Utter defeat on English course (5)
I believe the answer is:
route
'course' is the definition.
(both can mean a path)
'utter defeat on english' is the wordplay.
'utter defeat' becomes 'rout' (I've seen this in another clue).
'on' says to put letters next to each other (in a down clue, letters appear on others).
'english' becomes 'E' (abbreviation).
'rout'+'e'='ROUTE'
(Other definitions for route that I've seen before include "track" , "Way of getting from A to B" , "Send a particular way" , "Way, course" , "' - - 66', Nat Cole song" .)