Welsh and English Literature (BA)

 Research is central to the student experience at Cardiff University and all our teaching is informed by the latest findings.

Throughout the degree, our aim is to support you to become an independent thinker. You’ll learn through a wide range of teaching methods including interactive lectures, lively discussion-based seminars and workshops. Seminars and workshops offer a rewarding experience to engage critically with the key ideas and readings on a topic. They provide a valuable opportunity to explore ideas and work closely with your lecturers and to learn from other students. For Welsh, there is also an important role to be played by tutorials, workshops and language classes, especially if you’re following the second language route. You’ll have access to course materials through our electronic learning environment.

In this supportive environment, you’ll develop your abilities to closely analyse texts and arguments, evaluate evidence, collaboratively work through problems, construct your own arguments, hone your language skills, and present your ideas clearly to others.  

How will I be supported?

Your main sources of support are your module leaders and your Personal Tutors. You’ll be allocated a personal tutor in both Welsh and English Literature. Personal Tutors can advise you on academic matters, including study skills, careers, and your academic progress, as well as on pastoral matters and you'll be invited to meet them regularly during the academic year. Your module leaders are also available during teaching weeks if you have any questions about course materials or assessments.

The Writing Development Centre provides specialist support for academic writing across the programme. This includes access to online materials, workshops and one-to-one meetings about any aspect of academic writing to support you with your assessments.

Our Professional Services teams in both Welsh and English Literature provide academic and student support and are there to help you with information and guidance if you have any queries. In addition, the University offers a range of support services and events to help you plan your career, manage your emotional, mental and physical health, support you with financial issues, and provide assistance for students with disabilities. These services are co-located at the University's Centre for Student Life. Libraries, study spaces and other resource centres will all be available to you.

How will I be assessed?

Your assessments are designed to cumulatively develop key skills in communication, collaboration, critical analysis and reflection. These can include critical analyses of texts, essays, exams, critical reviews, presentations, group work and group discussion assessments, and reflective assessment of your own skills. In the final year, you’ll take part in a collaborative project in English literature that involves communicating your findings to a non-specialist audience. In Welsh, you’ll undertake an independent research project.

Optional modules can offer a wider variety of assessments, including commenting on an artwork or a media piece, or creative assignments.

You’ll receive regular feedback on your progress as you move through the degree. Oral feedback in lectures, workshops and seminars will help you assess your understanding of the course material and your critical responses to it. You’ll receive formative comments on essay ideas and draft work, and detailed feedback on all marked coursework.

What skills will I practise and develop?

The Learning Outcomes for this Programme describe what you will achieve by the end of your programme at Cardiff University and identify the knowledge and skills that you will develop. They will also help you to understand what is expected of you.

On successful completion of your Programme you will be able to:

Knowledge & Understanding:

• Know the structures, registers and varieties of Welsh and use them flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes, as appropriate.
• Critique the development of the Welsh language and its literature in different historical periods, from a linguistic, literary, and social context as well as an understanding of the attempts to restore and promote the language.
• Systematically comprehend English and/or Welsh literature from different cultures and periods (including pre-1800) and the range of principal literary genres across prose, poetry, and drama.
• Systematically comprehend the relationships between literature and other cultural forms, such as film, art, music, and material/digital cultures.
• Systematically comprehend how culture, language, technology, and economics affect how, where, and by whom texts are produced and received.

Intellectual Skills:

• Critically assess how meanings are created through language, and the affective power of language.
• Develop and apply arguments that respond independently to linguistic and/or literary and critical sources. 
• Critically evaluate texts, data, concepts, and theories relevant to the context of the Welsh language and Welsh literature, using the appropriate vocabulary and terminology.
• Examine different kinds of linguistic data and/or literary and cultural materials closely and critically

Professional Practical Skills:

• Communicate persuasively, conveying academic ideas and technical arguments to both specialist and non-specialist audiences, using written or oral techniques in Welsh and English
• Apply knowledge, understanding and skills in a professional context.
• Assess and solve problems independently, taking the views of others into account in a systematic and evaluative way
• Compile and systematically evaluate complex information and diverse evidence.

Transferable/Key Skills:

• Effectively use IT programmes, including Welsh medium software, to present and analyse materials.
• Explain information and ideas clearly and professionally, applying advanced knowledge and skills to unfamiliar or wider world challenges or contexts
• Develop initiative by taking responsibility for structuring and time-managing a research task, working in teams when appropriate.
• Develop positive and effective working relations with others in teams, especially through constructive and collaborative dialogue and feedback
• Develop creative, critical, and independent responses to problems or tasks