English Course Outcomes

ENGL 1123- Academic Writing for Non-Native Speakers of English

Apply conventions for organizing, presenting, and using targeted grammatical structures in both speaking and writing
Analyze the Academic word list including meaning and form
Describe the various steps in the writing process
Construct a variety of paragraphs and essays that follow standardized formatting and citations conventions
Analyze various rhetorical patterns
Revise written and designed work to incorporate peer feedback

ENGL 2206- Creative Writing Workshop

Produce the early, generative writing necessary to fuel finished creative texts
Apply specific writing strategies to produce drafts of poems and prose pieces
Apply appropriate terminology in the critical discussion of creative texts
Analyze literary examples of contemporary poetry and prose from a critical and craft perspective
Thoughtfully critique peer drafts in one-on-one and workshop settings
Incorporate with receptivity and discernment peer and instructor feedback in creative draft revisions

ENGL 2211- Introduction to Literary Analysis

Identify choices offered by literary texts through careful attention to features of language and technique
Recognize and consider the effectiveness of aspects of literary craft specific to fiction, poetry, and drama
Write about our own responses to interpretive choices in informed and persuasive ways
Evaluate scholarly conversations around literary texts, and to apply relevant rhetorical features of these conversations to our own written interpretations

ENGL 2267- Survey of British Literature I

Identify, define, and investigate the major periods of English literature up until 1800
Critique a number of canonical literary figures from each period and analyze the form of the English language they wrote in
Supply historical context to all of these writers and analyze the major stylistic features of their chosen genres

ENGL 2277- Survey of American Literature I

Analyze and differentiate cultural materials in different movements and historical trends in American literature
Compare different genres, such as poetry, fiction, and drama within an evolutionary perspective of changes and development
Understand, explain, and then classify specific movements, such as Realism, Naturalism, and Modernism
Evaluate the contexts of relationships among various genres that connect to written discourse, such as music and art (Blues music, for example, in relation to writers in the Harlen Renaissance)
Create documents that reflect original insights about the emergence of various cultural events or movements (evaluate, for example, the relationship of regionalism to national literary movements)
Understand the forms of literature that constitute an expression of the human condition (explaining, for example, the contexts of women’s rights in two centuries of writing about repression and marginalization)
Evaluate the contexts of American literature in terms of human values expressed by different historical moments (Beatniks, for example, expressing concerns about nuclear war)
Critique the relative moral and ethical values shown by American writers (the conflict, for example, within Faulkner’s world of Southern guilt and racial identity)

ENGL 2280- Grammar and Usage

Identify all the lexical, phrase, and clause categories
Identify the function of each phrase and clause in a sentence
Learn, understand and use the vocabulary terms necessary to fully understand and describe grammatical structures
Be able to analyze the grammatical patterns in written texts
Develop analytical skills and promote critical thinking skills through active learning
Work collaboratively to support peer learning and peer teaching

ENGL 2281- Introduction to Language Studies

Identify and discuss the main areas of linguistic study
Recognize the systems that underlie structures of English and apply the knowledge of these systems in the analyses of language
Design and carry out an empirical study investigating an aspect of linguistic inquiry

ENGL 3305- The Art of Film II: The Films of Alfred Hitchcock

Apply knowledge of film history, terminology, aesthetic principles, and creative process to the films of Alfred Hitchcock
Recognize the features that make a film by Alfred Hitchcock unique from, and at the same time participatory in, the genre of film noir
Investigate a film from Hitchcock’s oeuvre and explore how it fits with the historical and cultural events at the time of production as well as argue its relevance in today’s film culture

ENGL 3307- Professional and Technical Writing

Apply and integrate professional standards of correctness, grammar, diction, paragraph structure, and conventions of written English within their work.
Create and design documents that show an awareness of audience analysis and specific ways to restructure documents according to levels of readers, including providing for multiple levels of readers in one document. This involves adjusting to different stylistic levels of writing.
Analyze and compare the multiple ways purpose can be demonstrated in various texts. This entails writing documents that follow fixed formats for discipline-specific audiences (such as NIH requests for proposals) and tailored formats for individual readers (such as progress reports), as well as document formats for standard reports (such as instruction manuals and literature reviews).
Analyze and then use common stylistic traits inherent to various academic disciplines (for example, when to use the passive verb, particularly in laboratory reports). Enhance and refine students̓ prose styles.
Evaluate, recognize and then perform essential research skills in major fields, generally in library research and specifically in individual disciplines. Enhance skills already acquired in English 1102.
Understand, develop and then demonstrate a consistent form of documentation of sources found in specific disciplines. This may allow students to demonstrate a knowledge of publishing conventions (journal requirements, for example) in their respective fields, and may allow students to write a publishable document during the course.
Plan, organize, and then generate documents within an environment where revision skills are emphasized.
Analyze, and then implement alternatives to individually written products, such as group writing situations. This could entail learning interpersonal skills necessary to working in groups, and may involve other oral communication projects, such as oral reports and mock job interviews.

ENGL 3308- Business Communications

Explain key terms and concepts related to business rhetoric
Analyze effectiveness of business documents
Create effective documents for a variety of rhetorical situations
Perform research using business publications and resources
Give well-organized and professional oral presentation
Create professional visual images for a variety of business contexts

ENGL 3311- Literary Criticism and Theory

Upon completion of the course, students will be:

Familiar with 4 to 5 major critical movements in English literary studies
Proficient in applying critical concepts to literary analysis in reading and writing literary texts in subsequent upper-division English literature courses
Capable of identifying and analyzing a variety of literary genres and styles

ENGL 3323- Genre Studies in Fiction: The American Western

Identify and explain the generic features of “the western”
Identify and explain the evolution of the western genre
Identify and explain the main concepts of cultural studies and historicist theory
Observe details in “western” literary and cultural texts via cultural studies and historicist theories
Interpret “western” literary and cultural texts by applying the concepts of cultural studies theory and historicist theory
Discuss and evaluate various perspectives on “western” literary, cultural, and theoretical texts with peers
Write literary criticism that synthesizes observations and interpretations of “western” literary and cultural texts via the concepts of cultural studies and historicist theory

ENGL 3327- Special Topics in Genre: Young Adult Literature

Students completing this course:

Should have a good understanding of genre theory in general and as applied specifically to literature for young adults
Should be able to read secondary literature —critical books and articles — and use that literature to generate interesting questions about primary texts
Should be familiar with the history of adolescent literature and with a number of significant works
Should be able to conduct research on a topic related to the course
Be able to produce a documented essay based on that research

ENGL 3328- Gender in Literature

Identify and explain the main concepts of gender studies theory
Identify and explain the main concepts of historicist theory
Observe details in literary and cultural texts via gender studies and historicist theories
Interpret literary and cultural texts by applying the concepts of gender studies theory and historicist theory
Discuss and evaluate various perspectives on literary, cultural, and theoretical texts with peers
Write literary criticism that synthesizes observations and interpretations of literary and cultural texts via the concepts of gender studies and historicist theory

ENGL 3353- The West in American Literature

Identify and explain the generic features of “the western”
Identify and explain the evolution of the western genre
Identify and explain the main concepts of cultural studies and historicist theory
Observe details in “western” literary and cultural texts via cultural studies and historicist theories
Interpret “western” literary and cultural texts by applying the concepts of cultural studies theory and historicist theory
Discuss and evaluate various perspectives on “western” literary, cultural, and theoretical texts with peers
Write literary criticism that synthesizes observations and interpretations of “western” literary and cultural texts via the concepts of cultural studies and historicist theory

ENGL 4407- Topics in Professional Writing: Writing for Professional Communication Careers

Design within various rhetorical genres (e.g., proposal, analysis, copyediting, journalism, etc.)
Analyze various rhetorical strategies by situational context and synthesize them into a rhetorical analysis
Prioritize situational knowledge and demonstrate an aptitude for technologies

ENGL 4408/5508- Advanced Creative Writing Workshop: Short Fiction

Produce early, generative writing necessary to fuel finished creative texts
Employ specific writing strategies to produce story drafts
Apply appropriate terminology in the critical discussion of creative texts
Analyze literary examples from a critical and craft perspective
Thoughtfully critique peer drafts in the workshop settings
Incorporate with receptivity and discernment peer and instructor feedback in creative draft revisions

ENGL 4433- Methods of Teaching English: Methods of Secondary English Education

In coordination with the College of Education, this course has been designed to meet the following education standards:

1.2. Candidates demonstrate knowledge about how adolescents read and make meaning of a wide range of texts (e.g. literature, poetry, informational text, and digital media).
3.1. Candidate use various types of data about their students' individual differences, identities, and knowledge of literacy learning to create inclusive learning environments that contextualize curriculum and instruction and help students participate actively in their own learning in ELA (e.g. workshops, project based learning, guided writing, Socratic seminars, literature circles, etc.).
5.2. Candidates design and/or implement English language arts and literacy instruction that promotes social justice and critical engagement with complex issues related to maintaining a diverse, inclusive, equitable society.
5.3. Candidates design and/or implement instruction related to a breadth and depth of texts, purposes, and complexities (e.g., literature, digital, visual, informative, argument, narrative, poetic) that lead to students becoming independent, critical, and strategic readers, writers, speakers, and listeners.
5.4. Candidates design and/or implement instruction related to speaking and listening that lead to students becoming critical and active participants in conversations and collaborations.
6.1 Candidates design a range of authentic assessments (e.g. formal and informal, formative and summative) of reading and literature that demonstrate an understanding of how learners develop and that address interpretive, critical, and evaluative abilities in reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and presenting.
6.2. Candidates design or knowledgeably select appropriate reading assessments in response to student interests, reading proficiencies, and/or reading strategies.
6.3. Candidates design or knowledgeably select a range of assessments for students that promote their development as writers, are appropriate to the writing task, and are consistent with current research and theory. Candidates respond to students’ writing throughout the students’ writing processes in ways that engage students’ ideas and encourage their growth as writers over time.
6.4. Candidates differentiate instruction based on multiple kinds of assessments of learning in English language arts (e.g., students’ self-assessments, formal assessments, informal assessments); candidates communicate with students about their performance in ways that actively involve students in their own learning.
7.1. Candidates plan instruction which, when appropriate, reflects curriculum integration and incorporates interdisciplinary teaching methods and materials which includes reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language.
7.2. Candidates plan standards-based, coherent and relevant learning experiences in reading that reflect knowledge of current theory and research about the teaching and learning of reading and that utilize individual and collaborative approaches and a variety of reading strategies.
7.4. Candidates use their knowledge of theory, research, and practice in English Language Arts to plan standards-based, coherent and relevant learning experiences utilizing a range of different texts—across genres, periods, forms, authors, cultures, and various forms of media—and instructional strategies that are motivating and accessible to all students, including English language learners, students with special needs, students from diverse language and learning backgrounds, those designated as high achieving, and those at risk of failure.

ENGL 4463/5563- Studies in Renaissance Literature: The Art of Persuasion

Identify, define, and investigate the sixteenth century as an era in history
Critique a number of canonical British writers and analyze an assortment of poetic and prose genres they wrote in
Become familiar with the subject of rhetoric in antiquity and the Renaissance and apply its principles to writers of the student’s own choosing
Design and complete independent research on a topic in Renaissance rhetoric

ENGL 4468/5568- Studies in Early Twentieth Century Literature: Modernism Beyond the Canon

Undergraduate Students

Produce writing that thoughtfully addresses multiple audiences, perspectives, genres, and disciplinary conventions, and makes effective use of research
Analyze and interpret complex texts by reading critically, with close attention to language and ideas
Demonstrate proficiency in literary analysis by analyzing written, oral, and visual texts critically and applying the approaches of major theoretical schools
Analyze the historical and literary trends of specific periods and cultural identities
Describe multimodal forms and genres, and their origins, evolution, and aesthetic effects

Graduate Students

Explain and analyze major English-language literary or cultural traditions from a variety of time periods
Explain and analyze how literary or cultural works are shaped by and participate in broad historical trends
Apply important theoretical approaches to the study of literature and culture

ENGL 4476/5576- Shakespeare

Identify major characters, plots, and passages in the assigned Shakespeare plays
Describe major critical questions and traditions of debate surrounding each of the assigned plays
Formulate responses to these questions using a variety of approaches (e.g. source study, performance history)
Demonstrate how your own responses continue, synthesize, or differ from different traditions of debate
Devise your own questions about Shakespeare, both factual and interpretive
Analyze how historical and contemporary performances of Shakespeare's plays take up or respond to critical questions and traditions of debate
Catalog ways that Shakespeare is a collaborator in, instead of author of, the textbooks and performances assigned in this course

ENGL 4486/5586- Old English

Recognize and apply essential elements of Old English grammar and basic vocabulary
Read and pronounce Old English with an intermediate degree of accuracy and ease
Examine and discuss the selected works of Old English poetry as literature and as sources of insight on early medieval Insular culture
Assess the problems of translation from Old English into Modern English, especially evaluating the choices made in a famous translation of the epic Beowulf

ENGL 4490/5590- Topics in Folklore: Legend, Rumor, and Conspiracy Thinking

Analyze and interpret legend texts, literary texts using legends, and scholarly writing about legends, rumors, and conspiracy thinking
Demonstrate an understanding of the historical, social, and cultural backgrounds of English legend texts and literary texts using legends
Produce writing that makes effective use of research in folkloristics

In addition, graduate students completing ENGL5590 will be able to

Demonstrate an understanding of ways that literary works are shaped by and participate in folk narrative
Demonstrate an understanding of theoretical approaches to the study of folk narrative and employ these theories in their research and writing

ENGL 4491- Senior Seminar in Literature: Dystopias and Utopias

Inventory the skills you have attained thus far as an English major and see how those prepare you for various career fields
Apply critical theories by generating interpretive questions about specific texts and genres
Assess the ways utopian fiction speaks to this or other particular moments in history
Research a work of utopian fiction along with contexts and critical responses, and use that research to write a conference paper to present to other students

ENGL 6612- Introduction to Graduate Studies

Understand ways that literary works are shaped by and participate in broad cultural trends
Understand important theoretical approaches to the study of literature and culture
Analyze and synthesize on-going scholarly conversations in English studies and situate their arguments in relation to these conversations

ENGL 6625- Seminar in a Literary Period: Cross- Cultural Encounters in the Medieval World

Read a variety of texts associated with multicultural travel writers from medieval Europe, the Mediterranean, and Asia
Analyze the social and historical conditions in which medieval people experienced difference races and cultures
Identify the culture of medieval intellectuals and their deployment of medieval rhetorical forms and narratives
Identify multicultural forms of devotional practice
Produce one conference-length paper and a number of shorter papers, appropriate to be delivered at a conference

ENGL 6631- Seminar in Teaching Writing

Explain how pedagogical theory informs their pedagogical practice
Design a first-year writing course that is reflected through a syllabus
Create a variety of course materials including assignments, rubrics, and handouts
Develop a professional teaching portfolio and teaching philosophy

ENGL 6680- Introduction to Linguistics

Develop students’ analytical skills promote critical thinking skills through active learning
Identify and analyze the core levels of linguistic structure: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics
Understand the rule governed nature of language
Be able to identify how the core levels of linguistic structure function in different linguistic contexts
Be able to apply their understanding of key linguistic principles to first and second language acquisition
Understand the intersectionality of language with power, identity, gender, policy, culture, and ideologies

ENGL 7783- Practicum in Second Language Teaching

By the end of this course, instructors will have a better understanding of:

Lesson planning
Activity development
Classroom interaction techniques
Applying informal interlanguage analysis