For Use on Course PageEDUCATIONAL LICENSE- Faculty members and Staff members may use, reproduce, archive, modify, and display the asset: for advertising, marketing, promotional, and decoration purposes related solely to the Enterprise, for professional and academic activities related solely to the Enterprise, and not for any other commercial purpose.- Students may use, reproduce, archive, modify, and display the asset in all media, solely in connection with course work at the Enterprise, and not for a

English Language and Linguistics BA (Hons)

Immerse yourself in the spoken and written language, and how it shapes our experience of the world and our experience of society, work, politics and culture.

University of Portsmouth Connected Degree - 3 year course with 4th year placement

Key information

UCAS code:

QQ31

Typical offer:

104-112 UCAS points to include a minimum of 2 A levels, or equivalent

See full entry requirements
Study mode and duration
Start date

Showing content for section Overview

Overview

Language shapes our experience of the world – from our social and emotional lives, to our experience of society, work, politics and culture. Immerse yourself in the nature of spoken and written language, and how it's used in everything from digital communication to forensic investigation.

You'll study how language works, including the relationships between language, the mind, and society, and how language varies through time, place, culture and identity. You'll explore the different ways people use language and what they use it for. Discover methods for analysing spoken and written language, how we learn language and how we teach it.

You'll develop sought-after skills including communication, creativity and critical thinking. You'll be taught by expert researchers and study alongside students within the School of Education, Languages and Linguistics – bringing opportunities to learn from the latest research and build intercultural relationships.

Course highlights

  • Discover how the use of language affects perceptions of important contemporary issues, such as gender, sexuality, education and globalisation
  • Learn the linguistic skills to spot how language persuades and prejudices people – from what drives social movements on social media, to relationships in the workplace
  • Develop the skills employers want, including analysis, criticism, negotiation, argument and problem solving
  • Tailor your degree to suit your career ambitions, including options that equip you to work internationally, such as intercultural communication and teaching English as a second language
  • Have the opportunity to do a work placement year after your second or third year on this Connected Degree - we're the only UK university to offer flexible sandwich placements for undergraduates
  • Be taught by dedicated, expert researchers from the School of Education, Languages and Linguistics who specialise in areas including language and gender, English as a transnational language, the language of mental health, professional communication, sociolinguistics and translation
  • Build skills in ‘corpus linguistics’ analysis – essential skills in a world where working with 'big data' is the future
  • Choose to learn a foreign language for free as part of your degree, from a selection of Arabic, British Sign Language, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin or Spanish

100%

of graduates in work or further study

(HESA graduate outcomes survey 2020/21)

100%

of students said teaching staff were very good or good at explaining things

(NSS 2023)

91%

of students said good advice is available for making career choices

(NSS 2023)

Options to customise your degree

You can choose to customise your degree depending on your interests and ambitions, by specialising in English literature or teaching English as a foreign language.

If you want to combine your study of English language and linguistics with a passion for English literature, you can choose to take a look at our pathway degree: BA (Hons) English Language and Linguistics with Literature.

If you’re interested in teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) you can upgrade your qualifications with the Trinity College London Certificate – an internationally recognised TESOL qualification.

You’ll need to pass an additional entry test and interview to add TESOL to your studies.

The best part of the course was being given the opportunity and freedom to choose to study the areas I enjoy the most in English Language and Linguistics. For example, I was able to discover and explore my interest in teaching in modules like TESOL and Introduction to Teaching.

Eloise Peters, BA (Hons) English Language and Linguistics

Contact information

Admissions

+44 (0) 23 9284 5566

Contact Admissions

Entry requirements

BA (Hons) English Language and Linguistics degree entry requirements

Typical offers

  • A levels - BBC-BCC
  • UCAS points - 104-112 points to include a minimum of 2 A levels, or equivalent (calculate your UCAS points)
  • T-levels - Merit
  • BTECs (Extended Diplomas) - DMM
  • International Baccalaureate - 25

You may need to have studied specific subjects – find full entry requirements and other qualifications we accept

English language requirements

  • English language proficiency at a minimum of IELTS band 6.0 with no component score below 5.5.

See alternative English language qualifications

We also accept other standard English tests and qualifications, as long as they meet the minimum requirements of your course.

If you don't meet the English language requirements yet, you can achieve the level you need by successfully completing a pre-sessional English programme before you start your course.

We look at more than just your grades

While we consider your grades when making an offer, we also carefully look at your circumstances and other factors to assess your potential. These include whether you live and work in the region and your personal and family circumstances which we assess using established data.

Explore more about how we make your offer

Why study English Language and Linguistics?

Thumbnail for BA English Language and Linguistics video

"Language is a really powerful thing." Meet the students and lecturers from our BA (Hons) English Language and Linguistics course, discover what they love about the subject and how it can help in your future career.

Lucy: Language is a really powerful thing. I think it's so powerful that you don't even notice that you can do so much with it. But studying that is really interesting, and I just had a moment where I was like, this is the course I want to do.

William Forsyth: Some of the topics we cover on the course lead into a lot of things that people want to do afterwards, so we have quite a lot on education. For people who want to go into publishing and marketing, using social media, we have clinical linguistics for people who want to go into language therapy and that kind of thing. We have forensic linguistics.

Grahame Luff: Forensic linguistics is the study of language applied to forensic situations in context, i.e. looking at written documents and speech and using that to solve crime. The skills that students will learn will be analytical skills, the ability to take new ideas and concepts and apply them to different situations.

William Forsyth: We have two modules aimed specifically at teaching English to non-native speakers. The first one is called TESOL, which is Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. And the second one is an accredited module examined by Trinity.

Rebecca Hamlet: Trinity is a recognised teaching qualification and it qualifies students to teach in language schools all over the world and TESOL is the input for that. They are assigned to a tutor, they work with a class and they deliver lessons with feedback and support from their tutors.

William Forsyth: By undertaking the BA, that will allow them to go and do a Master's course, there's then the opportunity to do a PhD, set up their own consultancy service or join the police.

Rebecca Hamlet: Many jobs involve language and linguistics because it is about communication. I can't think of many careers where understanding about language wouldn't be enormously helpful.

Alexander: I've definitely taken an interest in forensics as well as the language of law. So I've applied for various Master's along the line of forensic accounting as well as a conversion to law. But this courses has definitely helped me get a much clearer line of what I'd like to do moving forward.

Max: I think what made me really realise that I loved the course was during the start of COVID-19, it was a difficult time for a lot of students, and a lot of people in general. I still found myself enjoying the lectures, even from a distant learning point of view. And then when coming back into the classroom this year, really made me go, "Okay, I've loved it online and now I love it in person."

William Forsyth: The reason why I would recommend students coming to Portsmouth is that the teaching staff are excellent, the provision that the teachers provide is excellent and the support that students will receive here is also excellent.

Lucy: When I visited the University of Portsmouth, it just clicked for me because I'd visited a number of other unis and it just didn't feel right. But when I visited here, I just loved the closeness of everything to each other and it just felt right.

Rebecca Hamlet: Language and linguistics has many, many different aspects because at the end of the day, language is everything. We are surrounded by it. It's powerful and we need to know how it works in society.

Careers and opportunities

You’ll graduate with specialist expertise in language and linguistics, plus sought-after employability skills including:

  • analytical techniques and reasoning
  • communicating clearly to diverse audiences
  • data collection and interpretation
  • developing persuasive, evidence-based arguments
  • problem solving 

Previous graduates are now applying these skills in a diverse range of sectors and industries. If you decide to pursue a career that’s closely related to your studies, you could apply for jobs in writing, editing or publishing. Or employ your research and analysis skills to go on to postgraduate study, in areas such as speech therapy, communication studies, law and marketing.

This degree course gives you the freedom to explore topics and find areas you're most passionate about, and the foundation to pursue these areas after graduation. Further study in forensic linguistics could open up possible careers in law enforcement, criminal justice or legal firms. You could also develop your linguistic talents to work as a speech therapist or train actors to master different dialects.

A global survey of 1000 business leaders by the Harvard Business Review [...] found that the skills most in-demand by employers are those in which Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts graduates specialise – from communication, problem solving and creativity, to research and analysis. 

Ian Diamond, The British Academy

What areas can you work in with an English language and linguistics degree?

You could work in any of the following areas:

  • advertising
  • education
  • communication
  • media
  • marketing
  • publishing
  • technical writing
  • teaching English

Graduate destinations

Previous graduates have gone onto further training and work in various fields, including:

  • accountancy
  • the armed forces and police
  • banking
  • research
  • journalism
  • law
  • local government
  • health services
  • public relations and marketing
  • publishing
  • speech and language therapy
  • teaching
Female student at computer

Ongoing career support – up to 5 years after you graduate

Get experience while you study, with support to find part-time jobs, volunteering opportunities, and work experience.

Towards the end of your degree and for up to five years after graduation, you’ll receive one-to-one support from our Graduate Recruitment Consultancy to help you find your perfect role.

Placement year (optional)

After your second or third year of study, you can choose to do a paid work or research placement year. This lets you put your new skills to work while developing valuable links with employers.

It’s fantastic for your CV and will really help you stand out when applying for jobs.

We’ll help you secure a work placement that fits your aspirations. With mentoring and support throughout your placement, you’ll have our support to get the most from the experience.

Previous placement destinations have included:

  • 7 Stars – a media company in London
  • Babylangues  – a company helping infants and toddlers learn English ­in France
  • HMY - translation and teaching English in France
Humanities; Graduation; July 2019

I enjoyed the range of units that my course offered. My favourite unit was forensic linguistics, as this was something I had never covered before.

Lyncia Mande, BA (Hons) English Language and Linguistics

Modules

Each module on this course is worth a certain number of credits.

In each year, you need to study modules worth a total of 120 credits. For example, 4 modules worth 20 credits and 1 module worth 40 credits.

What you'll study

Core modules

You'll develop skills in phonetics, phonology, morphology, lexis, semantics and syntax. You'll learn how to transcribe speech, identify and classify language features, analyse meaning in texts, and understand register.

This is a practical and collaborative module – you'll work with your classmates in seminars and then apply your new skills by investigating your own chosen texts.

We'll guide you through using university resources like the library and Moodle while familiarising you with processes like ethics approval and referencing. You’ll get hands-on with collecting, examining, and presenting language data.

You’ll develop professional skills like teamwork, time management and resilience as you take the first steps towards becoming an independent researcher.

You’ll analyse the syntactic, lexical, functional and phonological elements of English, building your understanding of pedagogic grammar.

You’ll also have a go at learning a previously unknown language and reflect on this experience, as well as making contrasts between this language and known languages.

On this module, you’ll explore the intersections of language and human experience, journeying through key linguistics topics like psycholinguistics, social variation, language acquisition and language disorders.

You'll use real-world spoken and written texts to dive into cultural differences, gender dynamics, language evolution and more.

This module will help you decide which areas you’d like to explore in your second and third years.

You'll explore this question on this module, studying different types of 'texts', and learning how to interpret the grammatical and thematic elements within them.

You'll work with a range of texts, across spoken, written and digital media. You'll learn skills in transcription and how to analyse conversations, thinking about what we communicate about our identities through social interaction. You'll record and examine real-world conversations to see communication dynamics in action.

By the end of the module, you'll understand how language shapes our interactions with others.

Core modules

You’ll go beyond vocabulary and assess why we say things the way we do, looking for patterns in everyday language.

You’ll develop practical text analysis skills, and examine language as a tool we use to accomplish social goals.

You'll explore semantics and pragmatics in depth, and analyse diverse spoken and written texts using key terminology and principles.

You'll engage with linguistics and literature to stay up to date with developments like social media discourse and become an expert in how meaning is created and conveyed in English.

Optional modules

Combining law, language analysis and psychology, you’ll look at the different tools and methods used for analysing texts.

You’ll investigate grammar, orthography, metaphor, punctuation, capitalisation, layout and text management, salutations, spelling and distinctive markers, style of printing, and the use of upper-case letters.

You’ll also explore the different methods used for detecting lies and deception, and apply forensic linguistics tools in written and verbal case reports.

We’ll cover various aspects of social (in)justice, and you’ll then choose an area you feel passionate about to investigate further, explaining links between language and social justice in your chosen domain.

You’ll capture and convey your insights through a digital portfolio.

You’ll study a number of key topics and issues in the field of language acquisition and their implications for your own personal and professional interests and needs in language learning, language teaching, and language studies.

Through dynamic peer discussions, you’ll rethink assumptions about multilingualism while gaining tools to evaluate language policies and learning models.

Although this module focuses on the teaching of English, it can apply to other languages too.

If you’re doing the Trinity course, this is the second of three modules you’ll need to complete to achieve the internationally recognised professional teaching qualification, Trinity College London Cert TESOL.

In this module, you’ll explore European colonisation of Africa, asking questions like - how did they justify colonial rule, and how did African peoples respond to these colonisers?

You’ll learn how, after World War II, colonial rule was increasingly challenged from both within the empire, by growing African demands for political rights, and in the international arena, with the global trend towards trusteeship, development and self-determination.

You’ll also explore European relations with Africa in the post-colonial era, looking at themes which may include ideas about civilisation, universalism and race, modern attempts to 'rehabilitate' empire in the media, and the legacies of colonialism in Britain, Europe and Africa.

You’ll collaborate with students on other courses to explore and address societal and environmental challenges faced by local and global communities. You’ll choose projects from a range of topic areas aligned with the university's Civic Strategy.

With input from local organisations, you’ll think about your topic from multiple perspectives, developing your interdisciplinary thinking and ability to work with others.

You’ll analyse the essence of security, exploring how security needs are addressed around the world and on a national level, down to a community and even an individual basis.

You’ll explore different forms of societal risk and insecurity, and approaches to dealing with security threats, taking into account the nature and impact of economic and political developments.

You'll learn about major economic, political and cultural changes in Western Europe over the nineteenth century, and how these affected the rest of the world as time went on.

You'll explore the big ideas that have shaped the modern world, and weigh up the benefits and perils of globalisation. Skills you'll develop on this module include independent research, critical thinking and effective communication.

You'll also learn to understand the opportunities and challenges of today's world from an informed, global perspective.

You’ll look critically ideas of nationalism historically and today with a focus on the everyday, intimate and embodied boundaries of nation-states and how these shape our lives, including those of us living in the most privileged parts of the world.

You’ll explore real-world cases to understand the individual and societal impacts on human lives, developing your analytical skills and imagining more compassionate alternatives.

You'll analyse major cases of economic crime and weigh up their wider societal implications.

You'll also learn how to recognise disciplinary perspectives, become familiar with the key investigating organisations, identify investigative techniques, and gather and analyse real case information.

You’ll analyse American texts against the backdrop of intellectual, social and political change, evaluating how writers grappled with emerging ideas around national identity, race, gender and more.

By honing skills for contextual analysis and independent thought, you’ll form your own interpretations of iconic works that reflect the American experience.

You’ll analyse diverse transitional justice approaches balancing community healing and judicial accountability after mass atrocities.

Comparing mechanisms like war crimes tribunals, truth commissions and reparations programmes, you’ll evaluate effectiveness in restoring dignity and preventing recurrence.

With case studies from Europe to Africa, from Latin America to Asia, you'll examine tensions between western models and local cultural perspectives, assessing what ‘justice’ means to vulnerable peoples.

Throughout, you'll trace incremental human rights legislation advances, assessing global institutions’ roles protecting civilians from authoritarian regimes and wartime abuses.

Through interactive lectures with academics, speakers and professionals, you'll discuss, debate and complete practical exercises exploring wildlife crime alongside your classmates.

You'll spend time examining wildlife crimes and the factors behind them, as well as environmental justice and sustainability.

You’ll study real speech and linguistic data to understand different linguistic deficit models.

You’ll build on what you’ve learned about morphology, syntax and phonology and apply it to real examples.

Learn by doing as you explain your findings to different audiences through creative mediums like podcasts.

You'll learn how to think critically about the key concepts that link language, culture and communication, considering the benefits and limitations of these ideas.

You'll explore the different ways in which communication intersects with culture across themes such as identity, education, gender, and the media.

Alongside what you learn, you'll improve your skills in analysis, research and intercultural awareness.

You'll learn about consumer behaviour and brand strategy, and spend time examining real-world marketing campaigns. You'll also think about how social, political and technological forces can affect the way businesses approach marketing their products and services.

Skills you'll develop include carrying out market research and learning how to use what you learn, crafting targeted messaging across different marketing channels, and presenting your ideas verbally and in writing.

You’ll unpack the language of tabloids, broadsheets and online news, analysing how journalists shape public understanding of current events.

Develop your critical thinking by confronting moral panics and polarised politics in reporting.

Create your own news stories and gain real insight into mass communication in a rapidly changing landscape.

With a minimum 80-hour commitment, you’ll apply what you’ve learned so far on your degree to real-world professional settings within our community of local businesses, social enterprises, and third-sector organisations.

You’ll have support from interactive workshops, tutorials, and guest speaker events, encouraging you to set achievable professional goals and evolve your professional identity.

You’ll learn skills you’ll need to teach in language schools worldwide, including exploring different methods and approaches to the teaching of languages, in particular English as a Second or Other Language (ESOL).

You’ll design a series of lesson plans and reflect upon your own performance as a trainee teacher, drawing up an action plan for future professional development.

Optional modules

It's up to you what your dissertation or project is about – this will be your chance to showcase your passion for language by choosing a subject area or topic that most interests you.

You'll draw on everything you’ve learned so far to investigate, analyse, craft and refine your dissertation or project, using existing texts, sources and artefacts to support your arguments and give them context.

You'll have the support of a dedicated dissertation tutor to guide you throughout this module.

This real-world, project-based module lets you address an identified need or gap by designing an innovative product, service or resource.

With support from university staff and external partners, you'll demonstrate critical thinking, ethical awareness and project management abilities.

Your final project and presentation will showcase your employability and capacity for high-impact solutions.

You’ll demonstrate intellectual and transferable skills appropriate for your field, and do independent research. You’ll design a viable project proposal using existing studies in your field, and critically discuss assumptions, arguments and data to make judgements, pose questions and identify solutions.

Finally, you'll write up your project tailored to a specified academic or workplace audience.

You'll investigate words, phrases and their meanings across diverse contexts like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP).

Developing corpus linguistics abilities lets you spot patterns and trends - useful for careers from teaching to computing. Get hands-on with data to uncover language insights, reporting findings with critical methodology grounded in key concepts.

You’ll analyse the historical processes that have shaped our understanding of linguistic variety, spanning grammar to phonology.

You’ll evaluate origins of modern vocabulary, structure and dialects, building valuable knowledge about this vibrant mode of human connection.

Examine feminist linguistic theories and methodologies investigating how speech and text perpetuate or confront patriarchal norms.

Discover how conversational patterns subtly cue stereotypes, status and gender roles across diverse cultures.

You’ll question your own assumptions while developing skills for respectful communication and critical consumption of gendered media messages.

You’ll get familiar with the big issues and contemporary debates in education studies as well as the role and expectations of a teacher.

You’ll develops fundamental knowledge and skills that teachers require, as well as your capability to structure and critique a lesson plan.

You'll learn about the job application process from the perspective of both candidates and recruiters, thinking about what employers look for in graduates and how you can optimise your own professional profile.

Through mock interviews and assessments, you'll hone your skills and learn how to communicate your achievements and career goals, ready to take the next step after you graduate.

During your study abroad programme, you’ll expand your global perspective and develop additional skills to boost your future career, as well as making memories, new friends and career contacts.

This is an amazing opportunity to expand your horizons and set yourself up for your future career by studying abroad and becoming a student ambassador for our university.

You’ll build your rhetorical skills to deliver persuasive presentations, and analyse diverse interpersonal interactions, from meetings to interviews, complaints to small talk.

Learn what makes effective workplace discourse and find confidence in your ability to navigate professional spoken communication.

You'll consider how you can incorporate creative activities using music, literature, drama, film, storytelling and games into a series of lessons.

You'll also think about wider contexts and make professional judgements concerning planning beyond individual lessons.

We'll use examples in class relating to the teaching of English but the same principles and techniques can be used for the teaching of other languages too.

You’ll explore the many Englishes used internationally, analysing how the language has spread and adapted politically and culturally over time.

You’ll seek to answer thought-provoking issues: how equal are different Englishes? What are the pedagogical implications as English becomes the global lingua franca? Understand the plurality of modern Englishes and their complex implications across the world today.

You’ll develop your knowledge of core linguistic frameworks in order to investigate a range of communication issues, such as language and control, the role of interpreters, the veracity of witness statements, and the interviewing of vulnerable witnesses, such as children.

You’ll focus on the analysis of computer-mediated-communication practices, the language used in on social media, the effects of social media on language and the social structures that emerge when people use these applications.

You’ll delve into the big ideas relating to language and social media to develop your own perspectives.

With a minimum 80-hour commitment, you'll apply what you've learned so far on your degree to real-world professional settings within our community of local businesses, social enterprises, and third-sector organisations.

You'll have support from interactive workshops, tutorials, and guest speaker events, encouraging you to set achievable professional goals and evolve your professional identity.

Using analytical frameworks, you'll adapt texts to suit different audiences, purposes and settings, and evaluate and produce examples of professional writing.

You’ll also apply your learning through a presentation.

Optional modules

During your study abroad year, you’ll expand your global perspective and develop additional skills to boost your future career, as well as making memories, new friends and career contacts.

You could also improve your foreign language and intercultural communication skills. This is an amazing opportunity to expand your horizons and set yourself up for your future career by studying abroad and becoming a student ambassador for our university.

We'll help you find and secure a work placement that inspires you in a destination you can explore and make home during your placement year.

You'll have the chance to try out skills and gain experience that'll help you clarify your next career steps, while building capabilities employers seek and applying what you've learned on your degree so far to a real-world working environment.

Return feeling confident and re-energised for your final year or first year of your career, ready to make an immediate impact in whatever you choose to do next.

Changes to course content

We use the best and most current research and professional practice alongside feedback from our students to make sure course content is relevant to your future career or further studies.

Therefore, some course content may change over time to reflect changes in the discipline or industry. If a module doesn't run, we'll let you know as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative module.

To find something I’m so interested in has made me happier and more determined to do well in all parts of my life. I think that’s due to the vast amount of topics, taught by lecturers that are so dedicated. There is such a supportive environment.

Bethany Farmer, BA (Hons) English Language and Linguistics

How you're assessed

The way you’re assessed may depend on the units you select. As a guide, students on this course last year were typically assessed as follows:

  • Year 1 students: 10% by exams and 90% by coursework
  • Year 2 students: 100% by coursework
  • Year 3 students: 5% by exams and 95% by coursework

Your coursework may include:

  • essays
  • reports
  • case studies
  • book reviews
  • written work
  • projects

You’ll be able to test your skills and knowledge informally before you do assessments that count towards your final mark.

You can get feedback on all practice and formal assessments so you can improve in the future.

Teaching

Teaching methods on this course include:

  • lectures
  • seminars
  • online activities

You can access all teaching resources on Moodle, our virtual learning environment, from anywhere with a Web connection.

For more about the teaching activities for specific modules, see the module list above.

Teaching staff profiles

Lee John Oakley Portrait

Dr Lee Oakley

Senior Lecturer

lee.oakley@port.ac.uk

School of Education, Languages and Linguistics

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

PhD Supervisor

Read more

How you'll spend your time

One of the main differences between school or college and university is how much control you have over your learning.

We use a blended learning approach to teaching, which means you’ll take part in both face-to-face and online activities during your studies.  As well as attending your timetabled classes you'll study independently in your free time, supported by staff and our virtual learning environment, Moodle.

A typical week

We recommend you spend at least 35 hours a week studying for your English Language and Linguistics degree. In your first year, you’ll be in timetabled teaching activities such as lectures, seminars and workshops for about 11 hours a week. The rest of the time you’ll do independent study such as research, reading, coursework and project work, alone or in a group with others from your course. You'll probably do more independent study and have less scheduled teaching in years 2 and 3, but this depends on which modules you choose.

Term dates

The academic year runs from September to June. There are breaks at Christmas and Easter.

See term dates

Supporting you

The amount of timetabled teaching you'll get on your degree might be less than what you're used to at school or college, but you'll also get support via video, phone and face-to-face from teaching and support staff to enhance your learning experience and help you succeed. You can build your personalised network of support from the following people and services:

Types of support

Your personal tutor helps you make the transition to independent study and gives you academic and personal support throughout your time at university.

As well as regular scheduled meetings with your personal tutor, they're also available at set times during the week if you want to chat with them about anything that can't wait until your next meeting.

You'll have help from a team of faculty learning development tutors. They can help you improve and develop your academic skills and support you in any area of your study.

They can help with:

  • Improving your academic writing (for example, essays, reports, dissertations)
  • Delivering presentations (including observing and filming presentations)
  • Understanding and using assignment feedback
  • Managing your time and workload
  • Revision and exam techniques

As well as support from faculty staff and your personal tutor, you can use the University's Academic Skills Unit (ASK).

ASK provides one-to-one support in areas such as:

  • Academic writing
  • Note taking
  • Time management
  • Critical thinking
  • Presentation skills
  • Referencing
  • Working in groups
  • Revision, memory and exam techniques

If you have a disability or need extra support, the Additional Support and Disability Centre (ASDAC) will give you help, support and advice.

Our online Learning Well mini-course will help you plan for managing the challenges of learning and student life, so you can fulfil your potential and have a great student experience.

You can get personal, emotional and mental health support from our Student Wellbeing Service, in person and online. This includes 1–2–1 support as well as courses and workshops that help you better manage stress, anxiety or depression.

If you require extra support because of a disability or additional learning need our specialist team can help you.

They'll help you to

  • discuss and agree on reasonable adjustments
  • liaise with other University services and facilities, such as the library
  • access specialist study skills and strategies tutors, and assistive technology tutors, on a 1-to-1 basis or in groups
  • liaise with external services

Library staff are available in person or by email, phone, or online chat to help you make the most of the University’s library resources. You can also request one-to-one appointments and get support from a librarian who specialises in your subject area.

The library is open 24 hours a day, every day, in term time.

If English isn't your first language, you can do one of our English language courses to improve your written and spoken English language skills before starting your degree. Once you're here, you can take part in our free In-Sessional English (ISE) programme to improve your English further.

Course costs and funding

Tuition fees

  • UK/Channel Islands and Isle of Man students – £9,250 a year (may be subject to annual increase)
  • EU students – £9,250 a year, including our Transition Scholarship (may be subject to annual increase)
  • International students – £17,200 a year (subject to annual increase)

You won't pay any extra tuition fees to another university for taking part in a study/work abroad activity if you choose to do it for the whole academic year. During a year abroad you'll only have to pay a reduced fee to the University of Portsmouth.

Funding your studies

Find out how to fund your studies, including the scholarships and bursaries you could get. You can also find more about tuition fees and living costs, including what your tuition fees cover.

Applying from outside the UK? Find out about funding options for international students.

Additional course costs

These course-related costs aren’t included in the tuition fees. So you’ll need to budget for them when you plan your spending.

Costs breakdown

Our accommodation section show your accommodation options and highlight how much it costs to live in Portsmouth.

You’ll study up to 6 modules a year. You may have to read several recommended books or textbooks for each module.

You can borrow most of these from the Library. If you buy these, they may cost up to £60 each.

We recommend that you budget £75 a year for photocopying, memory sticks, DVDs and CDs, printing charges, binding and specialist printing.

 

If your final year includes a major project, there could be cost for transport or accommodation related to your research activities. The amount will depend on the project you choose.

You’ll need to cover additional costs, such as travel costs, if you take an optional placement or placement abroad.

These costs will vary depending on the location and duration of the placement, and can range from £50–£1000.

During your placement year or study abroad year, you’ll be eligible for a discounted rate on your tuition fees. Currently, tuition fees for that year are:

  • UK/Channel Islands and Isle of Man students – £1,385 a year (may be subject to annual increase)
  • EU students – £1,385 a year, including Transition Scholarship (may be subject to annual increase)
  • International students – £2,875  a year (subject to annual increase)

The costs associated with your specific destination will be discussed during your second year, as well as possible sources of additional funding.

Enhance your degree with an internationally recognised qualification in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages: the Trinity College London Cert TESOL. This opportunity is conditional on a successful performance in an entry test and interview in order to fulfil professional requirements.

There's no cost if you take the Trinity College London Teaching Practice module as one of your options.

If you choose to take this module outside your planned curriculum, there's a fee of £355.

Apply

How to apply

To start this course in 2024, apply through UCAS. You'll need:

  • the UCAS course code – QQ31
  • our institution code – P80

Apply now through UCAS

 

If you'd prefer to apply directly, use our online application form.

You can also sign up to an Open Day to:

  • Tour our campus, facilities and halls of residence
  • Speak with lecturers and chat with our students 
  • Get information about where to live, how to fund your studies and which clubs and societies to join

If you're new to the application process, read our guide on applying for an undergraduate course.

Applying from outside the UK

As an international student you'll apply using the same process as UK students, but you’ll need to consider a few extra things. 

You can get an agent to help with your application. Check your country page for details of agents in your region.

Find out what additional information you need in our international students section

If you don't meet the English language requirements for this course yet, you can achieve the level you need by successfully completing a pre-sessional English programme before you start your course.

Admissions terms and conditions

When you accept an offer to study at the University of Portsmouth, you also agree to abide by our Student Contract (which includes the University's relevant policies, rules and regulations). You should read and consider these before you apply.