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BA ENGLISH LITERATURE AND ITALIAN

  • UCAS code
    QR33
  • Typical offer
    BBB
  • Year of entry
    2021
  • Course duration
     4 years
  • Year of entry
    2021
  • Course duration
     4 years
View all

COVID-19 update


Find out about how we'll be delivering our courses in 2020.

English writers since Chaucer have looked to Italy for inspiration. On this BA English Literature and Italian joint degree course, you can explore the enduring links between these two cultures.

We provide accelerated learning in Italian, meaning that you can start from beginner's level if you have not studied the language before, or at intermediate level if you have only learnt it up to GCSE or AS level. Regardless of your language skills when you joint, you will soon master the fundamental elements of the language and will graduate with a near-native command of it. Please check the course's entry requirements for more details on entry points.

As well as modules in Italian language, you can take first year modules in medieval and twentieth-century Italian history and culture. In English Literature, you will study the different ways that literary texts respond to their cultural context (Genre and Context); the development of poetry in English over time and across the globe (Poetry in English); and the ways that literary texts accrue new meanings in the process of interpretation (Research and Criticism).

In your second year, you will have a wide choice of modules that range from Italian Cinema to Fictions of Italy. In English Literature, you can study everything from Renaissance lyric poetry to contemporary novels and Communications at Work. At this stage, you will be able to shape your degree to your interests much more, and this process continues in your final year of study, where your module choices are more diverse and specialised.For your final year, you can do archive work on Studying Manuscripts, or look at the politics of literature in Class Matters. With Italian, you can choose from a range of modules on Italian history, cinema, linguistics and culture, including options on Dante, Machiavelli, or Renaissance theatre.

Everyone in our departments, from new lecturers to professors, teaches at every level of the degree: this gives you the benefit of our expertise and makes you part of the conversation about our research. A great deal of your time will be spent in small-group teaching sessions, which we believe is vital for successful study in the Humanities. We’re proud of our small language classes, led by native speakers. Direct access to expert staff for help and feedback ensures you develop your skills to the best of your ability.

An integral part of this degree is the opportunity for you to spend up to a year in Italy, studying at a partner institution, undertaking a work placement, or working as a British Council language teaching assistant. This enables you to directly immerse yourself in the culture and greatly improve your knowledge of Italian at the same time. Core modules in the second year will prepare you for your time abroad, equipping you with the skills and knowledge required to live, work, and study in a different culture.

Placement

Throughout your degree you will be thinking about the career choices that will enable you to thrive after graduation: we will help you put in place the skills and experience that you need to launch that career. Our innovative placement scheme gives you the chance to undertake an academic placement in commerce, industry or the arts. You can also take a placement module on languages and literature in heritage, in education, and in the media.

Year abroad

You can choose from three options for your third year: studying at a partner institution through the study abroad programme, undertaking a work placement or working as a British Council language teaching assistant.

Our Italian partner institutions include universities in Bologna, Florence, Genoa, Naples, Padua, Pisa, Siena and Venice, Bergamo, Pavia and Rome. The Department of Modern Languages has a study abroad officer who can help you prepare for study at one of these universities.

If you would prefer to undertake a placement for your year abroad, you can also talk to the Department's specialist year abroad team, who can provide you with support in securing and preparing for a placement. Past students have carried out roles with organisations such as Ermanno Scervino, the Istituto per la storia della Resistenza e dell’età contemporanea and the UN.

Overview

We provide accelerated learning in Italian, meaning that you can start from beginner's level if you have not studied the language before, or at intermediate level if you have only learnt it up to GCSE or AS level. Regardless of your language skills when you joint, you will soon master the fundamental elements of the language and will graduate with a near-native command of it. Please check the course's entry requirements for more details on entry points.

As well as modules in Italian language, you can take first year modules in medieval and twentieth-century Italian history and culture. In English Literature, you will study the different ways that literary texts respond to their cultural context (Genre and Context); the development of poetry in English over time and across the globe (Poetry in English); and the ways that literary texts accrue new meanings in the process of interpretation (Research and Criticism).

In your second year, you will have a wide choice of modules that range from Italian Cinema to Fictions of Italy. In English Literature, you can study everything from Renaissance lyric poetry to contemporary novels and Communications at Work. At this stage, you will be able to shape your degree to your interests much more, and this process continues in your final year of study, where your module choices are more diverse and specialised.For your final year, you can do archive work on Studying Manuscripts, or look at the politics of literature in Class Matters. With Italian, you can choose from a range of modules on Italian history, cinema, linguistics and culture, including options on Dante, Machiavelli, or Renaissance theatre.

Everyone in our departments, from new lecturers to professors, teaches at every level of the degree: this gives you the benefit of our expertise and makes you part of the conversation about our research. A great deal of your time will be spent in small-group teaching sessions, which we believe is vital for successful study in the Humanities. We’re proud of our small language classes, led by native speakers. Direct access to expert staff for help and feedback ensures you develop your skills to the best of your ability.

An integral part of this degree is the opportunity for you to spend up to a year in Italy, studying at a partner institution, undertaking a work placement, or working as a British Council language teaching assistant. This enables you to directly immerse yourself in the culture and greatly improve your knowledge of Italian at the same time. Core modules in the second year will prepare you for your time abroad, equipping you with the skills and knowledge required to live, work, and study in a different culture.

Placement

Throughout your degree you will be thinking about the career choices that will enable you to thrive after graduation: we will help you put in place the skills and experience that you need to launch that career. Our innovative placement scheme gives you the chance to undertake an academic placement in commerce, industry or the arts. You can also take a placement module on languages and literature in heritage, in education, and in the media.

Year abroad

You can choose from three options for your third year: studying at a partner institution through the study abroad programme, undertaking a work placement or working as a British Council language teaching assistant.

Our Italian partner institutions include universities in Bologna, Florence, Genoa, Naples, Padua, Pisa, Siena and Venice, Bergamo, Pavia and Rome. The Department of Modern Languages has a study abroad officer who can help you prepare for study at one of these universities.

If you would prefer to undertake a placement for your year abroad, you can also talk to the Department's specialist year abroad team, who can provide you with support in securing and preparing for a placement. Past students have carried out roles with organisations such as Ermanno Scervino, the Istituto per la storia della Resistenza e dell’età contemporanea and the UN.

Entry requirements A Level BBB | IB 30 points overall

Select Reading as your firm choice on UCAS, and we will guarantee you a place if you achieve one grade lower than the published offer.

Typical offer

BBB, including grade B in A level English Literature or related subject.

Related subjects are English Language, English Language & Literature, Drama & Theatre Studies and Creative Writing.

No language qualification is required to study Italian from beginner’s level. If you have studied this language up to GCSE, AS or A level you may be able to join our Intermediate or Advanced language groups; for more information on entry levels check out our website.

International Baccalaureate

30 points overall including 5 in higher level English Literature or a related subject.

Extended Project Qualification

In recognition of the excellent preparation that the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) provides to students for University study, we can now include achievement in the EPQ as part of a formal offer.

BTEC Extended Diploma

DDM (Modules taken must be comparable to subject specific requirement)

English language requirements

IELTS 7.0, with no component below 6.0

For information on other English language qualifications, please visit our international student pages.

Alternative entry requirements for International and EU students

For country specific entry requirements look at entry requirements by country.

International Foundation Programme

If you are an international or EU student and do not meet the requirements for direct entry to your chosen degree you can join the University of Reading’s International Foundation Programme. Successful completion of this 1 year programme guarantees you a place on your chosen undergraduate degree. English language requirements start as low as IELTS 4.5 depending on progression degree and start date.

  • Learn more about our International Foundation programme

Pre-sessional English language programme

If you need to improve your English language score you can take a pre-sessional English course prior to entry onto your degree.

  • Find out the English language requirements for our courses and our pre-sessional English programme

Structure

  • Year 1
  • Year 2
  • Year 3
  • Year 4

Core modules include:

  • Genre and context
  • Poetry in English
  • Research and criticism
  • Italian language

Optional modules include:

  • Creative writing
  • Persuasive writing
  • Twentieth-century American literature
  • Italian Medieval and Renaissance culture (in translation)
  • Twentieth-century Italian culture
  • Making Italians: a journey in the history and culture of modern Italy

Comparative modules include:

In addition to these Italian modules, students may choose to take a module from our list of comparative modules. Comparative modules do not focus on one specific country or culture, but rather they contrast and compare different literary, cinematic or historical traditions.

  • The making of modern Europe: 1789 to the present
  • What is comparative literature?
  • Greats of European cinema
  • Introduction to linguistics

Please note that all modules are subject to change.

Core modules include:

  • Italian language

Optional modules include:

  • Introduction to Old English
  • Lyric Voices
  • Renaissance texts and cultures
  • Chaucer and Medieval narrative
  • Early modern theatre practice
  • Restoration to revolution
  • The Romantic Period
  • Modernism in poetry and fiction
  • Critical issues
  • Victorian literature
  • Contemporary fiction
  • Writing America
  • Writing and revising
  • Shakespeare
  • Writing, genre, identity
  • Writing, genre and the market
  • The business of books
  • Italian cinema
  • 'Apocalittici e integrati': intellectuals and society in twentieth-century Italy
  • Fictions of Italy: themes and genres

Placement Modules include:

  • Communications at work
  • Literature, language and media
  • Literature, language and education

Comparative modules include:

In addition to these Italian modules, students may choose to take a module from our list of comparative modules. Comparative modules do not focus on one specific country or culture, but rather they contrast and compare different literary, cinematic or historical traditions.

  • Society, thought, and art in modern Europe
  • Unity, nationalism and regionalism in Europe
  • Science, perversion, and dream in global fantastic literature
  • Love in Medieval Renaissance

Please note that all modules are subject to change.

You can choose from three options for your third year: studying at a partner institution through the Erasmus+ programme, undertaking a work placement or working as a British Council language teaching assistant.

Our Italian partner institutions include universities in Bologna, Florence, Genoa, Naples, Padua, Pisa, Siena and Venice, Bergamo, Pavia and Rome. The Department of Modern Languages has a study abroad officer who can help you prepare for study at one of these universities.

If you would prefer to undertake a placement for your year abroad, you can also talk to the Department's specialist year abroad team, who can provide you with support in securing and preparing for a placement. Past students have carried out roles with organisations such as Ermanno Scervino, the Istituto per la storia della Resistenza e dell’età contemporanea and the UN.

Core modules include:

  • Dissertation
  • Italian language

Optional modules include:

  • Alfred Hitchcock
  • American poetry: Bishop to Dove
  • Black British fiction
  • Colonial explorations
  • Contemporary American fiction
  • Children’s literature
  • Class matters
  • ‘Eyes on the prize’: literature of the US Civil Rights Movement
  • Classical and Renaissance tragedy
  • Dante
  • Decadence and degeneration
  • Dickens
  • Eighteenth-century novel
  • Fiction and ethnicity in post-war Britain and America
  • Editing the Renaissance
  • Family romances
  • Holocaust fiction
  • History of the Italian language
  • Italian language for management and business
  • City of death and desire: Henry James and Venice
  • Holocaust testimony
  • Irish poetry
  • James Joyce
  • Literature and the railway
  • Margaret Atwood
  • Modern and contemporary British poetry
  • Modern Scottish fiction
  • Nineteenth-century American fiction
  • Nigerian prose literature: from Achebe to Adichie
  • Packaging literature
  • Performance and the self in Renaissance Italy
  • Psychoanalysis and text
  • Restoration literary culture
  • Samuel Beckett
  • Science in culture
  • The writer’s workshop: studying manuscripts
  • Victorian and Edwardian children’s fantasy
  • Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury
  • Writing global justice
  • Writing women: nineteenth-century poetry
  • American graphic novel
  • The African-American short story
  • Digital text: literature and the new technologies
  • John Milton
  • Modern American drama
  • Modernism and politics
  • Shakespeare and gender
  • Utopia
  • Victorian literature and medicine
  • Voice and the self in modern Italian poetry

Comparative modules include:

In addition to these Italian modules, students may choose to take a module from our list of comparative modules. Comparative modules do not focus on one specific country or culture, but rather they contrast and compare different literary, cinematic or historical traditions.

  • EU case studies
  • Cinemas of the world
  • 19th century European novel
  • Language and power

Please note that all modules are subject to change.

Fees

New UK/Republic of Ireland students: £9,250* per year

New international students: £17,320 per year

*UK/Republic of Ireland fee changes

UK/Republic of Ireland undergraduate tuition fees are regulated by the UK government. These fees are subject to parliamentary approval and any decision on raising the tuition fees cap for new UK students would require the formal approval of both Houses of Parliament before it becomes law.

EU student fees

With effect from 1 August 2021, new EU students will pay international tuition fees. For exceptions, please read the UK government’s guidance for EU students.

Additional costs

Some courses will require additional payments for field trips and extra resources. You will also need to budget for your accommodation and living costs. See our information on living costs for more details.

Financial support for your studies

You may be eligible for a scholarship or bursary to help pay for your study. Students from the UK may also be eligible for a student loan to help cover these costs. See our fees and funding information for more information on what's available.

Careers

By the time you graduate, you will be able to write and speak fluently in Italian: an immensely useful skill when there is currently a great shortage of well-qualified linguists in the UK. The experience of studying or working abroad shows employers that you have self-reliance, adaptability and enterprise. In your three years with us, you will develop the skills needed to research a problem, manage documentation, and present results clearly and persuasively: these are important skills in today’s economy.

Our graduates have an excellent record of finding careers in many different sectors, including education, publishing, translation, EU institutions, finance, fashion, entertainment, the film business and tourism, both in the UK and abroad. They have found employment with companies and organisations such as the Ministry of Defence, Energis Communication, BNP Paribas, the Taylorian Institution Library and Riso Scotti SRL, Christie’s, Prada, Dolce and Gabbana, PGL Travel Ltd. Many opt to continue their studies at postgraduate level, either at MA level or on vocational courses in teaching, business administration, or archive studies.

Contextual offers


We make contextual offers for all our courses.

Take the next step


How to apply

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Subjects Q-Z

  • Real Estate and Planning
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Subjects A-B

  • Agriculture
  • Ancient History
  • Animal Science
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Architectural Engineering
  • Architecture
  • Art
  • Biological Sciences
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Biomedical Sciences
  • Building and Surveying
  • Business and Management, Accounting and Finance

Subjects C-E

  • Chemistry
  • Classics and Classical Studies
  • Climate Science
  • Computer Science
  • Construction Management
  • Consumer Behaviour and Marketing
  • Creative Writing
  • Drama
  • Ecology
  • Economics
  • Education
  • Engineering
  • English Language and Applied Linguistics
  • English Literature
  • Environment

Subjects F-G

  • Film & Television
  • Food and Nutritional Sciences
  • Foundation programmes
  • French
  • Geography
  • German
  • Graphic Communication and Design

Subjects H-M

  • Healthcare
  • History
  • International Development
  • International Foundation Programme (IFP)
  • International Relations
  • Italian
  • Languages and Cultures
  • Law
  • Linguistics
  • Marketing
  • Mathematics
  • Medical Sciences
  • Meteorology and Climate
  • Museum Studies

Subjects N-T

  • Nutrition
  • Pharmacology
  • Pharmacy
  • Philosophy
  • Physician Associate Studies
  • Politics and International Relations
  • Psychology
  • Real Estate and Planning
  • Spanish
  • Speech and Language Therapy
  • Surveying and Construction
  • Teaching
  • Theatre

Subjects U-Z

  • Wildlife Conservation
  • Zoology

Subjects A-C

  • Agriculture
  • Ancient History
  • Animal Sciences
  • Archaeology
  • Architecture
  • Art
  • Biological Sciences
  • Biomedical Sciences
  • Business (Post-Experience)
  • Business and Management (Pre-Experience)
  • Chemistry
  • Classics and Ancient History
  • Climate Science
  • Computer Science
  • Construction Management and Engineering
  • Consumer Behaviour
  • Creative Enterprise

Subjects D-G

  • Data Science
  • Economics
  • Education
  • Energy and Environmental Engineering
  • Engineering
  • English Language and Applied Linguistics
  • English Literature
  • Environmental Science
  • Film, Theatre and Television
  • Finance
  • Food and Nutritional Sciences
  • Geography and Environmental Science
  • Graphic Design

Subjects H-P

  • Healthcare
  • History
  • Information Management and Digital Business
  • Information Technology
  • International Development and Applied Economics
  • Languages and Cultures
  • Law
  • Linguistics
  • Management
  • Medieval History
  • Meteorology and Climate
  • Microbiology
  • Nutritional Sciences
  • Pharmacy
  • Philosophy
  • Physician Associate
  • Politics and International Relations
  • Project Management
  • Psychology
  • Public Policy

Subjects Q-Z

  • Real Estate and Planning
  • Social Policy
  • Speech and Language Therapy
  • Strategic Studies
  • Teaching
  • Theatre
  • Typography and Graphic Communication
  • War and Peace Studies
  • Zoology

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