English, B.A.
Learning Goals and Student Learning Outcomes
The following goals and learning outcomes have been established for students pursuing a degree in English:
Read critically
- Read a text in any of several genres on a number of levels, including literal comprehension, aesthetic responsiveness, informed awareness of the traditions and the varied critical perspectives within which it may be most productively read, and rhetorical and logical analysis of its argument and/or structure
Write effectively
- Write about various kinds of texts so as to articulate the dimensions of the work as described above
- Demonstrate an awareness of audience, purpose and various rhetorical forms, as well as a high level of control of standard written English conventions
Research
- Demonstrate the ability to find in textbooks and research materials — paper and electronic — the kinds of information relevant to a given problem or issue, literary or otherwise, and to integrate that information into one’s own written work to support one’s argument while giving appropriate credit to the source of the information
Knowledge of major literary works and traditions
- Have a working knowledge of the major writers, periods and genres of English and American literature and be able to place important works and genres in their historical context
Knowledge of noncanonical literary works
- Have a working knowledge of some important works in nonwestern, ethnic and women’s literatures that illustrate the diversity of literary studies and the interconnectedness of literary traditions
Structure of the English language
- Have a working knowledge of the structure of the English language and theories of second language acquisition
