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BA English and Film Studies

Academic Year 2018/19

A programme specification is required for any programme on which a student may be registered. All programmes of the University are subject to the University's Quality Assurance processes. All degrees are awarded by Queen's University Belfast.

Programme Title

BA English and Film Studies

Final Award
(exit route if applicable for Postgraduate Taught Programmes)

Bachelor of Arts

Programme Code

ENG-BA-JS

UCAS Code

QW36

HECoS Code

100320

ATAS Clearance Required

No

Mode of Study

Part Time

Type of Programme

Joint Honours Single

Length of Programme

6 Academic Year(s)

Total Credits for Programme

360

Exit Awards available

INSTITUTE INFORMATION

Teaching Institution

Queen's University Belfast

School/Department

Arts, English and Languages

Framework for Higher Education Qualification Level 
www.qaa.ac.uk

Level 6

QAA Benchmark Group
www.qaa.ac.uk/quality-code/subject-benchmark-statements

Communication, media, film and cultural studies (2008)

Accreditations (PSRB)

REGULATION INFORMATION

Does the Programme have any approved exemptions from the University General Regulations
(Please see General Regulations)

Programme Specific Regulations

Each level must include 60 CATS in English and 60 CATS in Film Studies.

Transferring from Single to Joint Honours:
On completing Level 1 a Single Honours student in either of English or Film who has completed 40 CATS at Level 1 in the other subject and has achieved an average mark across the 40 CATS of 60 or above may be admitted to this Joint Honours Programme subject to having obtained the approval of the Adviser of Studies in the subject in which they have only 40 CATS.

Students will be notified each academic year of the optional modules being offered in the following academic year. Students are advised that not all optional modules will necessarily be offered in each academic year. Also, the delivery of a module may be subject to a minimum number of enrolments as well as unforeseen circumstances (eg illness of a member of staff). The range and content of optional modules will change over time as degree programmes develop and students' choice of optional modules may also be limited due to timetabling constraints.

Students with protected characteristics

Are students subject to Fitness to Practise Regulations

(Please see General Regulations)

No

EDUCATIONAL AIMS OF PROGRAMME

The Joint Programme in English and Film Studies is designed to provide students with::

• an intellectual training in the separate and overlapping disciplines of English and Film Studies which, while discrete subjects, are also complementary and mutually enriching;

• a discipline-specific perspective enabling the acquisition of knowledge and understanding of the inter-relationship between texts and contexts, a familiarity with debates surrounding culture and identity, both individual and communal, and skills in synthesising and developing ideas and arguments from diverse literary and other contemporary sources;

• a range of skills which together foster the ability to practise self-motivated learning and increase the capacity to undertake independent learning in a progressive way.

• a university curriculum, in accordance with the national English and Film Studies benchmarking statements, that reflects the chronological, cultural, and generic diversity of both Film and English literary and language studies, drawing, where applicable, on the unique character of Northern Ireland, and taking advantage of a variety of critical and pedagogical approaches;

• a flexible curriculum that develops new areas of teaching in response to advances in scholarship, interests and abilities of staff members, and student feedback;

• an atmosphere of intellectual inquiry, by offering modules which encourage a stimulating interchange of ideas;

• the necessary intellectual, practical, and key skills to enable students to develop as independent, reflective lifelong learners and able employees and entrepreneurs;.

• a broad yet enriching context for future employment, in which graduates appreciate the continuing value of an education in these disciplines.

More generally, the Joint Programme in English and Film Studies aims to:

• attract students from local, national, and international contexts, through a variety of entry routes, and deliver the best possible learning and teaching experience in an environment of equality, tolerance, and mutual respect;

• develop a broad context for future employment, in which graduates appreciate the continuing value of an education in these two disciplines.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Learning Outcomes: Cognitive Skills

On the completion of this course successful students will be able to:

recognise and appreciate the varying effects of different literary and filmic forms of expression;

respond to, and differentiate between, different ideological and theoretical positions;

analyse and interpret material from different geographical, cultural, and temporal contexts
think independently, originally, and self-reflexively;

demonstrate a capacity for critical reflection and judgment in the light of evidence and argument;

discriminate between substantive and peripheral concerns in their understanding of any given issue;

identify, collate and organise relevant data and information from a variety of primary and secondary sources in support of their argument;

understand complex tasks and an ability to present appropriate solutions in written form;

make judgments on the basis of varied and problematic evidence and according to the persuasiveness of the arguments or the reliability of the evidence used;

identify, investigate, analyse, formulate and advocate solutions to problems;

work autonomously, manifested in self-direction, objective-setting, prioritising and time-management;

reflect on their own learning, seeking and making use of constructive feedback;

produce intellectually coherent academic analysis within word limits and time deadlines;

apply requisite referencing and presentation formats in the production of written analyses.

Teaching/Learning Methods and Strategies

Class discussion in which analysis and interpretation of texts takes place allows the students to develop a comparative understanding of different approaches to material. It allows for both tutor- and student-led opportunities for the discussion and comprehension of directed reading and secondary source information.

Screenings (for Film Studies modules only) offer a shared viewing opportunity that emulates the movie-going experience as closely as possible, while offering exposure to a rich programme of film texts and encouraging students to critically engage with the cultural practice of film viewing itself.

Analytical literary-critical exercises – both formative and summative – test students’ ability to engage with, contextualise, and interpret texts. The ability to collate and obtain information is developed through introductory training in the use of libraries and online resources.

Extended essays test their ability to order and shape information, and to recognise ways in which the presentation and prioritisation of material is conducive to its rhetorical effect.

In all modules, students are encouraged to refer to current critical and theoretical debate in order to form their own judgement of the text or data in question. They work towards a number of deadlines for formative and summative work, and for class presentation, thereby learning to prioritise assignments and objectives, and in doing so hone their time-management skills.

Methods of Assessment

Assessment is by a variety of traditional and innovative methods, including timed unseen written examinations, data analysis, essays, critical book/article reviews, portfolios, individual and group presentations, and seminar and tutorial reports and contributions.

Formative written work assists the development of understanding, critical judgment, and independent thought, both through the feedback given, and through the process of writing itself. Analytical, discursive, interpretive and critical exercises – both formative and summative – test students’ ability to engage with, analyse, contextualise, interpret and criticise relevant material.

Examinations and essays require students to demonstrate coverage of material, appropriate methods of analysis, the ability to discriminate between arguments, and the ability to form an independent argument.

Group presentations are used to encourage students to pursue their own interests and develop their understanding of a topic.


Feedback is provided for each type and instance of assessment and students may seek dedicated feedback sessions with course tutors.

The Personal Tutor system facilitates student reflection upon academic performance and assists in developing strategies for improvement.

Learning Outcomes: Knowledge & Understanding

On the completion of this course successful students will be able to:

understand the key concepts that are used to undertake literary, textual and historical analysis;

display a broad knowledge of a range of periods in literary history, including literature before 1660, and an understanding of the social and political contexts in which texts are both written and read;

understand the rhetorical, stylistic and aesthetic strategies of the different genres of prose fiction, drama and poetry;

address major themes in the history of society and culture as well as theoretical approaches to literature and language, and moving images;

display familiarity with a range of theoretical approaches to literature and language, and with the key critical debates that form and inform the disciplines themselves;

understand the aesthetic and formal qualities of film, and their relation to meanings in particular cultural forms and contexts;

demonstrate how the visual, verbal and audio conventions through which images, words and sounds make meaning in film;

articulate the key debates in film history, theory, and criticism, as well as an awareness of how these debates are influenced and determined by broader cultural and institutional practices;

address how the cinema and filmmaking may be understood within broader concepts of history, culture and the visual arts.

Teaching/Learning Methods and Strategies

Knowledge and understanding are developed through lectures, tutorials, seminars (many of which will be enhanced by learning aids such as handouts, and key readings available online through Queen’s Online) and through the assessment and feedback process.

Lectures and tutorials together provide knowledge and the opportunity to discuss, evaluate and apply that knowledge to texts.

Seminars offer the more sustained opportunity to debate and evaluate a breadth of knowledge gained independently from directed reading and from the sharing of resources and information.

Extensive background reading is required throughout the pathway, developing students’ specialist knowledge of particular genres and periods of cinema, filmmaking and literature in addition to a broad base of knowledge about literary and cinematic history.

Methods of Assessment

A range of assessment methods ensures that these skills are evaluated in different ways.

Formative written work assists the development of understanding, critical judgment, and independent thought, both through the feedback given, and through the process of writing itself.

Examinations, essays and seminar presentations and language project work require that students demonstrate coverage of material, appropriate methods of textual and linguistic analysis, the ability to discriminate between arguments, and the ability to form an independent argument.

The stage 3 dissertation option (for students taking ENG3000 or ENL3000) is a programme of independent study agreed between student and supervisor, leading to the writing and submission of an extended essay.

Learning Outcomes: Subject Specific

On the completion of this course successful students will be able to:

read texts with a developed awareness and appreciation of their formal, structural and generic properties;

assess critical interpretations of the ways in which different cultural and historical contexts inform the reading and writing of texts;

analyse the forms, function, and development of language;

utilise a critical vocabulary and engage with different critical perspectives in the analysis of texts;

be aware of key debates concerning the development of the discipline of literary criticism;

engage critically with film makers, theorists, debates and intellectual paradigms within Film Studies and put them to productive use;

understand film forms and cinema cultures as they have emerged historically and appreciate the processes through which they have come into being;

analyse, interpret, and show the exercise of critical judgement in the understanding and, as appropriate, evaluation of film forms and cinema cultures;

carry out various forms of research for essays, projects, and/or dissertations involving sustained independent enquiry;

formulate appropriate research questions and employ appropriate methods and resources for exploring those questions;

write coherent, structured and relevant essays in answer to specific questions on film and moving images as well as literature and language;

select and utilise primary quotation and secondary critical material in the formulation of an argument;

display familiarity with bibliographic convention and should be able to research, reference and present written work according to the requirements of the subject area.

Teaching/Learning Methods and Strategies

Lectures provide specific contextual and theoretical information as well as offering practical examples of different critical approaches.

Tutorials and seminars allow for close reading of texts in a group situation, while developing students’ ability to formulate their own arguments and responses.

Screenings (for Film Studies modules only) offer a shared viewing opportunity that emulates the movie-going experience as closely as possible, while offering exposure to a rich programme of film texts and encouraging students to critically engage with the cultural practice of film viewing itself.
Formative work – both written and oral – enables students to combine the knowledge and skills developed through lectures and tutorials, and to formulate, and receive feedback on, their own independent arguments.

Student-centred learning situations encourage the ability to present and summarise knowledge to peers in a coherent, structured form, and to further enhance organisational and inter-personal skills.


Module and programme information and style sheets guide students in their choice of, access to, and citation of relevant secondary materials.

Methods of Assessment

Assessment is by a variety of traditional and innovative methods, including timed unseen written examinations, data analysis, essays, critical book/article reviews, portfolios, individual and group presentations, and seminar and tutorial reports and contributions. Assessment methods vary in accordance with the specific learning outcomes of particular modules as detailed below

Formative written work assists the development of understanding, critical judgment, and independent thought, both through the feedback given, and through the process of writing itself. Analytical, discursive, interpretive and critical exercises – both formative and summative ��� test students’ ability to engage with, analyse, contextualise, interpret and criticise relevant material.


All assessment methods, whether the dissertation, essays or oral presentations, aural tests or examinations, require students to demonstrate the English subject skills which are detailed in the Marking Criteria and the English Assessment and Feedback Policy made available in Module Resources

Learning Outcomes: Transferable Skills

On the completion of this course successful students will be able to:

manage time efficiently and effectively;

demonstrate basic word-processing and IT skills;

collate and process information from a variety of sources;

evaluate and judge evidence and the quality of information;

use libraries and online resources;

respond positively and productively to feedback on work;

think both creatively and maturely in diverse intellectual situations.

Teaching/Learning Methods and Strategies

Class presentations and student interaction hone communication and rhetorical skills. Student centred learning situations encourage and test the ability to present and summarise knowledge to their peers in a coherent, structured form, and inter-personal skills are developed in seminars and tutorials.

Methods of Assessment

Writing skills tutorials and lectures develop essay-writing on stylistic, rhetorical and bibliographical levels. The ability to source and collate information is developed through introductory training in the use of libraries and online resources. IT courses are available through the university and can be used to develop computing skills as required. All students are required to word-process essays, thus testing their acquisition of IT skills.
In keeping with the Education Strategy’s focus on ‘digital literacies’ module convenors have been asked to factor the acquisition and development of digital literacies in their modules.

display interpersonal skills and the ability to work productively in a group context;

take notes and summarise accurately and effectively;

demonstrate effective oral and written communication skills;

Teaching/Learning Methods and Strategies

Individual and group presentations; seminars offer a variety of tutor-led and student-led learning opportunities as well as a more sustained opportunity to debate and evaluate a breadth of knowledge gained independently from directed reading and from the sharing of resources and information.

Erasmus programme and Exchange programmes with international universities.

Methods of Assessment

Assessment is by a variety of traditional and innovative methods, including timed unseen written examinations, data analysis, essays, critical book/article reviews, portfolios, individual and group presentations, and seminar and tutorial reports and contributions.

For most international exchanges, students enrol on the host institution’s undergraduate programme.

understand the role and use of feedback in assessing and improving performance;

respond constructively to criticism;

demonstrate self-reliance, initiative, adaptability and flexibility.

Teaching/Learning Methods and Strategies

Students receive oral, in-class as well as online feedback on their contributions, formative work and uploaded assignments and may seek further feedback in one-to-one meetings with tutors.

Engagement with Personal Tutors promotes student reflection upon academic performance. Personal Tutors also discuss career options with students; and the Schools work closely with the Careers Liaison Officer to present students with information on possible careers.

Methods of Assessment

Feedback (on Queen’s Online, on draft materials, or in class) provides students with an ongoing feedback experience throughout their degree.

Individual and group presentations; learning portfolios and coursework projects; examinations and (extended) essays.

Each student is allocated a Personal Tutor in stage 1 and meets with him/her throughout the duration of the degree programme.

MODULE INFORMATION

Stages and Modules

Module Title

Module Code

Level/ stage

Credits

Availability

Duration

Pre-requisite

Assessment
S1 S2 Core Option Coursework % Practical % Examination %
English in Transition ENG1001 1 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
English in Context ENG1002 1 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Introduction to Film Studies 1 FLM1001 1 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Introduction to Film Studies 2 FLM1002 1 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 40% 0% 60%
Introduction to English Language ENL1001 1 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Visual Studies: Theory and Practice FLM1005 1 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Mapping the Anglo-Saxon World ENG2003 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Foundations for Speech Analysis: The Phonetics of English ENL2001 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 50% 30% 20%
Language and Power ENL2002 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 80% 0% 20%
History of English: Studying Language Change ENL2004 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Cinema and Modernism FLM2015 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Shakespeare and Co ENG2050 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 90% 10% 0%
Irish Literature ENG2081 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Hollywood Cinema 1 FLM2001 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Documentary Film Studies FLM2012 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
British Cinema: Nation, Identity and Industry FLM2026 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
An Introduction to Critical and Cultural Theory ENG2000 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 90% 10% 0%
Broadcast Journalism BCP2001 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 60% 40% 0%
Interactive Media Production BCP2005 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Popular Broadcast Genres BCP2004 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 75% 25% 0%
The Radio Programme BCP2002 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 70% 30% 0%
Havoc and Rebellion: Writing and Reading Later Medieval England ENG2041 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 90% 10% 0%
Reading Revolutions: The English Bible, Medieval to Early Modern ENG2045 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 90% 10% 0%
Modern American Fiction: Race, Class, Gender, Sexuality ENG2173 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 90% 10% 0%
Inventing America ENG2172 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 80% 20% 0%
Modernism and Modernity ENG2060 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 90% 10% 0%
Fiction to Austen (1660-1820) ENG2061 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 90% 10% 0%
Romantic Poetry, 1789-1832 ENG2063 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 90% 10% 0%
Enlightenment and its Discontents ENG2064 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 90% 10% 0%
Dickens and the Cult of Celebrity ENG2066 2 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 90% 10% 0%
Women's Writing 1700-1820 ENG3020 3 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 80% 20% 0%
Film Authorship FLM3007 3 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Shakespeare on Screen ENG3087 3 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 90% 10% 0%
Speech Worlds: Phonology in Acquisition and Disorder ENL3003 3 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Televising the Victorians ENG3069 3 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Hollywood Cinema 2 FLM3019 3 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 90% 10% 0%
Language in the Media ENL3004 3 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 70% 10% 20%
Double Dissertation English Literature ENG3000 3 40 YES YES 24 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Double Dissertation English Language ENL3000 3 40 YES YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Contemporary US Crime Fiction: the Police, the State, the Globe ENH3008 3 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Marvels, Monsters and Miracles in Anglo-Saxon England ENG3011 3 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Special Topic in Creative Writing ENH3019 3 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
3 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Film and Music: Theory and Criticism FLM3024 3 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Contemporary Irish and Scottish Fiction Devolutionary Identities ENG3060 3 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 80% 20% 0%
3 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
The Structure of English ENL3110 3 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Digital textualities and the History of the Book ENG3178 3 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Cinema and Postmodernism FLM3031 3 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Contemporary Literature: Poetry and Precariousness in the Twenty-First Century ENG3184 3 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Irish Gothic ENG3330 3 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Stevens & Bishop ENG3333 3 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Writing Africa: The Colonial Past to Colonial Present ENG3185 3 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%
Stylistics: Analysing Style in Language ENL3011 3 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 80% 20% 0%
Restoration to Regency in Contemporary Fiction ENG3090 3 20 YES 12 weeks N YES 100% 0% 0%

Notes

Level 1 In English, students must take modules worth 60 CATS at level 1. In Film, students must take modules worth 60 CATS at level 1.

Level 2 In English, students must take modules worth 60 CATS at level 2. In Film, students must take modules worth 60 CATS at level 2.

Level 3 In English, students must take modules worth 60 CATS at level 3. In Film, students must take modules worth 60 CATS at level 3.