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Fall 2009 Courses

Here are some more detailed descriptions of specific professors' plans for their individual sections of courses scheduled for Fall 2009.  These are not official descriptions of the classes but only provide some sense of what to expect in individual classes.  For official descriptions, please consult the department's official course descriptions page. 

English 211: World Literature I / Dr. Alison Van Nyhuis
This course will focus on representations of love and war in early world literature.  Representative texts include Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, St. Augustine’s Confessions, and the West African epic Sunjata.  Coursework will include reading quizzes, a midterm examination, a collaborative written and oral report, and a final examination.  The required textbooks, The Bedford Anthology of World Literature Books One, Two, and Three, will be available through the university’s textbook rental program. 

English 230: An Introduction to Linguistics / Dr. Ji Young Kim and Dr. Eric Hyman
“Language is power, life and the instrument of culture, the instrument of domination and liberation” (Angela Carter).                                                                                              
This course provides a comprehensive introductory linguistics that conveys the fascinating aspects of language and examines their beliefs and attitudes about language and language use. Upon completing this course, students are able to:
• know some of the subfields of linguistics: phonetics, phonology, morphology, semantics, syntax, historical linguistics, and sociolinguistics
• recognize the diversity of language systems and their fundamental similarities
• demonstrate some of the techniques for linguistic observation and analysis and some practice in using these to discover the organizing principles of a language
• have a basic knowledge of approaches to the study of language acquisition

English 231: Advanced Grammar / Dr. Eric Hyman
The title of the textbook for English 231 Advanced Grammar says it: How English Works.  This is a linguistic rather than a prescriptive approach to morphology (the shape of words) and syntax (the structure of sentences and clauses), with a little bit of the social aspects of language and child language acquisition.  There will be some attention to up to date methods of teaching grammar—which might be considerably different from the traditional ways we were brought up on.

English 240: Introduction to Literature / Dr. Chuck Tryon
In this class we will examine the genres of literature, learn literary terminology, and begin to learn how to be literary critics by analyzing an example of each genre. The course will be themed around the concept of "adaptations, remakes, and remixes," and we will examine a variety of texts--movies, plays, stories--that reinterpret or remake older narratives.  Course activities include a paper, two exams, and a short video adaptation.

English 300: Children’s Literature / Dr. Brenda Hammack
My English 300 (Children’s Literature) section will cover a variety of genres from lullabies and alphabet books to problem novels and verse novellas.  Most readings will be from The Norton Anthology of Children’s Literature, edited by Jack Zipes, Lissa Paul, et al.   Book responses and oral presentations will familiarize students with the classics and spark discovery of current contributions to the field.   Students will also design and construct projects that serve as creative interpretations/interactions of relevant issues and texts.  Valuable on-line sources (like the Surlalune Fairy Tale archive) will also be made available via blackboard.

English 332: Introduction to Film and Visual Literacy / Dr. Chuck Tryon
This course surveys the history of cinema from Edison's kinescopes to the present while consistently referring back to the question of how technological, social, and political forces collaborate to produce what Tim Corrigan and Patricia White refer to as "the film experience."  For example, how did the rise of television and, later, the multiplex theater affect the kinds of films that were produced and how we watch them?  How did movie audiences behave before the advent of "talkies?"  We will also address the role of various film techniques in producing meaning.  Films under consideration include Do the Right Thing, Citizen Kane, Bonnie and Clyde, The Thin Blue Line, and Daughters of the Dust.

English 470: Senior Seminar / Dr. Alison Van Nyhuis
This senior seminar course will focus on providing some answers to the question “What is Caribbean American Migration Literature?”—that is, who is “Caribbean,” what is “America,” what is “migration literature,” and what are the specific problems and concerns associated with identifying a literary tradition associated with Caribbean American migration? The course will focus on 20th century novels, such as Claude McKay’s Home to Harlem and Cristina García’s Dreaming in Cuban.  Coursework will include a midterm examination, short position papers, an annotated bibliography, and a longer research paper.