Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English

Course Descriptions and Syllabi

ENGL 100	Foundations of Academic Reading and Writing	(4) [E]
This course is a portfolio-based, preparatory course in reading and writing for academic purposes. Through a small-class workshop environment centered on reading and writing activities, class discussion, small-group collaboration, individual conferences with instructors, and supplemental lab workshops, students will develop their understanding of and facility with a variety of reading and writing strategies necessary for success in university coursework. Particular emphasis will be given to summarizing, analyzing, and synthesizing ideas as well as to revising and editing strategies. A concurrent lab section is required. Prerequisite: TOEFL internet-based (iBT) minimum reading score of 13 and minimum writing score of 14. Additional placement testing may be required. A grade of "C-" or better must be earned to pass this course.
ENGL 101	Critical Reading and Writing	(3) [E]
This course focuses on writing and reading for various academic and public purposes and audiences. Students will develop analytical, critical, and argumentative thinking, reading, and writing abilities, and will be introduced to research practices. Prerequisites: Score of 80 or higher on the Accuplacer reading exam and a score of 6 or higher on the Accuplacer essay exam, OR a TOEFL iBT reading score of 18 or higher and a writing score of 17 or higher, OR a grade of C- or better in ENGL 100. A grade of "C-" or better must be earned to pass this course.
ENGL 102	Writing & Information Literacy	(3) [E]
This course introduces students to the academic, intellectual, and public activities of research. Through a focus on research as a process of inquiry generated by particular purposes, audiences, and contexts, students will develop a more complex understanding of multiple research processes and genres. Students will formulate their own critical analysis of and response to a range of academic and public issues. Students will develop and conduct an extended research inquiry. The primary aim of this course is to develop students' critical and information literacy. Prerequisite: ENGL 101. A grade of "C-" or better must be earned to pass this course.
ENGL 108	Public Speaking	(3) [H]
This course focuses on the principles of public speaking in large and small group environments with emphasis on audience analysis, research and evidence, reasoning, rhetoric, organization and delivery. Through analyzing professional speeches and their effectiveness, the student practices the more common speech types: informative, persuasive, special occasion, and impromptu.
ENGL 200	Introduction to Literary Studies	(3) [H]
This core course is designed to initiate students into the elements of literature and literary analysis. Students will learn what makes a piece of writing "literary," as well as the terms and skills needed to read, understand, and analyze literature. The course will cover literary genres and critical approaches, providing a foundation for literary studies. Concurrent: ENGL 102.
ENGL 207	Introduction to Rhetorical Studies	(3) [H]
A study of rhetoric from its roots in the classical world to its many variations over time and culture. Central to the course will be the role of rhetoric in determining the multiple ways in which discourse is constructed to achieve specific ends. Prerequisite: ENGL 101.
ENGL 220	Survey of World Literatures I	(3) [H]
This course provides a foundation in canonical texts of world literatures from antiquity through the mid-17th century by introducing major historical periods, movements, authors and literary texts. The course may include works such as Gilgamesh, Beowulf, The Odyssey, Canterbury Tales, Shakespeare's plays, Paradise Lost, and Don Quixote. Concurrent: ENGL 102 and ENGL 200.
ENGL 221	Survey of World Literatures II	(3) [H]
This course provides a foundation in canonical texts of world literatures from the late 17th century onward through an introduction of major historical periods, movements, authors and literary texts. The course may include works by Johnson, Wordsworth, Conrad, Achebe and Joyce. Concurrent: ENGL 102 and ENGL 200.
ENGL 300	History of the English Language	(3) [H]
The structure of present day English is radically different from that of Old and Middle English. This course explores the stages through which the English language has evolved to reach its present form. This course will also examine the structure and social meanings of colonial varieties of English. Sophomore standing or permission of instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 102.
ENGL 301	Literature and Film	(3) [H]
This course will involve viewing a variety of films and critical responses to those films. Students will demonstrate in their own written and oral responses to film their ability to use effectively the critical language and methodology of professional film criticism in its varied aesthetic, historical and ideological forms. Prerequisite: ENGL 200. Concurrent: ENGL 220 or ENGL 221.
ENGL 303	English Poetry and Prose: 1500-1660	(3) [H]
Examination of Renaissance poetry and prose, not including Shakespeare; Renaissance literature and its impact on the "modern world." Review and evaluation of the works of Sidney, More, Bacon, Marlowe, Johnson, Donne, and Milton. Also includes selections from the King James Bible for students of literature. Prerequisite: ENGL 200. Concurrent: ENGL 220 or ENGL 221.
ENGL 304	English Poetry and Prose: 1660-1800	(3) [H]
The English Enlightenment, the Restoration, and the Age of Reason figures including Dryden, Swift, Pope and Johnson. The rise of technology and technological culture and the impact of science and scientific methodology on Enlightenment literature. Prerequisite: ENGL 200. Concurrent: ENGL 220 or ENGL 221.
ENGL 305	Professional Writing and Communication	(3) [H]
This course explores professional approaches to communication in today's global business environment. It also focuses on principles and practices needed for effective internal and external business communication (memos, letters, reports, proposals and presentations). Students learn to write successful business reports and communications. Also, students evaluate case studies in business and use appropriate style-guides to document sources. Prerequisite: ENGL 102.
ENGL 307	Shakespeare	(3) [H]
An introduction to Shakespeare: intensive study of selected comedies, tragedies, history plays, and Shakespeare's poetry. Works are discussed in their socio-historical context. Prerequisite: ENGL 200. Concurrent: ENGL 220 or ENGL 221.
ENGL 308	Early American Literature	(3) [H]
A historical study of American literary forms and intellectual life, writers and their contributions from the Seventeenth Century world of the Puritans to the work of the early Transcendentalists in the Nineteenth Century. Prerequisite: ENGL 200. Concurrent: ENGL 220 or ENGL 221.
ENGL 309	19th Century British Literature	(3) [H]
This course will examine major British literary texts from the Romantic and Victorian eras, including poetry and prose by Wordsworth, Shelley, Byron, Coleridge, Keats, Mary Shelley, Wollstonecraft, Ruskin, Eliot, Austen, Wilde, Tennyson, the Brontës, Dickens, Arnold, Hemans, Browning, Mill, and Carlyle. The course presents the relationship between each author's works and various historical and cultural developments, such as the industrial revolution and colonialism. Prerequisite: ENGL 200. Concurrent: ENGL 220 or ENGL 221.
ENGL 310	19th Century American Literature	(3) [H]
This course will examine major American literary texts written by American writers of the nineteenth century, including poetry and prose by Emerson, Poe, Dickinson, Thoreau, Stowe, Melville, Chopin, Whitman, Cooper, Douglass, Jacobs, Twain, Hawthorne, and other writers concerned with issues of gender, race, and social justice. The course presents the relationship between each author and his/her works and various historical and cultural developments, such as the Civil War and Abolition and Suffrage. Prerequisite: ENGL 200. Concurrent: ENGL 220 or ENGL 221.
ENGL 311	English Novel	(3) [H]
An examination of representative English novels from the beginning up to the Nineteenth Century. Prerequisite: ENGL 200. Concurrent: ENGL 220 or ENGL 221.
ENGL 312	American Novel	(3) [H]
An examination of representative American novels from the beginning up to the Nineteenth Century. Prerequisite: ENGL 200. Concurrent: ENGL 220 or ENGL 221.
ENGL 314	Modernism/ Postmodernism	(3) [H]
This course investigates the trends in the intellectual and aesthetic movements that inform twentieth century Western ideas about art. Rejecting many 19th century standards, modernist figures such as Woolf, Joyce, Stein, Eliot, Pound, Mallarme, Kafka, Stevens helped radically redefine literature and culture. Students will look at various modernist trends such as emphasis on impressionism and subjectivity, blurring of distinctions between genres, tendency toward fragmented forms, discontinuous narratives, etc., and will trace the continuation and/ or rejection of these early twentieth century trends in postmodernism. Prerequisite: ENGL 200. Concurrent: ENGL 220 or ENGL 221.
ENGL 315	20th Century American Literature	(3) [H]
Examines the major trends in 20th century U.S. Literature. Students may study artistic movements such as Naturalism, the Beats, the Harlem Renaissance, Lost Generation, and New Journalism, as well as literary responses to major historical events, such as the Great Depression, WW I and II, the Vietnam War, and major social movements of the second half of the century. Prerequisite: ENGL 200. Concurrent: ENGL 220 or ENGL 221.
ENGL 319	Women and Literature	(3) [H]
An examination of representations of women and womanhood over time and the way in which those representations are culturally constructed. The course will also offer an introduction to feminist theory and examine the resistant discourses of women writers. Prerequisite: ENGL 200. Concurrent: ENGL 220 or ENGL 221.
ENGL 343	Poetry and Poetics	(3) [H]
This course offers a comprehensive study of poetry as a genre and introduces the art of poetics. The course will explore various visual, rhythmic and performance aspects of poetry while covering a wide range of poets, styles, traditions, forms and subgenres. Prerequisite: ENGL 200. Concurrent: ENGL 220 or ENGL 221.
ENGL 345	Creative Writing	(3) [H]
The craft and practice of creative writing (short fiction and poetry) involving extensive writing throughout the semester. The course includes regular examination of professional models and the writing generated and revised by students. In addition, students will actively be involved in developing AUK’s Arts and Literary Journal. Prerequisite: ENGL 200. Concurrent: ENGL 220 or ENGL 221.
ENGL 349	Literature in Translation	(3) [H]
The course is an aesthetic and cultural evaluation of a specific non-English literature in translation (i.e., Arabic, French, German, Spanish, etc.). Poetry and fiction of non-English authors will be studied. Prerequisite: ENGL 200. Concurrent: ENGL 220 or ENGL 221.
ENGL 355	Contemporary World Literature	(3) [H]
An exploration of the ways contemporary literature responds to the complex reality of our world; modernist and postmodernist fiction from a variety of national literatures; examples from Robbe-Grillet, Lessing, Boll, Mann, Duras, Morrison, Walker, Kundera, Atwood, Munro, Coetzee, Achebe, Eco, and Garcia Marquez. Prerequisite: ENGL 200. Concurrent: ENGL 220 or ENGL 221.
ENGL 369	Short Course	(1-3)
Topic varies by semester. Classes are taught by a guest lecturer or lecturers. Can be repeated for credit with a different topic. Permission of instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 102.
ENGL 375	Rhetorics of Cultural Dissonance	(3) [H]
This course examines the ways in which language creates, reflects, and transforms cultural identity and beliefs and, consequently, our understanding of local and global relations of power. Through analyses of the various expressive contexts from which ideas about identity and culture emerge, students will develop a greater understanding of the origins and contemporary manifestations of conflict between and within "East" and "West" and "North" and "South." Sophomore standing or permission of instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 102.
ENGL 376	Language in the Arab World	(3) [H][K]
This course introduces students to the sociocultural, political, and educational dimensions of language in the Arab World. The course covers the historical and current sociopolitical contexts of Arabic in relation to French and Berber in countries such as Morocco and Algeria. It explores the widespread use of English in the Arab World and the consequences it might have on the Arabic language. The course will also study the official and non-official use of languages of non-Arab immigrants in the Gulf. Prerequisite: ENGL 102.
ENGL 378	English and Globalization	(3) [H]
This course explores social, political, linguistic and educational issues related to the spread of English in the world. In addition to colonialism, the course examines the role of globalization in the emergence of English as an international language. The course also focuses on the variation in the structure of different varieties of English. Prerequisite: ENGL 102.
ENGL 388	Independent Study	(1-3)
Can be repeated for credit with a different topic. Permission of instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 102.
ENGL 389	Special Topics	(3)
Can be repeated for credit with a different topic. Prerequisite: ENGL 200. Concurrent: ENGL 220 or ENGL 221.
ENGL 400	Seminar in British Authors	(3)
An in-depth study of the work of a significant British writer, or a small group of British writers. It will include the writer's context, approach, and contributions to literature and society. Junior standing or permission of instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 220 and ENGL 221.
ENGL 401	Seminar in American Authors	(3)
An in-depth study of work of a significant American author, or a small group of American writers. It will include the author's context, approach, and contributions to literature and society. Junior standing or permission of instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 220 and ENGL 221.
ENGL 402	History of Theatre and Drama	(3)
A comparative study of major works in theatre and of theories of drama and performance from ancient Greece and the Near East to the modern period. Special attention will be given to works representative to distinct periods and schools of theatre and drama. Junior standing or permission of instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 220 and ENGL 221.
ENGL 403	Modern Drama	(3)
This course extends the subject matter of ENGL 402 into the 20th century by focusing both on major dramatists but also tracing the development of national and regional dramas. Special attention will be paid to transformations of classical conventions of character, plot and audience as well as a broadening of subject matter and use of a variety of vernaculars. Junior standing or permission of instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 220 and ENGL 221.
ENGL 405	Postcolonial Literature	(3)
In this course students will read and discuss novels, short stories, poetry, and essays from former British colonies in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean, as well as from the postcolonial Diasporas. Emphasis will be placed on the common experience of a postcolonial condition across various regions, with one of the primary themes being "Orientalism" or the image of the West in representative texts. Junior standing or permission of instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 220 and ENGL 221.
ENGL 406	Ethnic American Literature	(3)
This course emphasizes the critical study of literature written by diverse ethnic American authors from colonial to contemporary times. It includes works by African-, Arab-, Asian-, European-, Hispanic-, and Native Americans. Junior standing or permission of instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 220 and ENGL 221.
ENGL 415	Literary Theory and Criticism	(3)
An introduction to central issues in Literary Criticism; the concept of literature, the relationship of literature to criticism, and the establishment of literary canons; key schools of criticism, including formalism, structuralism, post, post- structuralism, deconstruction and reception theory, and post-colonialism and their respective historical contexts; required of Literature majors. Junior standing or permission of instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 220 and ENGL 221.
ENGL 450	Senior Seminar	(3)
This capstone course is the culminating opportunity for English majors to demonstrate skills of literary interpretation, critical thinking, research, and analytical writing. Topics, although they vary widely, will be addressed in the context of current critical discourse. Students will be required to make a scholarly presentation and write a long research paper. English major with senior class standing. Prerequisites: ENGL 220 and ENGL 221.
ENGL 470	Internship in English Language and Literature	(1-3)
An internship experience with the requirement that the student write a report summarizing what the internship job added to his to her knowledge of English Language and Literature. Students are limited to a maximum of 6 internship credit hours. This is a pass/fail course. Junior standing and permission of instructor. Prerequisite: minimum GPA of 2.0 and ENGL 102.
ENGL 485	Senior Thesis	(3)
English majors apply their writing abilities, research skills, and knowledge in an independent study project. Senior standing and permission of instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 102.