Specialisation

Major - English

Western Sydney University Major Code: M1053.1


Related Courses

1651.5 Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Primary)
1651.6 Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Primary)
1651.7 Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Primary)
1651.8 Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Primary)
1652.5 Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Secondary)
1652.6 Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Secondary)
1652.7 Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Secondary)
1652.8 Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Secondary)
1652.9 Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Secondary)
1655.8 Bachelor of Arts (Dean's Scholars)
1655.9 Bachelor of Arts (Dean's Scholars)
1706.1 Bachelor of Arts
1706.2 Bachelor of Arts
1706.3 Bachelor of Arts
1706.4 Bachelor of Arts
1708.1 Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Birth - 5/Birth - 12)
1708.2 Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Birth - 5/Birth - 12)
1708.3 Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Birth - 5/Birth - 12)
1708.5 Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Birth - 5/Birth - 12)
1808.2 Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Social Science
1808.3 Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Social Science
1818.1 Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Business
1818.2 Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Business
1818.3 Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Business
1818.4 Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Business
1822.1 Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Primary) Dean's Scholars
1822.2 Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Primary) Dean's Scholars
1822.3 Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Primary) Dean's Scholars
1823.2 Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Secondary) Dean's Scholars
1823.3 Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Secondary) Dean's Scholars
1823.4 Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Secondary) Dean's Scholars
1823.5 Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Secondary) Dean's Scholars
1838.1 Bachelor of Creative Industries
1838.2 Bachelor of Creative Industries
1839.1 Bachelor of Design/Bachelor of Creative Industries
1839.2 Bachelor of Design/Bachelor of Creative Industries
1840.1 Bachelor of Communication/Bachelor of Creative Industries
1840.2 Bachelor of Communication/Bachelor of Creative Industries
1841.1 Bachelor of Music/Bachelor of Creative Industries
1841.2 Bachelor of Music/Bachelor of Creative Industries
1842.1 Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Creative Industries
1842.2 Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Creative Industries
3654.3 Bachelor of Information and Communications Technology/Bachelor of Arts
3763.1 Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Arts
3763.2 Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Arts
6005.1 Diploma in Arts/Bachelor of Arts
6005.2 Diploma in Arts/Bachelor of Arts
6005.3 Diploma in Arts/Bachelor of Arts
6009.2 Diploma in Communication/Bachelor of Creative Industries
6017.1 Diploma in Arts/Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Birth-5/Birth-12)
6017.2 Diploma in Arts/Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Birth-5/Birth-12)
6017.3 Diploma in Arts/Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Birth-5/Birth-12)
6017.4 Diploma in Arts/Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Birth-5/Birth-12)
6019.1 Diploma in Arts/Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Primary)
6019.2 Diploma in Arts/Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Primary)
6021.1 Diploma in Arts/Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Secondary)
6021.2 Diploma in Arts/Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Secondary)
6021.3 Diploma in Arts/Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Secondary)
6021.4 Diploma in Arts/Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Secondary)

Available to students in other Western Sydney University Courses : YES, if the specialisation is available on your Home campus. Please ensure your course structure allows space for enrolment in the units in this unit set. Students must also meet any pre-requisite requirements. Consult your Course Advisor for further advice.


The English major invites students to explore contemporary approaches to language, literary study and writing, including literary criticism and theory, linguistic analysis, genre and textual study, and creative writing. The English major focuses on the imaginative workings of language, and students can study a wide selection of modern and classic literature, as well as the relationships between written texts and other media such as film and information technology. Students also have the opportunity to produce their own creative writing and to edit and publish their work. Career prospects include publishing, editing, teaching, writing and advertising.


Major Structure

Students must successfully complete 80 credit points as follows.

Please note all Bachelor of Arts students including Pathways to Teaching, Dean’s Scholars and double degrees must complete the structure under the heading Bachelor of Arts.

Please note all Bachelor of Creative Industries students including double degrees must complete the structure under the heading Bachelor of Creative Industries.

This specialisation is available to students in other Western Sydney University courses. If the specialisation is available on your campus, the course structure allows space for enrolment in the specialisation and pre-requisite requirements can be met, please follow the structure under the heading Bachelor of Arts. Consult your Course Advisor for further advice.

Note: Not all units will be offered each year. Units will be offered on a rotational basis.

Bachelor of Arts Students

Arts students must complete the four compulsory units below and must complete four units from the Level 2 / Level 3 unit pool with a minimum of 2 units at Level 3. See below.

Compulsory units

100641 Approaches to Text
101907 Introduction to Literary Studies
101909 Methods of Reading
102765 The Value of Literature

The unit listed below counts as a compulsory unit towards completion of this Major for students who passed this unit in 2019 or earlier.

101976 - English Literature After 1830

Bachelor of Creative Industries Students

Creative Industries students must complete their Introduction to Major unit as part of the core requirements of the course, prior to enrolling in this major.

101907 Introduction to Literary Studies

Creative Industry students must complete the three compulsory units below and must complete five units from the Level 2 / Level 3 unit pool with a minimum of 2 units at Level 3. See below.

Compulsory units

100641 Approaches to Text
101909 Methods of Reading
102765 The Value of Literature

The unit listed below counts as a compulsory unit towards completion of this Major for students who passed this unit in 2019 or earlier.

101976 - English Literature After 1830

Pool Units

Bachelor of Arts students must complete four units from the list below, with a minimum of 2 units at Level 3. Bachelor of Creative Industries students must complete five units from the list below, with a minimum of 2 units at Level 3.

Note: Not all units will be offered each year. Units will be offered on a rotational basis.

Level 2 Unit Pool

101967 Cultural History of Books and Reading
100584 Experimental Writing and Electronic Publication
100964 Introduction to Film Studies
102572 Literature and Decolonisation
102626 Medieval and Early Modern Literature
101978 Modern Australian Poetry and Poetics
101917 Representing Everyday Life in Literary and Visual Cultures
101964 Sexual/Textual Politics in Victorian Women's Writing
102507 The Gothic
101795 The Musical
102414 Working Grammar
102772 Writing and Reading Sci-Fi and Fantasy
100896 Writing Fiction

Level 3 Unit Pool

101796 19th Century American Literature
102099 20th Century American Literature
100849 Australian Textual Studies
102205 Children's and Young Adult Fiction
101626 Children's Literature: Image and Text
101984 Cinema and Experience
102914 Comedy and Tragedy: Dramas of Death and Rebirth
100856 Creative Non-Fiction
100859 Creative Writing Project
102315 Crime Fiction
102185 Culture, Discourse and Meaning
100866 Film and Drama
102186 Introduction to Stylistics
102416 Law, Literature and Culture
101724 Literary Animals
100875 Literature and Philosophy
101739 Literature and Trauma
101033 Modernism
101001 Modernity and Cinema
102434 Postcolonial Literatures: Partition, Dependence and Exile
101650 Race in Literature
102078 Reading Ireland in the 1990s: Fiction, Poetry, Drama
101005 Representing Crime
101791 Short Fiction in the Americas
100893 The Novel
101880 The Space of Literature
101977 Women, Travel and Empire
102374 Women's Writing
101669 World Literature in Translation
101670 Writing and Society
100895 Writing For Performance
101011 Writing Poetry

Please note

The Level 2 and 3 units listed below count towards completion of this Major for students who passed these units in 2016 or earlier.

Level 2 units

101408 - Critical Discourse Analysis

100993 - Constructions of the Script

SS238A - Genres

101452 - History of the English Language

100870 - Hypertext Fictions

101986 - International Texts and Contexts

100880 - Poetry and Poetics

100505 - Special Topics in English, Text and Writing

101869 - Studies in Postcolonial Literature

101873 - The Sound of Language

101455 - The Structure of English

Level 3 units

100845 - American Literature

400087 - Applied Critical Methods

101242 - Childrens Literature

100256 - Film and Affect

101000 - hom/e/scapes

101955 - Honours Foundation

100874 - Literature, History and Culture

101966 - Literatures of Decolonisation

101406 - Queering Text

101006 - Social Semiotics

101832 - Talking Normal: Sociolinguistics and Modern Literature

101453 - Text and Discourse in English

101668 - World Cinema

101471 - Women in Arabic and Islamic Literature

100582 - Writing Portfolio

The Level 3 units listed below count towards completion of this Major for students who passed these units in 2019 or earlier.

100961 - Humanities Internship

101908 - Writing and Reading Sci Fi and Fantasy

Note: The Level 3 unit 100961 Humanities Internship cannot count towards completion of SM1129 English Teaching Specialisation (Birth-5/Birth-12) or M1126 Education Studies Major - Primary English Teaching Specialisation for students enrolled in courses 1708 Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Birth - 5/Birth - 12), 1651 Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Primary), 1822 Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Primary) Dean''s Scholars, 6017 Diploma in Arts/Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Birth-5/Birth-12), 6019 Diploma in Arts/Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Primary) as this would not satisfy the professional accreditation requirements for NESA.

Equivalent Specialisation Unit

The Specialisation unit listed below count towards completion of this major for students who passed this unit in 2021 or earlier.

100900 - Comedy and Tragedy



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