- UCAS course code
- QR37
- UCAS institution code
- M20
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Course description
Our BA English Language and Russian 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 Russian and to study the language within its cultural and historical context.
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 Russian 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 Russian-speaking countries, 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 Russian-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.
Enjoy cultural activities
Join The University of Manchester Russian Society and enjoy a variety of social events, such as Russian evenings, cookery, pub crawls, quizzes, film nights and more.
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.
Russian
- During the first year of study, you develop crucial Russian language skills through dedicated grammar classes, oral practice with native-speaker lectors, language laboratory work, and a range of independent learning activities. Separate language pathways are offered for beginners and post A-level students.
- Our first-year content courses provide a solid base for your further studies, helping you to acquire and improve on important study skills and also giving you a thorough grounding in concepts and debates crucial to an understanding of Russian society and culture.
- Topics and themes introduced in first-year content courses are explored in depth in optional content courses in the second and final years. As a result, these courses also help you to make informed choices for subsequent years of study based on your own particular interests.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| English Word and Sentence Structure | LELA10301 | 20 | Mandatory |
| History and Varieties of English | LELA10342 | 20 | Mandatory |
| 100 Years of Revolution: Russia from Lenin to Putin | RUSS10242 | 20 | Mandatory |
| The Making of Modern Russia | RUSS10251 | 20 | Mandatory |
| Russian Language 1 | RUSS51011 | 20 | Mandatory |
| Russian Language 2 | RUSS51022 | 20 | Mandatory |
| Language, Mind and Brain | LELA10201 | 20 | Optional |
| The Sounds of Language | LELA10322 | 20 | Optional |
| Study of Meaning | LELA10332 | 20 | Optional |
| From Text to Linguistic Evidence | LELA10401 | 20 | Optional |
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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.
Russian
- During the second year, you continue with your intensive study of Russian language.
- You also choose from optional courses in a range of areas (such as Russian culture and thought, literature, translation studies, Central European and Balkan history and culture, and Polish language).
- In addition, you begin to prepare for the compulsory year abroad, through meetings and consultations with our Residence Abroad Tutor and with final-year students who have recently returned from the year 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pragmatics: Meaning, Context, and Interaction | LELA20291 | 20 | Mandatory |
| Variationist Sociolinguistics | LELA20501 | 20 | Mandatory |
| Stylistics of English | LELA21511 | 20 | Mandatory |
| Russian Literature and Society from Pushkin to Putin | RUSS20700 | 20 | Mandatory |
| Russian Language 3 | RUSS51030 | 20 | Mandatory |
| Russian Language 4 | RUSS51040 | 20 | Mandatory |
| 100 Years of Revolution: Russia from Lenin to Putin | RUSS20242 | 20 | Optional |
| The Making of Modern Russia | RUSS20251 | 20 | Optional |
| The 1989 Revolutions and their Aftermaths | RUSS20472 | 20 | Optional |
| Russian Studies Long Essay | RUSS20501 | 20 | Optional |
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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 units for year 3
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Analysing Grammar | LELA20022 | 20 | Optional |
| Dissertation | LELA30000 | 40 | Optional |
| Language Contact | LELA30291 | 20 | Optional |
| English Phonology Past and Present | LELA30441 | 20 | Optional |
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.
Russian
- The compulsory element of your studies consists of an advanced Russian language course, which focuses on oral proficiency, translation from and into Russian and composition in Russian.
- Optional courses in subjects including Business Russian, Soviet and post-Soviet cinema, Russian popular culture, Russian and Soviet politics and history and memory in post-socialist Eastern Europe round out your studies.
- You may also choose to complete a dissertation, which is supervised by an appropriate member of staff within Russian and East European Studies. In researching and writing your dissertation, you explore in depth a subject of particular interest to you. The topic of your dissertation may be related to one of the final-year optional courses, but this is not obligatory.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Russian Language 5 | RUSS51050 | 20 | Mandatory |
| Phonology | LELA20012 | 20 | Optional |
| Analysing Grammar | LELA20022 | 20 | Optional |
| Typology | LELA20032 | 20 | Optional |
| Societal Multi-lingualism | LELA20102 | 20 | Optional |
| Quantitative Methods in Language Sciences | LELA20231 | 20 | Optional |
| Semantics | LELA20281 | 20 | Optional |
| Pragmatics: Meaning, Context, and Interaction | LELA20291 | 20 | Optional |
| Psycholinguistics | LELA20962 | 20 | Optional |
| Dissertation | LELA30000 | 40 | Optional |
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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 .