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B.A. in English and English EducationCurriculum Review of 2013-2015 Catalog

Department/Major _English, B.A. in English and English Education_______

I. Number of courses listed in the catalog: ___63_____

Courses that have not been taught in last 5 years: ___13_____

Courses that do not require revision: ___46_____

(We have no immediate plans to revise most course descriptions, but as the

process continues and we refine the SLOs for each course, we may decide to

revise additional courses)

Courses that will be removed from the catalogue

deleted __2______

ENG 201 Humanities I

ENG 202 Humanities II

but archived not deleted: ___4_____

Courses that require revision: ___11_____

o Only the title needs to be revised: ____0____

o Course Descriptions that need to be revised: ____11___*

o Courses that will need SLOs to be revised: All of them need to be reviewed

and probably revised. That will have to be a course by course process. SLOs have

always been the province of individual instructors. Now we are looking at how

each course can help meet some of the outcomes or skill/content objectives of

the department.

II. What piece of your curriculum could be completely taught ONLINE?(e.g., general education course/s or foundation course/s)

Any of the courses we teach could be taught entirely online. However, the general education courses are so vital to student success in college that we do not recommend teaching those courses entirely online. Online learning can be especially challenging for under-prepared first-time college students. Thus, any first-year course that are converted to hybrid or online course must be done so in a way that provides opportunities for additional student support and instructor-student interactions.

To encourage faculty to develop online courses, some additional instruction on online pedagogy needs to be provided. As well, faculty developing new online courses could benefit from a one-semester course release the first semester an online course is offered along with being given credit for a new course for at least two years’ evaluations.

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B.A. in English and English EducationCurriculum Review of 2013-2015 CatalogIII. Four attachments (we added an additional attachment that provides an overview of the

changes we suggest to the program):

1. *Attach a 1-2-sentence rationale for each Course Description to be revised. ENG 211 and ENG 212: The course title was Humanities for English and Mass Communication Majors (parts I and II). We want to change the course title to something like Cultural Studies with special topics such as Visual Media Culture Studies, Consumer Culture and Advertising, Identity in the Information Society, Media in the Global Age, or Gender and Visual Culture.

ENG 223 Practical Rhetoric: The current course description and course title do not clearly explain the purpose of the course, which is to provide instruction and practice in writing in a variety of disciplinary styles. We would like to revise the course description and title to reflect that focus. Since this is an advanced writing course, we plan to ask that the course number be changes to ENG 323. This course will serve in the revised curriculum as part of a two-course offering for CSET majors.

ENG 330 Syntax: We would like to change the title and description of the course to focus more on improving students’ sentence repertoire and expanding their understanding of grammar and syntax. This course will serve in the revised curriculum as an optional course in the “Writing, Linguistics, and Rhetoric” category.

ENG 415 The English Novel: The course description currently covers the entire history of English fiction from Richardson to the present. A more flexible definition would allow faculty to focus on a specific time period or sub-genre, providing students with a learning experience that has depth as well as breadth.

ENG 433 American Drama: The course description confines the course to post-World War I drama. We would like to revise this course description so that the course allows the instructor to focus on any period of American theater, including those in the 18 th and 19th centuries.

We wish to combine the following courses into an “open topics” course titled ENG 437 British Literature Before 1900:

ENG 420 Medieval Literature, ENG 422 Renaissance Literature, and ENG 425 Restoration and Neo-Classic Literature.

We wish to combine the following courses into an “open topics” course titled ENG 438 British Literature After 1900:

ENG 426 Romantic Literature, ENG 422 Victorian Literature

Combining these courses would allow us to reduce the number of courses in the catalog but still give us the flexibility to cover these and other period-related topics. A special topic might include something like “Images of Women in Victorian Literature” or “Common Sense in Early 18th Century British Literature and Culture.”

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2. Attach SLOs for majors. Outcome MeasuresGraduating seniors in English and English education will be assessed using the following

outcome measures:1. Senior English majors will produce a portfolio of written assignments that demonstrate

analytical and research writing proficiency.2. Senior English majors will produce written assignments for the portfolio that

demonstrate the ability to make critical judgments during intellectual inquiry using methods of literary and cultural criticism.

3. Senior English majors will demonstrate the ability to speak effectively through a presentation of their research in the capstone course.

4. Students pursuing a career in teaching will demonstrate sound content and pedagogical knowledge through their scores on the Praxis area examination.

5. Students will demonstrate their ability be able to read, write, and speak effectively at least one foreign language through their coursework in second-year foreign language courses.

Skill and Content ObjectivesWe were asked to confine our outcomes to 3-5 items that were measurable in the final year of

the degree plan. However, we want the students to know what specific skills and content the outcome measures represent. All of the upper division English courses will employ some combination of the following as skill and content objectives for majors in order to help them reach the departmental outcomes. Students will be able

A. to write effective analytical essays that are well-structured, demonstrate arguable theses, contain a variety of sentence structures, contain few mechanical errors, and use various modes of writing.

B. to read critically and analytically by exploring issues, ideas, artifacts, and events as a means to formulate an opinion or draw a conclusion.

C. to employ digital resources in the processes of research and knowledge creation to inform and enhance writing.

D. to evaluate, examine, and integrate reliable and appropriate secondary sources in original writing.

E. to demonstrate effective informal and formal oral communication skills in the exploration of genres of writing by using clear, coherent oral expression to defend an argument or subject.

F. to explain how cultural and literary texts can shape their perceptions of the world and their learning and writing processes

G. to apply the methodologies of literary criticism to different works of literature. H. to identify and apply rhetorical strategies in their writing and reading assignments. I. read and interpret written, visual, and oral texts examining the texts from multiple

perspectives considering race, gender, class, sexuality.

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3. Attach the grid used to show how each course fits in the curriculum.

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4. Detailed discussion of the changes that we want to make to the English B.A. in order to better prepare our students for graduate school and to draw more majors to English.

B.A. in EnglishBelow is a summary of our existing English major:Currently, the B.A. in English has the following course breakdown:

Core courses: 16 courses (40-47 semester hours)Gen Ed Req by JSU # of hours Gen Ed in English BA # of hoursENG 104-105/111-112 6 ENG 111-112 6ENG 205 3 ENG 205 3

ENG 206-228 ENG option 3Speech Option 3 Speech Option 3Foreign Language 1st yr 6 Foreign Language 1st yr 6

Foreign Language 2nd yr 6Philosophy Option 3 Philosophy Option 3 (on senior year list)Fine Arts Option 3 ENG 211 3

ENG 212 3Science Option 3 BIO 101 3

SCI 201 3MATH 111 3 MATH 111 3Computer Literacy 3 CSC 115C 3HIST 101-102/111-112 6 HIST 101-102/111-112 6Social Science Option 3 Social Science Option 3

PSY 201 3HE 101 or 2 PE courses 2-3 HE 101 or 2 PE courses 2-3University Success 2 University Success 2

46-47 hrs 64-65 hrsThe existing requirements for the B.A. in EnglishCore courses: 22-23 courses (64-65 hours)Major courses: 14 courses (42 hours)

ENG 303ENG 319, ENG 320ENG 321, ENG 322ENG 331 or ENG 332ENG 418 or ENG 419ENG 423 or ENG 429ENG 421 or ENG 424One genreOne periodOne period or genreENG 495ENG 436

Elective courses: 6 courses (18 hours) – These courses can be anything at all. There is no restriction on the discipline or the level of the course.

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B.A. in English and English EducationCurriculum Review of 2013-2015 CatalogWe looked at the general education requirements for English majors and noticed that we require an additional fine arts option, an additional science option, and an additional social science option for all of our majors. Along with the additional 6 hours of second year language courses, our majors are spending 64-65 hours on freshman and sophomore level courses compared to the 40-47 hours required by the university. We suggest that the additional science and social science courses be dropped and those hours used for concentration or major courses.Currently, we require our majors to take 14 courses (including major electives) for 42 hours. Our majors are allowed to take 6 “free” elective courses for 18 hours. These elective courses are not restricted to English or even to 300 or 400 level courses. We suggest reducing the major to 12 courses (36 hours), reducing electives to 4 courses (12 hours), requiring that at least two of those electives be 300 or 400 level courses, and requiring all students to choose a concentration of 6 courses (18 hours). The suggested concentrations include a general literature concentration, a British literature concentration, an African American literature/studies concentration, an African literature concentration, a minority American (women, African Americans, Latino/a, Native American) literature, and creative writing concentration. All of the suggested concentrations are appended to the end of this report.One of the challenges of adding additional courses or defining specific concentrations is that we have a limited number of faculty available to teach the necessary classes. Right now, we have ten tenure track faculty and two or three non-tenure track faculty with terminal degrees. The number of upper-division courses we can regularly teach will be determined by a combination of the number of available faculty and the number of students we enroll in each course. If we revise the B.A. to include 12 courses for all majors and 6 courses for each concentration, we will need to create course rotations and allow some courses to serve in multiple concentrations. We would also need to allow some tenure-track faculty to occasionally teach only upper-division and graduate courses. Although most of us agree that it is important for all English faculty to teach the core courses, allowing tenure track faculty to teach only upper division courses every 2nd or 3rd semester would provide us with much greater flexibility.As we move toward a new curriculum for English majors, we can consider a variety of scheduling options. For example, if all tenure-track faculty teach at least one upper division course each semester and four different faculty members teach an additional upper-division undergraduate course each semester, then we could teach all of the required courses for the English and English Education degrees (17 courses) and have an additional 11 courses in the yearly rotation. Also, if at least 5 of those rotation courses were only offered every other year, then we could have an additional 16 courses offered every two years. Building on that potential, we suggest the following B.A. curriculum.

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The suggested requirements for the B.A. in EnglishCore courses: 20-21 courses (58-59 hours)

ENG 104/111 and ENG 105/112ENG 205 and ENG 206-228Speech OptionForeign Language-4 coursesPhilosophy OptionFine Arts Option-ENG 211 and ENG 212Science Option (BIO 101)Math 111Computer LiteracyHIST 101/111 and HIST 102/112Social Science OptionHE 101 or 2 PE coursesUniversity success

Major courses: 12 courses (36 hours)Category 1: African American and U.S. Literature CoursesENG 321ENG 322ENG 418 or ENG 419One genre, period, or major figure course (ENG 404, 405, 416, 432, 433, 434, 435)

Category 2: British Literature CoursesENG 319ENG 320ENG 423 or ENG 429ENG 421 or ENG 424 (Could we change this to genre, period, or major figure to allow a rotation of courses? Other courses might include ENG 415, ENG 420, ENG 422, ENG 425, ENG 426, ENG 427, ENG 428)

Category 3: Writing, Linguistics, and RhetoricENG 303ENG 330, ENG 331, or ENG 332

Category 4: Critical Lens and Capstone CoursesENG 436ENG 495

Concentration courses: 6 courses (18 hours) – concentration options outlined belowElective courses: 4 courses (12 hours) – At least 2 of these courses should be at the 300-400 level.

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Rationale for suggested changes:Reducing the required courses from 14 to 12 for the major allows those additional hours to be applied to the concentration areas. By requiring a concentration, we are ensuring that students in the major take between 16 and 18 English courses. Some concentration courses would be in the Department of History or Theater.

Retaining the 12 courses in the major will ensure that our students have an adequate grounding in American and British literature, writing, linguistics, and critical theory. One of our tasks for the curriculum review process is to provide a rationale for keeping courses in the catalog or for adding courses. If we write explanations for each of the categories of courses in the major, then those explanations can serve as the rationale for the courses included under each category.

Delineating specific courses for concentrations in writing, African American studies, and in literature allows us to prepare students for graduate study in those areas.

Reducing the number of electives and requiring at least 2 of the 4 electives to be 300 or 400 level courses will allow students some flexibility in exploring interests outside of English. At the same time, requiring some upper-division courses will ensure that the coursework challenges the students to improve their critical thinking skills.

Suggested Concentrations (6 courses/18 hours)

Writing (Preparation for graduate school in rhetoric and composition, fine arts, professional writing, or even law school)ENG 218 Advanced Composition or ENG 223 Practical Rhetoric or ENG 213 Professional WritingENG 335 Creative WritingENG 336 Creative WritingDR 314 Fundamentals of PlaywritingDR 415 Advanced PlaywritingENG 323 Writing in the Disciplines (Revised from ENG 223)ENG 330 Writing with Style: Grammar, Style, and More (Revised from ENG 330 Syntax)* A class on publishing* A class on writing for and publishing online* Special topics class: writing poetry, fiction, and non-fiction

African American Studies (preparation for graduate school in English, African American Studies, Interdisciplinary Studies, Public Policy)ENG 404 Richard WrightENG 405 Margaret WalkerHIST 323 Civil War and ReconstructionHIST 360 Blacks in American History IHIST 361 Blacks in American History II* Literature of the Diaspora* Images of Blacks in the Media* Seminar on major movements:

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B.A. in English and English EducationCurriculum Review of 2013-2015 Catalog* Special topics class: Themes could include literary treatments of mental illness, the body, the vampire figure, music in literature, or even the works of a single author)

Literature (Preparation for graduate school in English or law school)ENG 315 Women in LiteratureENG 452 Comparative Literature or4 of the following

* Create a new course called British Period Literature that could serve as a special topic course and could include all of the following (and others like British Modernism). We might want to split it into two courses—pre and post 19th century maybe.

ENG 420 Medieval LiteratureENG 422 Renaissance LiteratureENG 425 Restoration and Neo-Classical LiteratureENG 426 The English Romantic MovementENG 428 The Victorian Period

ENG 415 The English NovelENG 427 Dramatic Literature of EnglandENG 430 Classical and World Literature ENG 431 Modern and Contemporary World LiteratureENG 432 American Renaissance LiteratureENG 433 American DramaENG 434 20th Century American FictionENG 435 20th Century American Poetry

Writing for CSET Majors (6 hours)—designed as focused electives for students in the sciences who plan to continue on to graduate school.

ENG 323 Writing in the Disciplines (Revised from ENG 223)ENG 440 Research Writing for CSET majors (Using the ENG 440 Independent Study)

* These are courses that need to be added to the catalog.

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