English (Bachelor of Arts, Secondary Ed Certification and Minor)
The English program offers courses in the study of literature, in the
production of various kinds of writing, and in the analysis of language.
Students who choose to major in English will take courses in all three
areas, thereby encompassing both breadth and depth. The latitude offered
in the distribution of the required credit hours will enable the student
to place the desired emphasis upon any of the three areas within the major.
Students are required to complete 36 credit hours in English coursework.
In literature courses, students will pay special attention to the form
and language of literary works in several genres; they will study the
relationships among works written during major periods of English and
American literature; and they will explore the ways in which works of
literature are related to other cultural products with which they share
these periods.
In writing and language courses, students will study the structure, history,
and functions of the English language. Depending upon their needs and
interests, they also will learn about, and gain proficiency in, several
of the major forms of writing practiced both in and outside of the university
curriculum.
Successful completion of the English major will require large quantities
of reading and writing; both of these activities will in turn require
close, critical thinking and reasoned assessment. The knowledge acquired
and the skills developed through these activities will equip students
for a variety of career paths: teaching, law, journalism, technical writing
- indeed, any profession whose pursuit involves written communication
and the careful reading of what others have written. More important, this
knowledge and these skills will provide resources for a lifetime of reflection
and productive participation in a diverse, dynamic, continually evolving
culture.
English majors, minors, and other students interested in literature and
the arts are encouraged to participate in our English Club and Honor Society,
the Alpha Iota Chi chapter of Sigma
Tau Delta, the National English Honor Society. This student organization
publishes annually the campus literary arts magazine Sparks and Cinders,
organizes student trips to Chicago theaters, administers a reading and
writing program in local elementary schools, and coordinates a book club
on campus. Sigma Tau Delta is looking for interested and enthused students
to join our organization. ±
BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ENGLISH - 36 semester hours‡
The English program offers courses in the study of literature, in the production of various kinds of writing, and in the analysis of language. Students who choose to major in English will take courses in all three areas, thereby encompassing both breadth and depth. The latitude offered in the distribution of the required credit hours will enable the student to place the desired emphasis upon any of the three areas within the major. Students are required to complete 36 credit hours in English coursework.
In literature courses, students will pay special attention to the form and language of literary works in several genres; they will study the relationships among works written during major periods of English and American literature; and they will explore the ways in which works of literature are related to other cultural products with which they share these periods.
In writing and language courses, students will study the structure, history, and functions of the English language. Depending upon their needs and interests, they also will learn about, and gain proficiency in, several of the major forms of writing practiced both in and outside of the University curriculum.
Successful completion of the English major will require large quantities of reading and writing; both of these activities will in turn require close, critical thinking and reasoned assessment. The knowledge acquired and the skills developed through these activities will equip students for a variety of career paths: teaching, law, journalism, technical writing — indeed, any profession whose pursuit involves written communication and the careful reading of what others have written. More important, this knowledge and these skills will provide resources for a lifetime of reflection and productive participation in a diverse, dynamic, continually evolving culture.
Required Courses: Choose one four-credit course from each category.
1. A genre course.
ENG2200 The Novel (2 or 4)
ENG/THE2220 Drama (2 or 4)
ENG2240 Poetry (2 or 4)
2. An American or British literature period course.
ENG3320 American Literature: Puritanism-1865 (4)
ENG3350 American Literature: 1865-Present (4)
ENG3400 British Literature: Anglo-Saxons to The Renaissance (4)
ENG3420 British Literature: Renaissance to the Romantics (4)
ENG3440 British Literature: Romantics to the Present (4)
3. A writing course.
ENG/COM2040 Technical and Professional Writing (4)
ENG2060 Creative Writing (4)
ENG3020 Advanced Academic Writing (4)
4. A language course.
ENG2100 Linguistics (4)
ENG3550 Language, Literacy, and Cognition (4)
ENG3810 Selected Topics in Language (2 or 4)
5. A course in literature from outside the Anglo-American canon.
ENG3200 Comparative Literature (4)
ENG3500 Contemporary World Literature (4)
ENG3520 Racial and Ethnic Themes in Literature (4)
6. A capstone course.
ENG4990 Seminar in English
Selected courses:
To complete the 36 semester hours in the major, students will take in addition to the distribution above, 12 hours of coursework from any other English program offerings excluding ENG1000, ENG1010, ENG1020, and ENG/EDU3180, ENG/EDU3190.
SECONDARY ED CERTIFICATION: ENGLISH
Certification for teaching English at the secondary level requires completion of the English major, the prescribed professional education sequence offered by the College of Education and the appropriate range of General Education coursework. Students seeking teacher certification in English/Secondary Education must complete the following courses (all of which will count toward the 36 semester hours required for the major):
ENG1060 Introduction to Literary Study (4)
ENG2100 Linguistics (4)
ENG3020 Advanced Academic Writing (4)
ENG3550 Language, Literacy, and Cognition (4)
ENG3820 Methods for Teaching Secondary English (4)
At least one course in both English and American literature.
MINOR IN ENGLISH -18 semester hours
Students may complete a minor in English by choosing a minimum of 18 semester hours from the courses in English (at least 4 semester hours must be in literature, at least 4 semester hours in writing or language, and at least 12 semester hours at the 300-level or above) excluding ENG 1000, ENG1010, ENG1020, ENG/EDU3180, and ENG/EDU3190.
ENGLISH COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
ENG1000 Preparatory and Introductory Composition 4 semester hours
Develops writing skills both formal and analytical: mechanically sound sentences and paragraphs, spelling, vocabulary development, and sentence variation. The course progresses toward sustained work on sentence and paragraph structure and the organization of short descriptive and expository essays. Students may read each other’s work and the work of professional writers to improve their critical and interpretive skills and to discover subjects and strategies for their own essays. Placement into the course will be determined by the performance on the English placement exam by students whose ACT English subscore is below 22; the course is open also to other students seeking help with these English composition skills. (Fall)
No prerequisites.
ENG1010 Composition I: Introduction to Academic Writing 2 semester hours
Sentence and paragraph structure and the organization of short analytic and expository essays. Students may read each other’s work and the work of professional writers to improve their critical and interpretive skills and to discover subjects and strategies for their own essays. (Fall)
Prerequisites: Satisfactory performance on the English placement exam for students with ACT English subscore below 22; an ACT English subscore of 22 or higher or by a comparable SAT verbal score. Where no ACT or SAT scores are available, placement is by consent of the program chair.
ENG1020 Composition II: Introduction to Research Writing 4 semester hours
Continuation of ENG1000 or ENG1010. ENG1020 is the second course in the University’s Introduction to Writing sequence. Students read and discuss both fictional and non-fictional prose and prepare related writing assignments, including a substantial research-based argument paper requiring library research and documentation and synthesis of materials gathered from diverse sources into a coherently organized paper. (Spring)
Prerequisites: ENG1000, ENG1010 or equivalent via transfer or CLEP credit.
ENG1060 Introduction to Literary Study 4 semester hours
Helps students become more competent and productive readers of literature through the examination of works from a variety of periods and genres. Through the reading of novels, short stories, plays and poems from a variety of authors writing during a variety of eras, the course addresses such questions as: How does reading literature differ from reading other kinds of writing? How does the experience of literature vary according to the type of work one is reading? What is the use or value of reading literature? The course will also aim to provide students with a basic critical vocabulary for the analysis and discussion of literature. (Annually)
No prerequisites.
Meets General Education “Aesthetic and Philosophical Expression” Group B requirement.
ENG/COM1140 Journalism 3 semester hours
Cross-listed with COM1140. For description see COM1140.
ENG/COM2040 Technical and Professional Writing 4 semester hours
Mastery of practical forms of organizational writing: letters, memos, reports, emphasizing the preparation of the long formal report common to business, government, and industrial organizations. Emphasizes mastery of the standard forms of organizational communication. (Every other year)
Prerequisite: ENG1020.
ENG2060 Creative Writing 4 semester hours
This course will be primarily concerned with the production and study of creative fiction. Students will study techniques and the imaginative uses of language in short stories, poems, and drama. Participants will read successful examples by diverse writers. Students will read and critique the creative works produced by members of the class in a friendly workshop environment. (Every other year)
Prerequisite: ENG1020.
ENG2100 Linguistics 4 semester hours
The course is designed to introduce a range of topics within the discipline, from phonetics through phonology, and morphology, to syntax and semantics. Participants will be exposed to the study of prescriptive and descriptive grammars. We will also study child language acquisition, language and the brain, historical linguistics and change over time, social and geographical dialects with a focus on Black English Vernacular (recently referred to as Ebonics) and English as a Second Language issues. (Every other year)
Prerequisite: ENG1020.
ENG2200 The Novel 2 or 4 semester hours
Studies the development of the novel from the 18th through the 20th centuries; the focus will be on the English novel, but some attention will be given to American and European instances of the form. The course will also explore a range of critical approaches to the form and to its relationship with the various contexts that shape the way we read novels. (Every other year)
Prerequisite: ENG1020.
Meets General Education “Aesthetic and Philosophical Expression” Group B requirement.
ENG/THE2220 Drama 2 or 4 semester hours
Studies drama and its cultural and theatrical contexts from the Greeks to the present, with special emphasis on those periods in which the theatre flourished: 5th-century Athens, Renaissance England, late 19th and early 20th century Europe. The course will explore a range of critical approaches to plays both on the page and on the stage. (Every other year)
Prerequisite: ENG1020 or consent of instructor.
Meets General Education “Aesthetic and Philosophical Expression” Group B requirement.
ENG2240 Poetry 2 or 4 semester hours
Students will study poetry written in English during the last 400 years. Reading in the poetry is supplemented and focused by readings in criticism and poetics. The approach is topical rather than chronological and should develop a student’s sense of what kind of thing a poem is and how poems can best be read. (Every other year)
Prerequisite: ENG1020 or consent of instructor.
Meets General Education “Aesthetic and Philosophical Expression” Group B requirement.
ENG3020 Advanced Academic Writing 4 semester hours
Analyzes and prepares students to produce prose of the sort expected in upper-level undergraduate courses or graduate programs, primarily in the humanities and social sciences. The course emphasizes the development of a flexible and efficient style and of sophisticated expository and argumentative discourse strategies. (Every other year)
Prerequisite: ENG1020.
ENG/EDU3180 Multicultural Literature for Children 2 semester hours
Cross-listed with EDU3180. For description see EDU3180.
ENG/EDU3190 Multicultural Literature for Young Adults 2 semester hours
Cross-listed with EDU3190. For description see EDU3190.
ENG3200 Comparative Literature 4 semester hours
Studies classic works of literature, primarily from the western tradition, ranging from the Greeks through the modernist period. Versions of the course will be organized around particular themes or issues: e.g., the Antigone or Faust story, the development and exhaustion of the epic tradition, the rise of realism in European literature, etc. The course will also explore a range of critical and scholarly perspectives on the literature it studies. (Every other year)
Prerequisite: ENG1020.
ENG3320 American Literature: Puritanism-1865 4 semester hours
American Literature presents a study of Americans in their developing and changing environment from the Puritanism, to the Colonial and the Romantic periods, to the end of the Civil War. We will cover a broad range of texts: political essays, songs, captivity narratives, memoirs, myths and tales, poetry, and the emerging American novel. Writers studied may include Bradford, Bradstreet, Mather, Franklin, Jefferson, Wheatly, Douglass, Truth, Melville, Hawthorne, Emerson, Thoreau, Fuller, and Whitman. (Every other year)
Prerequisite: ENG1020.
Meets General Education “Aesthetic and Philosophical Expression” Group B requirement.
ENG3350 American Literature: 1865-present 4 semester hours
Examines the rise of modernism and post-modernism in an ongoing dialog with our world. The course explores various genres and sub-genres from the Civil War to the present and pays particular attention to understanding approaches to criticism within historical, social, political, and philosophical contexts. Authors studied may include: Twain, Chopin, Crane, Dunbar, Cather, Frost, Sandburg, Anderson, Eliot, Hughes, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Hemingway, Porter, Williams, O’Connor, Sexton, Morrison, and Mason. (Every other year)
Prerequisite: ENG1020 or consent of instructor.
Meets General Education “Aesthetic and Philosophical Expression” Group B requirement.
ENG3400 British Literature: Anglo-Saxons to the Renaissance 4 semester hours
The course provides a survey of British Literature, beginning with works from its Anglo-Saxon period, progressing through the Medieval Age in the work of such writers as Chaucer and the Gawain poet, into the height of the Renaissance in England, as exemplified by the poetry of Spenser, Sidney, and Shakespeare. Also explores the changes in the English language during this span of time. The course will also explore critical approaches to literature, especially those that emphasize the reading of literary texts within historical and cultural contexts. (Every other year)
Prerequisite: ENG1020.
Meets General Education “Aesthetic and Philosophical Expression” Group B requirement.
ENG3420 British Literature: Renaissance to the Romantics 4 semester hours
The course continues the survey of British literature through the study of poetry, drama, and some of the nonfictional prose written in England between the height of the Renaissance through the 17th and 18th centuries to arrive at the beginnings of the Romantic period. Authors studied may include Marlowe, Shakespeare, Milton, the Metaphysical poets, Dryden, Pope, Swift, Johnson, and Blake. The course will also explore critical approaches to literature, particularly those that emphasize the reading of literary texts within historical and cultural contexts. (Every other year)
Prerequisite: ENG1020.
Meets General Education “Aesthetic and Philosophical Expression” Group B requirement.
ENG3440 British Literature: The Romantics to the Present 4 semester hours
The course concludes the survey of British literature by tracing the literary developments from Romanticism to the Victorian Age to the Modernist period to the present age. Readings will reflect the popularity of prose fiction during these centuries. In addition to Wordsworth and the Romantic poets, readings may include works by Austen, Tennyson, Arnold, Browning, Dickens, Eliot, Hardy, Conrad, Lawrence, Woolf, and Shaw. Literature of the mid- to late-20th century will also be represented. The course will also explore critical approaches to literature, particularly those that emphasize the reading of literary texts within historical and cultural contexts. (Every other year)
Prerequisite: ENG1020.
Meets General Education “Aesthetic and Philosophical Expression” Group B requirement.
ENG3500 Contemporary World Literature 4 semester hours
Studies literature since WWII, with special emphasis on the postcolonial and postmodern strands in the imaginative writing of the last half-century. The course will also explore a range of critical approaches to this work and to its relationship with the various contexts that shape the way we read it. (Every other year)
Prerequisite: ENG1020.
ENG3520 Racial and Ethnic Themes in Literature 4 semester hours
The development of racial or ethnic themes in different literary genres created in America and the diaspora by African American, Asian/Pacific American, Native American, Latino/American origin, or writers of other ethnic origin, from the 19th century to the present. We will focus on interpretations of texts, the world that these texts create as well as our everyday world. We will also examine the sociopolitical, historical, and ethnic foundations underlying the contexts that shape these texts. Critical approaches to the interpretation of these works will include cultural criticism. Writers studied may include: Douglass, Dunbar, Hughes, Baldwin, Walker, Angelou, Hong Kingston, Mukherjee, Moraga, Cisneros, Castilo, Valdez, Alexie, Dandicat, Singer, Erdrich, Momaday, Silko, Allende, and Kosinski. (Every other year)
Prerequisite: ENG1020.
ENG3550 Language, Literacy and Cognition 4 semester hours
Studies the ways in which the mind acquires, produces, and understands language; the origins, development, uses, and consequences—especially the cognitive consequences—of literacy; the impact of various technologies on literacy and its uses; and the interaction between literacy and schooling. (Every other year)
Prerequisite: ENG1020.
ENG3810 Topics in Language 2 or 4 semester hours
Special topics in language offered periodically as the need occurs.
Prerequisite: ENG1020.
ENG3820 Secondary Methods in English 4 semester hours
This course presents techniques that are effective in teaching in the content areas. The course includes lesson planning, classroom arrangement, curriculum design, alternative teaching strategies, and evaluation. In addition to the classroom hours, there is a simultaneous practicum. This is usually the last course the student takes prior to student teaching. (Fall)
Prerequisites: Acceptance into the College of Education including passing the Basic Skills Test, maintaining a GPA of 3.00, passing a background check, and EDU2200 and EDU2260. Placement applications for the practicum are due to the College of Education placement coordinator the January before the academic year of the practicum or for transfer students upon acceptance into the College of Education.
ENG4990 Seminar in English 4 semester hours
This course will survey major theoretical positions on the structure and functions of written texts, literary and otherwise, and on the processes by which they are written and read. It will also examine significant contemporary interactions between English studies and other fields of scholarly inquiry.
Prerequisites: A declared major or minor in English; a minimum of four courses in English, at least two of them at the 3000-level; submission of a portfolio completed according to program guidelines; senior standing recommended.
Please note:
The information listed on this page is current according to the 2006-2008 Undergraduate Catalog, unless otherwise noted.
‡ This information has been added since the printing of the 06-08 Undergraduate Catalog.
±This information is additional information specific to the Web site, not provided in the Undergraduate Catalog.
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