Course summary

At Westminster, we'll train you to become a competent linguist in modern languages, ready to enter graduate employment.

We place particular emphasis on employability and the contemporary cultural context, and offer high-quality teaching in all language skills.

Our course offers you an opportunity to study the Chinese and English languages and cultures in an integrated interdisciplinary way, exploring the connections between them and the broader historical and cross-cultural contexts in which they are produced.

This course will enable you to achieve a good or high level of linguistic competence in Chinese in all four skill areas (reading, writing, listening and speaking), enhance your skills in using English, and develop linguistic and cultural knowledge and understanding.

You’ll be able to work in different cultural situations and you'll gain the transferable and cognitive skills necessary for lifelong personal and professional development.

Our Chinese courses are only available to beginner or intermediate entrants – intermediate entrants are students who have obtained or might be studying for an A level in Chinese, or who might have achieved the equivalent of HSK Chinese Proficiency Test Level 3. Please note that we may need to test you to determine your entry point.

You’ll develop your understanding of the English language in terms of the way it is structured, its linguistic diversity in Britain and around the world as a global language, the ways in which it varies between different texts, and, at a wider level, the ways in which it reflects and contributes to wider meanings in society. You'll also have the opportunity to consider the theoretical tools of both literary analysis and language research in detail.

You may have the option to spend a full academic year abroad at a partner institution and/or approved form of employment in a country where Chinese is the official language. You can also study an optional module from a range of topics across the University in each year.

Top reasons to study with us

• Integrated curriculum – develop your Chinese language skills alongside your cultural knowledge of the Chinese-speaking world
• Opportunities to undertake a year abroad in a Chinese-speaking country where you can practise your skills
• Individually focused academic support through our tutorial modules
• Opportunities to practise one-to-one conversation with a native speaker through the Languages Plus programme
• Study English language with world experts in language and gender, and the history of English

Course structure

Teaching methods include lectures, tutorials, practical sessions, seminars and workshops, but most of your learning is independent, conducted beyond the classroom (individually and in groups) in the library, at home, and via online learning.

Assessment methods include essays, exams, individual and group presentations, projects, and critical analysis.

The following subjects are indicative of what you will study on this course.