English literature students study an exciting spread of modules ranging from literary classics by canonical writers like Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and John Milton to the contemporary and the popular including work by Ian Fleming, Pat Barker and Carol Ann Duffy; in the first year students study 2 core foundation modules: Reading prose narrative; a study of the ways in which novelists construct narratives and different techniques they employ; and ways of reading; which looks at new critical and theoretical approaches to literary texts and films; students may also choose to take other literature modules focusing on drama and poetry; this course offers a modern, systematic study of language: its nature and how it is used; the study of this fundamental human attribute raises questions central to our understanding of mind and society; students explore questions about the nature of language itself, how it is acquired, how it differs from other forms of communication, how it functions in society, and such critical issues as language and power, and sexism in language.