Applied English Portfolio 40c

Code School Level Credits Semesters
ENGL4309 English 4 40 Autumn UK, Spring UK, Summer UK
Code
ENGL4309
School
English
Level
4
Credits
40
Semesters
Autumn UK, Spring UK, Summer UK

Summary

The overarching area of study is Applied English, defined as follows. Applied English is a field of study that places the exploration of the English language and linguistics, and literature and performance in English, in its cultural, historical, social and artistic contexts. It covers several disciplines, topics and sub-disciplines, as well as drawing on interdisciplinary work. The key fields covered by Applied English are literary criticism and scholarship, literary history and historiography, manuscript editing, documentary archival work; creative composition, editing, and production; dramatic theory and performance, theatre studies, criticism and analysis; applied linguistics, literary linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, discourse analysis, corpus linguistics, language acquisition, learning and testing; historical research in language and literature and cognate cultures; global Englishes and literary production in English and translation across the world. A postgraduate student of Applied English would be expected to have a mastery of at least one of these key domains, and a reasonably good knowledge, awareness and facility with the field in general. As a postgraduate student in the field of Applied English, an award holder will be expected to have a high level of disciplined knowledge, a high degree of performative fluency, and an advanced level of critical adaptability in a broad range of English studies.

This ‘module’ represents four pods of work, with study material and tutor-support provided online.

Target Students

Only available to students transferring from Distance Learning Masters programmes to the Applied English programme. This programme does not involve student OME.

Classes

Not applicable – distance course

Assessment

Assessed by end of designated period

Educational Aims

The range and depth of knowledge covered across the four pods constituting the phase of work will represent an advance on undergraduate-level study of the designated disciplinary field within Applied English. The work will demonstrate a developing knowledge of key concepts in the field, and a growing sense of how these connect to each other within the scholarly tradition. There will be an awareness of different approaches and perspectives on the same concepts. The submitted material will be exploratory and intellectually curious, and demonstrate a propensity for cross-topical and interdisciplinary work.

Learning Outcomes

The criteria for assessment are determined by the ‘Expertise Indicators’ that are associated with each pod. A pod typically has three EIs, so the assessment criteria for the portfolio will typically involve a set of around twelve EIs. These will form the basis for assessment. Each Pod Specification sets out the EIs for that pod, and each of these will have been scrutinised and approved by the School Teaching Committee.

EIs are framed as descriptive accounts of the area not as outcomes. Each pod will also be coded for the named domain to which it belongs as a discipline or field; some pods might feature in several domains. When a student submits their portfolio for assessment, the work within it will be assessed against the EIs that the student has covered in the course of that phase of their studies. This means that the portfolio will cover the intellectual ground defined by the EI for every pod of study. Assessment is calibrated against the set of EIs, not against the list of pods (though in practice these will often align). 

Conveners

View in Curriculum Catalogue
Last updated 07/01/2025.