Literature and Skills
What skills do you learn from studying literature and
creative writing?
The study of literature and creative writing offers intellectual rewards, personal
fulfilment and social, political and ethical awareness, and is a good thing in its own
right. It also is a vehicle for learning an array of skills which will be essential for
whatever you go on to do after graduating.
A major study of Higher education argued that are three groups of skills taught by a
university degree. The first are key skills, the basic transferable skills taught by any
degree. These are: communication skills; numeracy; the use of information
technology; learning how to learn. The second group of skills are cognitive skills
common to any humanities degree and subject specific skills, which you will learn
only from an English degree.
The tables below break these three groups down in more detail:
Table 1: Key skills
These skills key to your future success, whatever you intend to do in later life. They are
core transferable skills.
Communication Writing
 writing fluently, in a specialised language and in
skills
response to a range of different parameters.
Speaking
 prepared work: presentation to peers and
assessors
 unprepared work: responding to questions,
following discussions
 dialogue: group discussion and reporting (e.g. in
buzz groups)
 questioning peers and staff
Listening
 evaluating what is useful
 effective note taking
 observing professionals at work
English degrees don’t claim to help you learn to be numerate. We
Numeracy
do, however, expect you to learn skills traditionally associated with
numeracy: for example, abstract reasoning, the ability to manage
effectively both concrete and abstract systems of thought. (See
cognitive skills, below)
Computer Skills Basic skills
 use of computer software, especially wordprocessing and presentation packages
 use of various information technology resources
(e.g. the library catalogue, effective use of the
internet, virtual learning environments and other
networking media)
Learning how to
learn
Explicit
skills



Intellectual
development



Personal
development








study skills
learning how to respond effectively to different
tasks (e.g. essay writing, seminar presentations,
creative writing workshops)
awareness of how to find and use appropriate
resources
questioning peers and staff
providing models and methodologies which can
be applied to other areas
reflecting on your own practices (consultation,
revision, exams, reflective journals)
ability to judge significance of material
models of expertise
time management
task prioritisation
independent thinking
teamwork and co-operation
self discipline, both intellectual and social
pro-active self-motivation
Table 2: Cognitive Skills
These are general skills in the arts and humanities that are concerned with gathering and
assembling knowledge (research); analysing knowledge (independent thinking);
reflection on both your knowledge and your analysis of that knowledge (active selfreflection). These are transferable skills.
Knowledge
 disciplined and focussed attention to issues and texts
(generally to do with  assembling and critically reproducing bodies of knowledge
gathering and
 techniques for analysing objects of knowledge
assembling
 analysis of texts and ideas at the appropriate level of detail
knowledge, or
 sensitivity to language and to historical, cultural and
research).
intellectual contexts
 encountering different assumptions and world views
Analysis (generally
 assessing the relevance of your research and ideas
to do with analysing  using evidence
knowledge, or
 ability to make constructive comparisons and contrasts
independent
 understanding of the place of both detail, on the one hand
thinking).
and overarching structures and designs, on the other.
 learning to judge the appropriate level of detail.
 understanding the terms, procedures, process, content and
style of others’ arguments, which leads to…
 effective use of the terms, procedures, process, content and
style of argument yourself
 drawing conclusions, following both lateral and logical
inferences
 evaluating and judging arguments
 questioning others’ assumptions and presuppositions
 understanding the process of gathering professional
Reflection (generally
to do with reflecting
on both your
knowledge and your
analysis of that
knowledge, or active
self-reflection).







expertise
judging the relevance of your material and ideas
judging the effectiveness of your use of evidence
judging the effectiveness of your comparisons and contrasts
judging the effectiveness of your understanding of detail
and of intellectual structures. evaluating the effective use of
the terms, procedures, process, content and style of your
own argument
techniques for analysing your own intellectual practices
questioning your own assumptions and presuppositions
reflecting on the process of gathering professional expertise
Table 3: Subject specific skills
These are skills and knowledge that you will specifically learn from studying English and
English with Creative writing.
 the intellectual rewards, personal fulfilment and social, political and ethical awareness
specific to the study of literature and creative writing
 knowledge about literatures in English, including a knowledge of the historical,
cultural and intellectual contexts of their production and reception
 an understanding of the creative, cultural and intellectual forces active in shaping
literature in English and English literary studies
 a knowledge of contemporary debates about literature
 a knowledge of literary uses of language, form and genre
 a knowledge of the technical and professional language of literary studies, and
reflections on its use
 an understanding what it is to become an expert in this particular field
How are these skills to be learnt?
There are two ways in which skills can be taught: either by embedding them in the
course or by creating special courses explicitly for developing them. While the
‘embedded model’ is harder to set up and run, it is significantly more successful and
has considerable long-term advantages.
In this department, although there are some parallel modules explicitly for ‘skills
development’, we believe that you learn best - and we teach best - by embedding the
skills in the degree scheme. All the skills outlined above are embedded in the
different activities that you take part in during your degree (the ‘learning practices’ in
‘a range of different learning environments’).
These activities are, in the main:
 independent study, thinking and reflection
 resource work (e.g. library work)
 essay writing
 dissertation writing
 seminars






lectures
consultations
computer courses
study groups
student-led curricular activity
student-led extra curricular activities.
Each learning activity has a number of skills embedded in it – a total list would be
very long, but here are three examples.
When you research, plan and write an essay, you are also learning, developing and
using a number of embedded skills and knowledges. In terms of specific skills you
are learning about a specific subject or issue, its historical, cultural and intellectual
contexts, its role in contemporary debates about literature, how it relates to literary
uses of language, form and genre and how to use the technical and professional
language of literary studies. In terms of cognitive skills, you are developing a
disciplined and focussed attention to issues and texts, assembling a body of
knowledge, assessing the relevance of your research and ideas, using evidence,
learning how to make constructive comparisons and contrasts, analysing and using
effectively the terms, procedures, process, content and style of argument, drawing
conclusions, following both lateral and logical inferences and questioning your own
and others’ assumptions. And, finally, in terms of key skills, you are developing your
communication skills by writing in response to a specific tasks, fluently and in a
specialised language, developing your IT skills in using computer software and
various information technology resources (e.g. the library catalogue, the internet), and
learning how to learn by judging the relevance of material, and developing your
ability to think independently and your self- discipline.
When you go to a consultation, to have written work returned, you are also learning
skills. You have a chance to reflect on how successfully you have learnt and deployed
the subject specific skills, and how you might improve these skills and knowledge.
You have the opportunity to improve your cognitive skills, by discussing and judging
the relevance of your material and ideas, the effectiveness of your use of evidence, the
effectiveness of your comparisons and contrasts, and the effectiveness of your
understanding of detail and of intellectual structures. In conversation, you can
evaluate the use of the terms, procedures, process, content and style of your own
argument and discuss techniques for analysing your own intellectual practices. In
terms of your key skills, you are developing your abilities in communication skills,
though responding to questions, and learning how to learn by reflecting on your own
practices, what you did less effectively and what you did well.
In seminars, you develop specific skills, by discussing works of literature in English
and their historical, cultural and intellectual contexts, the creative, cultural and
intellectual forces active in shaping them, their reception, contemporary debates they
may be involved in, their literary use of language, their form and genre. This will
take place in the professional language of literary studies. This will help develop your
cognitive skills by focussing your attention on issues and texts, providing techniques
for analysing objects of knowledge and heightening your sensitivity to language and
to historical, cultural and intellectual contexts. It will help you assess the relevance of
your research and ideas, use evidence, make constructive comparisons and contrasts,
understand of the place of both detail, on the one hand and overarching structures and
designs, on the other and judge the appropriate level of detail. It will also develop
your understanding the terms, procedures, process, content and style of others’
arguments, which in turn leads to the effective use of the terms, procedures, process,
content and style of argument yourself. Seminars will help you draw conclusions,
follow both lateral and logical inferences, evaluate and judge arguments and question
your own and others’ assumptions and presuppositions. Finally, seminars are a place
to learn and develop embedded key skills. Your communication skills are developed
by presenting prepared work to peers and assessors, ‘thinking on your feet’ by doing
unprepared work (responding to questions, following discussions), engaging in
dialogue, group discussion and group reporting and questioning peers and staff.
Through learning how to respond effectively to tasks, questioning peers and staff,
reflecting on your own practices, independent thinking, teamwork and co-operation,
self discipline, both intellectual and social, you also learn how to learn.
Put like this, it seems rather overwhelming. But because the skills are embedded in
the degree scheme, they will be introduced to you in context as you proceed through
your degree. Where you might need specific guidance (on, for example, giving
seminar presentations) this will be provided, or you can ask your advisor. Moreover,
learning is a cumulative process: you are involved in the process of learning these
skills and nobody expects you to have them all immediately (if you did have them all
already, well developed, what would be the point of coming to university?). The aim
of what you have been reading is to make clear the skills that you will be learning.
Professor Robert Eaglestone
Professor Judith Hawley
June 2012