
- UCAS course code
- QT31
- UCAS institution code
- M20
Course description
Our BA English Language and Chinese course will enable you to investigate the sounds, words and grammar of the English language, and discover the origin of English, its development and variation across the UK and beyond, and how it is used in different situations.
You will acquire the skills required for analytical language study alongside the means to apply those skills to the study of historical and present-day English. In addition, you will practise key transferable skills, such as essay writing and how to give a presentation.
The course allows students to achieve near-native proficiency in Mandarin Chinese and to study the language within its cultural and historical context. You can start either as an absolute beginner or with up to A-level standard Chinese, and go through to an advanced level over four years.
Language study offers much more than just language fluency. You'll explore diverse aspects of the culture, society, history, politics and literature of the countries in which Chinese is spoken, helping you to develop intercultural awareness and communication skills - both highly valued by employers.
You'll benefit from excellent teaching, student support and cutting-edge study facilities, as well as from the vibrancy and cultural diversity of Manchester itself, Western Europe's most multilingual city.
With placement options available at partner universities and in professional environments in a Chinese-speaking country, a compulsory third year abroad gives our undergraduate students unforgettable and invaluable personal and professional experience.
Special features

Study or work abroad
Your year abroad will offer the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of life in a Chinese-speaking country and further develop your language skills.
Learn from language experts
Language courses are mainly taught by native speakers of each language, giving you a richer learning experience.
Access outstanding resources
You'll have the opportunity to access cutting-edge resources, including one of the largest holdings of linguistics texts in the UK, and to conduct research using English manuscripts held in our prestigious Special Collections.
Get involved with interesting projects
Our students are encouraged to take an active role in funded teaching-enhancement projects, whose outputs benefit them individually and collectively. For example, some of our students have developed an online atlas of dialect variation in the UK.
Benefit from links with the Chinese community
We have close links with the Confucius Institute , which fosters interaction between Manchester's large community of Chinese native speakers, our University students and representatives of the wider Chinese-speaking world.
Teaching and learning
You will learn through a mixture of formal lectures, seminars and tutorials, spending approximately 12 hours a week in formal study sessions.
For every hour spent at University, you will be expected to complete a further two to three hours of independent study. You will also need to study during the holiday periods.
The individual study component could be spent reading, producing written work, revising for examinations or working in the University's Language Centre.
Coursework and assessment
You will be assessed in various ways, including:
- written and oral examinations;
- presentations;
- coursework (which may include library research, linguistic fieldwork and data collection, or web-based research).
Many course units are assessed through a mixture of techniques.
In your final year, you can choose to write a dissertation.
Course content for year 1
English Language
- The first year provides you with an introduction to the full range of course options included in English linguistics and the basis for further and more specialised study. This diversity is essential in order to experience English language study at university level and make informed choices about your future course units. All students study obligatory course units on topics including the history of English, sounds of English, sociolinguistics and English grammar, adding up to one half of the year's credits.
- For Joint Honours students, half your credits come from the other component of your programme.
Chinese
All Year 1 students take the core module `Introduction to Chinese Studies' plus language. Students on a single honours degree also take modules in Chinese History and comparative politics, and then choose from a range of optional units.
Course units for year 1
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
---|---|---|---|
Introduction to Chinese Studies | CHIN10050 | 20 | Mandatory |
Chinese Language 1 | CHIN51011 | 20 | Mandatory |
Chinese Language 2 | CHIN51022 | 20 | Mandatory |
English Word and Sentence Structure | LELA10301 | 20 | Mandatory |
History and Varieties of English | LELA10342 | 20 | Mandatory |
Modern Chinese Literature and Cinema | CHIN12122 | 20 | Optional |
Chinese Language 3 | CHIN51031 | 20 | Optional |
Chinese Language 4 | CHIN51042 | 20 | Optional |
Modern China: from the Opium Wars to the Olympic Games | HIST10152 | 20 | Optional |
Language, Mind and Brain | LELA10201 | 20 | Optional |
Displaying 10 of 15 course units for year 1 | |||
Display all course units for year 1 |
Course content for year 2
English Language
- Second-year course units build on first-year work, developing each subject area to provide a greater breadth and depth of experience. In the second year your study is more flexible.
- Four course units must be chosen from a list of English Language options such as Introductions to Old and to Middle English Language, World Englishes, The Logic of English, and Language Variation and Change (altogether one third of the year's credits).
- Joint Honours students choose further course units from the same wide range of Linguistics and English language options. At least one third of second-year credits must come from each of the two components of your programme.
Chinese
In addition to continuing your study in Chinese language, you will develop your studies of China via a choice of courses in areas across the Humanities faculty such as literature, film, history, religion, society, culture, economics, anthropology and business, as well as begin to prepare for residence abroad.
Course units for year 2
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
---|---|---|---|
Chinese Language 3 | CHIN51031 | 20 | Mandatory |
Chinese Language 4 | CHIN51042 | 20 | Mandatory |
Chinese Language 5 | CHIN51050 | 20 | Mandatory |
Chinese Language 6 | CHIN51060 | 20 | Mandatory |
Pragmatics: Meaning, Context, and Interaction | LELA20291 | 20 | Mandatory |
Variationist Sociolinguistics | LELA20501 | 20 | Mandatory |
Stylistics of English | LELA21511 | 20 | Mandatory |
China's Borderlands: Culture, Ethnicity and History | CHIN20061 | 20 | Optional |
Visual Cultures in China and East Asia | CHIN22521 | 20 | Optional |
Course content for year 3
- Your third year of study is spent abroad under approved conditions. For more information on the period of residence abroad please consult the following: Residence Abroad
Course content for year 4
English Language
- By the final year, your study is tailored to your own interests by drawing on course units from a wide range of specialities. See example course units in the list below.
- You will also have the option of writing a dissertation, where you explore and write about a particular topic in depth.
Chinese
- You will undertake a dissertation in Chinese studies to work on an area of particular interest in depth as well as selecting from various modules in religion, historical, cultural and social science areas.
The language teaching programme continues to develop skills such as reading and writing Chinese, and includes work on interpreting and on translation as practical skills.
Course units for year 4
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
---|---|---|---|
Languages-Based Project 1 | CHIN38771 | 10 | Mandatory |
Language-Based Project 2 | CHIN38772 | 10 | Mandatory |
Chinese Language 6 | CHIN51060 | 20 | Mandatory |
Additional Chinese for Final Year Students | CHIN51111 | 0 | Mandatory |
Dissertation in Chinese Studies | CHIN30000 | 40 | Optional |
Socialism and Post-Socialism in China | CHIN32012 | 20 | Optional |
Publishing and Print Media in Modern China | CHIN35221 | 20 | Optional |
Business Chinese | CHIN38682 | 20 | Optional |
Chinese Language 5 | CHIN51050 | 20 | Optional |
Scholarships and bursaries
Facilities
As well as making use of the wider University library network, you will have access to the University Language Centre, a modern open learning facility where you can study independently and make use of a library and audio-visual resources. There are also language laboratories and multimedia facilities.
For your English language studies, you will benefit from access to a wide range of technical facilities, online resources and unique collections at the John Rylands Library.
Learn more on the Facilities pages for Linguistics and English Language and Modern Languages and Cultures .