BA English Language and English Literature

Use the links below to view lists of courses in related subject areas.

• English Literature, American Studies and Creative Writing
• Linguistics and English Language

AAB including A in English Literature or English Language and Literature.

The University recognises the benefit of the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) and the opportunities it provides for applicants to develop independent study and research skills.

We strongly encourage you to provide information about the EPQ in your personal statement and at interview.

For this programme, as well as the regular conditions of offer, we may make students who are currently taking or completed the EPQ an alternative offer.

For this course it would beABB plus the Extended Project at Grade A.

Please check for specific GCSE/IGCSE subject entry requirements below

ABB including A in English Literature or English Language and Literature for applicants who meet our contextual offer criteria.  For further information and to check eligibility visit our Contextual Offers page.

Please check for specific GCSE/IGCSE subject entry requirements below

Contextual offers are available for applicants who:

• live in the UK and will be under the age of 21 on 1 September of the year they will start their course; and
• live in an area of disadvantage or with low progression into higher education; and
• have attended a UK school or college for their GCSEs or A-levels (or equivalent qualifications) that has performed below the national average over multiple years.

See our contextual admissions page for full details and to check your eligibility.

Applicants who have been in local authority care for more than three months or have refugee status may be eligible for an offer two grades below the standard requirements.

Please check for specific GCSE/IGCSE subject entry requirements below

UK refugee/care-experienced offers are available for applicants who:

• have been looked after in care for more than three months; or
• have been granted refugee status by the UK government or have been issued a UK visa under one of the Ukrainian schemes (Homes for Ukraine, Ukraine Family Scheme or Ukraine Extension Scheme).

See our contextual admissions page for full details and to check your eligibility.

35 points overall. 6,6,5 in Higher Level subjects including English Literature

Applicants must demonstrate a broad general education including acceptable levels of Literacy and Numeracy, equivalent to at least Grade C or 4 in GCSE/iGCSE English Language and Mathematics. GCSE/iGCSE English Literature will not be accepted in lieu of GCSE/iGCSE English Language.

Please note that if you hold English as a second language iGCSE qualification, we may also require you to offer one of our acceptable equivalent English Language qualifications or achieve a higher grade in your iGCSE than the one stated above. Please contact the academic School for clarification.

We accept a range of qualifications from different countries. For these and general requirements including English language see accepted entry qualifications from your country .

All applicants to the University (from the UK and Overseas) are required to show evidence of English Language proficiency.The minimum English Language requirement for this course is either:

• GCSE/iGCSE English Language gradeC/4 or;
• IELTS 7.0 overall with no less than 6.5 in any one component, or;
• An acceptable equivalent qualification.

Please note that if you hold English as a second language iGCSE qualification, we may also require you to offer one of our acceptable equivalent English Language qualifications or achieve a higher grade in your iGCSE than the one stated above. Please contact the academic School for clarification.

The UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) requires that every student from outside the UK and the EU must show evidence of a minimum level of English Language in order to be granted a UK visa (Tier 4 visa) to study at undergraduate or postgraduate level. This level is often referred to as the 'B2 level'.

Additionally, our individual Schools may ask for specific English Language proficiency levels that are necessary for their academic programmes. In most cases these requirements are likely to be higher than the B2 level.

Further information about our English Language policy, including a list of some of the English Language qualifications we accept, can be found on our English Language requirements page.

Some English Language test results are only valid for two years.

Your English Language test report must be valid on the start date of the course.

Fees for entry in 2026 have not yet been set. For entry in 2025 the tuition fees were £9,535 per annum for home students, and are expected to increase slightly for 2026 entry.

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

If you are a student who has followed a non-standard educational route, e.g. you have been educated at home; your application will be considered against the standard entry criteria of the course for which you are applying.

You will be required to demonstrate that you meet the specified academic entry requirements of the course.

We will also require a reference from somebody who knows you well enough, in an official capacity, to write about you and your suitability for higher education.

If you are a home schooled student and would like further information or advice please contact the academic School for your chosen course who will be able to help you.

Mature students are some of our most well-equipped learners, bringing skills and attributes gained from work, family and other life experiences.

Students come from a whole array of backgrounds, study every kind of course, undertake full-time and part-time learning and are motivated by career intentions as well as personal interest. There is no such thing as a typical mature student at Manchester.

The application process is the same as for other prospective undergraduates.If you require further clarification about the acceptability of the qualifications you hold please contact the academic School(s) you plan to apply to.

Further information for mature students can be found on our How to apply page.

Applications are considered on the basis of an assessment of the quality of the personal statement, the reference, and past and predicted academic achievements. We encourage applicants to give details of their motivation for studying this particular subject.

We warmly encourage applications from mature applicants and students returning to education. Allsuch applications are considered on an individual basis.Applicants are encouraged to contact the Admissions Officefor any discussion that they might find useful.

We welcome applications for deferred entry and feel a gap year benefits many students.

We do ask applicants to let us know as early as possibleif they are intending to defer.

This helps us to adjust the number of offers we make, in orderto achieve the required number of students in a given year.

If you applied in the previous year and your application was not successful you may apply again. Your application will be considered against the standard course entry criteria for that year of entry.

In your new application you should demonstrate how your application has improved.

We may draw upon all information from your previous applications or any previous registrations at the University as a student when assessing your suitability for your chosen course.

If you are applying for a place for the same year of entry through UCAS Extra, you should provide additional evidence of your suitability for the course.

If you are applying through clearing you are required to meet the clearing requirements.

In both UCAS Extra and clearing the places will be subject to availability.

We will consider applications to transfer to Manchester from other universities and would normally ask for a letter explaining why a transfer was needed,relevant transcripts, a copy of the applicant's UCAS form and a confidential reference from one of the applicant's current university tutors.

We will consider applications to transfer from other degrees within the University of Manchester but applicants are required to have the A-level grades (or other qualifications) needed for entry to that degree programme.

Both of the above are subject toour having enough places to accommodate such applicants.

Enquiries should be made to the admissions administrator for the subject (see contact details).

In English Language, you'll study the foundations of English grammar and will be introduced to the history of English and the variations of English in the UK and further afield.

You may also choose additional optional units, including those in which you learn about the study of meaning or of sounds, or learn how to investigate English using corpus methods.

In English literature, you will sample a wide variety of literature and cultural theory and develop a solid basis of knowledge and skill which you'll build on in your second and third years.

The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.

You will tailor your degree to suit your interests in both areas.

While studying two compulsory units in subjects like language change, sociolinguistics, stylistics or pragmatics, you may additionally choose from a wide range of optional units tapping into academic expertise in specialist fields such as phonology and experimental phonetics, and psycholinguistics.

In English Literature, you can tailor your studies by selecting from a wide range of options: from medieval and early modern literature to Victorian, 20th century and contemporary writing and film.

The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.

You will have complete freedom of choice among a wealth of different course options in both subjects.

In English Language, you can choose options spanning subjects as diverse historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, child language development, formal semantics and syntax, and forensic linguistics.

You will also have the option of writing a dissertation, where you explore and write about a particular topic in depth.

For the English Literature component, you may wish to enrol on to the long essay unit (if you haven't opted for the dissertation above), and then you will choose the remaining units from the optional list.

The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.