:: English 100: Introduction to English Study ::

Course Description

My Understanding of the English Degree:

I teach a variety of courses: Renaissance Literature, Shakespeare, Language and Gender, Religions and Cultures, Women’s literature, Senior Seminar, various graduate courses, and Introduction to English Studies. In all these courses, I focus on thinking and analysis, as well as language and reading. As far as I am concerned, field specialization is more of a personal preference, a historical identification that becomes the vehicle through which I attempt to help students learn how to think more effectively; to be aware of what they are asked to consume; and to achieve a variety of competencies that will enable them to interact effectively with whatever is and becomes their world, all concerns expressed in the Statement of Goals.

In spite of the introductory nature of this course, my standards, expectations, and demands for hard work, deep thought, and articulate and competent language use will be the same as in my other courses.

My main goal for you:

Critical literacy is the subject, content, and methodology for this course, as well as the degree. English #100 is an introduction to the subjects, philosophies, critical theories, skills, and content of English Studies, which is what we call our department because it is composed of highly educated faculty who represent a number of different specializations under the categories of language, writing, and literature. When you read syllabi from some of these areas, you will notice that professors may have very different ways of approaching knowledge and different kinds of technical skills to teach you; different contents and kinds of assignments. Your goal is not to find out "what the professor wants," which assumes that our different requirements, activities, and pedagogical approaches are merely a matter of opinion. Instead, these differences are the result of a highly complex discipline which addresses and considers the huge field of "language" in all its forms. Your mastery or at least acquaintance with the many different possible ways of knowing will build your ability to function successfully and responsibly in the larger world after your formal educational experience.

This course will introduce you to the ways in which this department operates on a very concrete level: for example, its absence policies; responsibilities of faculty and students for learning; how to use the library; how to read, think, and write critically, etc. As Dr. Lindblom says in his syllabus, "Active reading and writing, which are required for this course, are skills that require effort, practice, and other people" (2). You will learn that, should you choose to remain an English major, you will do an intensive, exhausting, and extremely complicated set of reading and writing assignments before you graduate. According to Dr. Hendler’s syllabus,

Many of the assigned readings are dense and challenging, which means that you may have to read an article or particular passage more than once, sometimes several times. Nonetheless, I expect you to make a serious attempt to engage the ideas in the texts and to come to class prepared to discuss their key claims . . . . Although some of the critical perspectives will be quite new to you or just plain confusing and frustrating, the best way to work through these complexities is to come to class every time we meet, ready to participate in a thoughtful, scholarly way. (1)

This course will also help you decide if you want to remain in the English program. We wholeheartedly welcome each of you; however, we want to be very clear about what this program consists of. If you don't like to read, write, and think, it isn't for you. It is far easier to get into this major than to stay in it.

Theory

The theoretical basis of many of the courses you will take in this department will be essentially post-modern which emphasizes:

• the constructedness of all of what we perceive to be reality

• language as the means of such production

• the multiplicity of meaning

• the symbolic and self-referential nature of language

• and the difficulty of determining anything for certain, outside of some rather basic

facts.