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Course Offerings and Timetables in 2025-26

HKU Calendar for the Academic Year 2025-26 (For Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate Students)

Timetables (AVAILABLE IN DUE COURSE)

semester 1
  • Timetable
  • Class commencement details
semester 2
  • Timetable
  • Class commencement details 
First Semester Course Offerings

Introductory Courses

Prerequisite:
A minimum Level 5 in English Language HKDSE exam, or an equivalent score in another recognized English proficiency test. For details please refer to our English Proficiency Pre-requisite for ENGL Courses webpage.

For students who did not sit the HKDSE examination, please submit a copy of your equivalent qualification(s), such as the IB Diploma, GCE-A Levels, SAT, IELTS, TOEFL, etc., to the School Office (via this form: https://forms.office.com/r/ys7ZiT5SDT) for consideration two weeks before the course selection period.

List A: Historical and theoretical foundations
Course Code   Course Name stream
ENGL1022   Introduction to poetry
(Professor Tara Lee)
Lit.
ENGL1031  

English grammar(s)

(For students admitted in 2021-22 or before, this course will be counted as an introductory course from List B after completion. Please refer to your syllabus at https://english.hku.hk/Undergraduate/Curriculum/English_Studies.)

L&C
ENGL1059   Introduction to pragmatics L&C
List B: Critical reading, analysis and writing
Course Code   Course Name stream
ENGL1024   Introduction to world literature Lit.
ENGL1035   Language crimes L&C
ENGL1036   Meaning and metaphor Lit.
ENGL1041   Introduction to modernity and literary modernism Lit.
ENGL1043   Introduction to 20th-century poetry
(Dr. Peter Kennedy)
Lit.
ENGL1049   Early modern sonnets Lit.
ENGL1064   Language, communication and media L&C
Advanced Courses

Prerequisite:
Passed 3 introductory courses (with at least one from both List A and List B).
*For students in BA&LLB, successful completion of LALS2001 Introduction to law and literary studies will also fulfill 6 credits of introductory ENGL course (List B) for admission to advanced ENGL courses for English non-majors.

Additional prerequisite for a capstone course:
Final-year students normally should have completed 30 credits of introductory courses and 24 credits of advanced courses in the major (including transferred credits).

Course Code   Course Name stream
ENGL2002   Language in society
(Professor Daniel Weston)
L&C
ENGL2012   Advanced literary theory Lit.
ENGL2039   Gender, sexuality and discourse  L&C
ENGL2079   Shakespeare Lit.
ENGL2085   Creative writing Lit.
ENGL2103   Language and social media L&C
ENGL2127/
LALS3003/
LLAW3190
  Language and the law L&C
ENGL2141   Doing discourse analysis  L&C
ENGL2142   Milton Lit.
ENGL2156   18th-century literature Lit.
ENGL2159   21st-century English poetry
(Dr. Peter Kennedy)
Lit.
ENGL2165   Legal fictions: United States citizenship and the right to write in America Lit.
ENGL2185   Health communication, ‘healthy’ communication  L&C
ENGL2194   Language and advertising L&C
ENGL3040   Internship in English studies (capstone experience) L&C or Lit., depending on internship nature
ENGL3041   Senior colloquium in English studies: People Who Aren't Really There (capstone experience)  L&C
Common Core Courses
Course Code   Course Name
CCHU9053   Contested words, disputed symbols
(Dr. Sinead Kwok)
CCHU9092   Disabling society
(Professor Don Kulick)

 

Second Semester Course Offerings

Introductory Courses

Prerequisite:
A minimum Level 5 in English Language HKDSE exam, or an equivalent score in another recognized English proficiency test.

List A: Historical and theoretical foundations
Course Code   Course Name stream
ENGL1042  

World Englishes
(Professor Daniel Weston)

(For students admitted in 2021-22 or before, this course will be counted as an introductory course from List B after completion. Please refer to your syllabus at https://english.hku.hk/Undergraduate/Curriculum/English_Studies.)

L&C
ENGL1056   Introduction to language and communication L&C
ENGL1062   Reading and writing about literature Lit.
List B: Critical reading, analysis and writing
Course Code   Course Name stream
ENGL1013  

Introduction to 20th-century literature 

(For students admitted in 2023-24 or before, this course will be counted as an introductory course from List A after completion. Please refer to your syllabus at https://english.hku.hk/Undergraduate/Curriculum/English_Studies.)

Lit.
ENGL1018  

Language and gender

(For students admitted in 2021-22 or before, this course will be counted as an introductory course from List A after completion. Please refer to your syllabus at https://english.hku.hk/Undergraduate/Curriculum/English_Studies.)

L&C
ENGL1050   Research methods in sociolinguistics L&C
ENGL1055   Language myths and realities  L&C
ENGL1061   Psycholinguistics and language acquisition L&C
ENGL1064   Language, communication and media L&C
ENGL1066   Introduction to modern drama Lit.
Advanced Courses

Prerequisite:
Passed 3 introductory courses (with at least one from both List A and List B).
*For students in BA&LLB, successful completion of LALS2001 Introduction to law and literary studies will also fulfill 6 credits of introductory ENGL course (List B) for admission to advanced ENGL courses for English non-majors.

Additional prerequisite for a capstone course:
Final-year students normally should have completed 30 credits of introductory courses and 24 credits of advanced courses in the major (including transferred credits).

Course Code   Course Name stream
ENGL2007   Literary linguistics L&C or Lit.
ENGL2012   Advanced literary theory Lit.
ENGL2030   New Englishes L&C
ENGL2048   Language and jargon L&C
ENGL2055   The Gothic
(Professor Tara Lee)
Lit.
ENGL2119   English in Hong Kong  L&C
ENGL2128   Modernism Lit.
ENGL2164/
LALS3010/
LLAW3251
  The beginnings of English Law and Literature Lit.
ENGL2166   English phonetics  L&C
ENGL2174/
LALS3014/
LLAW3274
  Shakespeare and the law Lit.
ENGL2175   Bad identities L&C
ENGL2181   Language and politeness  L&C
ENGL2187   Language and news media L&C
ENGL2190   Special topics in 19th-century literature Lit.
ENGL2195   Staging Asia Lit.
ENGL3040   Internship in English studies (capstone experience) L&C or Lit., depending on internship nature
ENGL3041   Senior colloquium in English studies: (capstone experience) L&C

*Note: Students admitted in 2020-21 or before may choose the LCOM course codes. Students admitted in 2021-22 and thereafter may only choose the ENGL course codes.

Common Core Courses
Course Code   Course Name
CCHU9032   Language, institution and power
(Dr. Vincent Pak)
CCHU9084   The law in everyday life
(Professor Anya Adair)

 

Specialization streams

Applicable to UG English Studies major students admitted in 2021-22 and thereafter:

Major students who have successfully passed at least seven courses (three introductory courses and four advanced courses) with a literature OR language and communication focus, respectively, will be given a School of English certification, upon request, which attests to this specialization in the “Literature Stream” or “Language and Communication Stream.” If applicable, a dual recognition in both the “Literature Stream” and “Language and Communication Stream” is possible.

Please note that the declaration and certification of specialization stream(s) is optional and students can graduate with a major in English Studies without declaring any specialization stream(s).

Notes:

  1. Courses affiliated to specialization streams are listed on the School’s website.
  2. Neither the transcript nor the graduation certificate will show the specialization stream(s). If applicable, students may approach the School for certification of their specialization stream(s).

Specialization streams:

  • Stream: Literature (Lit.); or
  • Stream: Language and Communication (L&C); or
  • Stream: L&C or Lit.