information will be available to you once you have accepted a place and registered for the course. If there are insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, this might not be offered, but we will advise you as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative. 

Year 1

Mandatory

  • Intro to TEFL: Language Awareness

  • General Linguistics

  • Intro to TEFL: Teaching Skills

Year 2

Mandatory

  • Sociolinguistic Theory and Practice (designated research method module)

  • TEFL: Access to CELTA

Optional

  • Language and Power

  • Work Placement Module

Year 3

Optional

  • Independent Research Project

  • World Englishes

  • Style and Identity

  • History of English

  • Advanced Language Analysis

"The modules enable students to follow a very broad range of subject areas, which gives excellent experience for the future."

Kelly Laydon, English Language graduate

Teaching and assessment

Teaching and assessment

The University places emphasis on enabling students to develop the independent learning capabilities that will equip you for lifelong learning and future employment, as well as academic achievement. A mixture of independent study, teaching and academic support from Student Services and Library Services, and also the personal academic tutoring system enables you to reflect on progress and build up a profile of skills, achievements and experiences that will help you to flourish and be successful. During the course of your studies you will have the opportunity to engage in work-based learning and project placements where you will be able to develop your professional networks and gain valuable experience for the employment market.

Teaching

Students are taught through a combination of, lectures, seminars, practical tasks etc. Lectures provide an overview of key points on a topic presented in a concise and coherent way. Seminars enable the discussion and development of understanding of the topics covered in lectures, and practical tasks are focused on developing subject specific skills (such as interview recording or data transcription).

In addition, meetings with Personal Academic Tutors are scheduled on at least four occasions in the first year and three occasions in each of the other years of a course.

Contact time

In a typical week you will have 12 contact hours of teaching. In your final year (where there is more emphasis on independent study), you will have slightly less contact time per week. The Work Based Learning module and the final year Independent Research Project modules have 4X 2 hour taught sessions with Guided Independent Study and/or work placement time forming the rest.

The following is a breakdown of a typical week of contact time:

  • 4 hours of group lectures
  • 8 hours of seminars (including workshops and other interactive formats).

Group sizes would normally be 15-20 students.

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time, you are expected to undertake around 25 hours of personal self study per week. Typically, this will involve completing online activities, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking research in the library and online, preparing coursework assignments and presentations.

Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including The Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources.

Assessment

The course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or ‘formative’ assignments.

Each module has one or more formal or ‘summative’ assessments which are graded and count towards the overall module grade.  Assessment methods include a range of coursework assessments such as essays, reports, portfolios, presentations and a final year project.

The precise assessment requirements for an individual student in an academic year will vary according to the mandatory and optional modules taken, but a typical formal summative assessment pattern for each year of the course is:

Year 1
  • 2 x essays
  • 5 x practical reports
  • 1 x individual or group presentations
Year 2
  • 2 x essays
  • 3 x practical reports
Year 3
  • 1 x independent research project of approx 7,000 words
  • 4 x essays
  • 2 x practical reports
  • 2 x individual or group presentations

Feedback

You will receive feedback on practice assessments and on formal assessments undertaken by coursework. Feedback is intended to support learning and you are encouraged to discuss it with personal academic tutors and module tutors as appropriate.

 We aim to provide you with feedback on formal course work assessments within 20 working days of hand-in.   

Teaching staff

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. The team includes senior academics, qualified EFL teachers, and associate lecturers. Staff teaching in the English Language programme have consistently very high satisfaction levels from the students with repeated nominations for student awards (e.g. Outstanding Lecturer or Outstanding University Teacher for all the previous three years).

 

Postgraduate research students who have undertaken teacher training may also contribute to the teaching of seminars under the supervision of the module leader.  Teaching is informed by research and (as at 01.09.2020) 100 per cent of English Language lecturers have a higher education teaching qualification and/or are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy. You can learn more about the staff by visiting our staff profiles.

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please

Meet the team

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course.

Christina Wright-profile

Christina Wright

Christina has extensive and varied experience in English language teaching and management, having worked in the ELT sectors in Spain, Japan and the UK prior to joining the University in 2002, where she now specialises in academic writing and EAP in the Centre for Academic English and Skills. She holds the Trinity College Licentiate Diploma in TESOL (1997), and her research interest for her MA Applied Linguistics/TESOL (2003) was ‘The perception of lexical items across different speech communities’. She has also been a member of the English Language Studies team in the Institute of Arts and Humanities since 2009, lecturing in areas such as the history of English and multilingualism.

Joanna King-profile

Joanna King

Jo has worked in Higher Education for the past 25 years and has taught EFL, EAP, TEFL and Italian at the ÃÛÌÒÖ±²¥ since 2008. She gained her MA in Applied Linguistics (TEFL) in 2003, specialising in first- and second-language acquisition and has a 1st class BA (Hons) degree in Modern Foreign Languages and TEFL. She was approved as Assistant CELTA Tutor by Cambridge English in February 2015. Prior to working in EFL she taught French and Italian in Further and Adult Education, in addition to running the Italian teaching programme at Aylesbury High School, and also worked as a specialist language tutor and freelance translator/interpreter for a number of commercial organisations.

Careers

Careers

Many graduates of this course will take a postgraduate education course as a fourth year of study and enter the teaching profession. Others will find that the skills acquired through the study of English are particularly highly regarded in all professions where good communication skills are prized such as publishing, journalism, public relations, human resources and web-based communication. The CELTA Award provides graduates with the qualifications and skills to teach English as a Foreign Language in the UK and abroad.

The course also provides continuous opportunities to develop employability and includes work experience options. There is a range of opportunities to study for a semester abroad in Europe and the USA in the second semester of the second year.

Two students are walking next to each other and smiling

Careers and Employability

Our Graduates pursue exciting and diverse careers in a wide variety of employment sectors.

Find out how we can support you to achieve your potential

Graduate view

Gemma shares her experience of studying English at Worcester.
Costs

Fees and funding

Full-time tuition fees

UK and EU students

The Government has announced that it will increase tuition fees and maintenance loans by 3.1% from the 2025/26 academic cycle. Subject to approval, the University intends to increase our tuition fees in line with this and as per our terms and conditions. This means that from September 2025 the standard fee for full-time home and EU undergraduate students enrolling on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees will be £9,535 per year.

For more details on course fees, please visit our course fees page.

International students

The standard tuition fee for full-time international students enrolling on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees in the 2025/26 academic year is £16,700 per year.

For more details on course fees, please visit our course fees page.

Part-time tuition fees

UK and EU students

The Government has announced that it will increase tuition fees and maintenance loans by 3.1% from the 2025/26 academic cycle. Subject to approval, the University intends to increase our tuition fees in line with this and as per our terms and conditions. This means that from September 2025 the tuition fees for part-time UK and EU students on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees will be £1,190.83 per 15-credit module, £1,587.77 per 20-credit module, £2,381.66 per 30-credit module, £3,175.55 per 40-credit module, £3,572.50 per 45-credit module and £4,763.32 per 60 credit module.

For more details on course pages, please visit our course fees page.

Additional costs

Every course has day-to-day costs for basic books, stationery, printing and photocopying. The amounts vary between courses.

If your course offers a placement opportunity, you may need to pay for an Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.

When trips and educational visits are arranged to enhance your learning experience, they would normally be free of charge. Concerning Work-Based Learning, individual arrangements need to be agreed with the tutor.

Accommodation

Finding the right accommodation is paramount to your university experience. Our halls of residence are home to friendly student communities, making them great places to live and study.

We have over 1,000 rooms across our range of student halls. With rooms to suit every budget and need, from our 'Traditional Halls' at £131 per week to 'Ensuite Premium Halls' at £228 per week (2025/26 prices).

For full details visit our accommodation page.
How to apply

How to apply

Applying through UCAS

English Language Studies must be studied as part of a joint degree with another subject. 

is the central organisation through which applications are processed for entry onto full-time undergraduate courses in Higher Education in the UK.

Read our How to apply pages for more information on applying and to find out what happens to your application.

Apply via UCAS

  • – WQ83
  • – XQ3H
  • – QQ23
  • – PQ53
  • – QL33
  • - PQ34

Get in touch

If you have any questions, please get in touch. We're here to help you every step of the way.

Admissions Office

admissions@worc.ac.uk
01905 855111

Katy Wareham Morris

Course Leader
k.wareham.morris@worc.ac.uk
01905 855433

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