Department of English CSU Dominguez Hills

Contact Information:
Contact Information:
Michael Schafer
Tel: (310) 243-3934

Goals for English Majors

ABILITIES

Dimensional Reading of Literature:

A. The ability to read a text in any of several genres on a number of levels, including literal comprehension, aesthetic responsiveness, informed awareness of the traditions and particularly of the varied critical perspectives within which it may be most productively read, and rhetorical and logical analysis of its argument.

Dimensional Writing about Literature:

A. The ability to write about various kinds of texts so as to articulate the dimensions of the work as described above.

Research, Documentation and Writing Skills:

A. The ability to find in textbooks and research materials, both paper and electronic, the kinds of information relevant to a given problem or issue, literary or otherwise, and to integrate that information into one's own written work to support one's argument while giving appropriate credit to the source of the information.

KNOWLEDGE

A. (Usable) familiarity with a wide variety of works in sufficient quantity by British writers of various periods and traditions, and with the development of British literature over time.

B. (Usable) familiarity with a wide variety of works in sufficient quantity by American writers of various periods and traditions, and with the development of American literature over time.

C. (Usable) familiarity with a variety of works from outside the British and American literary traditions.

D. (Usable) familiarity with such traditional genres as poetry, drama and prose fiction.

E. (Usable) familiarity with a variety of such perspectives in literary criticism as Formalist, New Historicist, Feminist, Psychoanalytic, Reader Response, etc.

F. (Usable) familiarity with such backgrounds to English and American literature as the Bible and classical literature including mythology.

G. (Usable) familiarity with the history and structure of varieties of English sufficient to read literary texts.

H. (Usable) familiarity with such linguistic concepts as "correct" usage, usage levels, and the varieties of American English.

Additional Goals for Students in the Subject-Matter
Preparation Program in English:

ABILITIES

A. The ability to read student writing with an understanding of the writing process and the features of good written discourse (such as effective organization, awareness of audience, conceptual and verbal clarity, accuracy in mechanics and usage).

B. The ability to comment on student writing in terms of the dimensions listed above in such a way as to explain, constructively, the strengths and areas needing revision.

C. The ability to make literature accessible to students and to lead students to respond critically.

KNOWLEDGE

A. (Usable) familiarity with a system for describing and analyzing the grammar of the English language.

B. (Usable) familiarity with a body of literature judged to be suitable for teaching to a given audience.