Department
of English
Part 2: BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ENGLISH
Bachelor of Arts: Program Quality
1. Quality of the
Program: Educational Outcomes:
Department Assessment Goals
for the Bachelor of Arts
Students who choose a Bachelor
of Arts major in English can expect our department to teach and assess the
following:
1. Ability to perform as a
reader and writer to analyze, synthesize, and interpret texts through
sensitivity to vocabulary and language, tone, imagery, point of view, and
socio-historical context.
2. Ability to frame an
effective written response, argument, or exposition that is appropriate for a
particular purpose, audience, situation, and authorial role.
3. Familiarity with a broad
range of the literature in English in terms of its integrating traditions and
its diversity as appropriate to each major program.
4. Ability to recognize and
work with technique and form of a work in relation to its genre, and to see
works within a genre tradition.
5. Critical perspective and
methods: the ability to respond with understanding to works that embody
behaviors, values, and perspectives that are unfamiliar and familiar to the
student as reader and writer.
6. Awareness of the
disciplinary frameworks, terminology, and theoretical and critical issues in
English studies.
These department goals are
demonstrably being met, and have been assessed routinely since the creation of
gateway and capstone courses during semester conversion. Assessment and quality
control of goals takes place each term primarily in ENGL 490, although 300 has
frequently been used for assessment purposes as well (Supplementary Materials).
Assessment indicates that graduates have acquired important skills in analysis,
problem-solving, and writing appropriate for serving a society in which social
participation requires skills in interpreting the media forms and discourse protocols
through which such participation can be effective.
These goals accord with the directions for the
profession that have emerged nationwide. The following statement has been
quoted and partially adapted out of the Spring 2002 ADE Bulletin:
In the community created
by English department faculty, study includes but goes beyond learning to read
with understanding and appreciation the literary works of many and diverse
genres, periods, and authors. It also means learning how to observe what
readers do when they read and what writers do when they write. Interpretation
and representation are core ideas we seek to convey to students.
Study in our programs invites students to see in
historical context what readers and writers do. Introducing students to
history--giving time a texture, dimension and depth measurable in centuries
rather than days or years--continues to be a high priority for members of the
field. Even as we struggle to deal with the contemporary proliferation of
literary production and its defiance of conventional national or geographic
borders, we remain committed to preserving the literary past as a resource
through which students can grasp what Gabrielle Spiegel describes as “men and
women struggling with the contingencies and complexities of their lives in
terms of the fates that history deals out to them and transforming the worlds
they inherit and pass on to future generations.”[1]
We seek to cultivate students’ abilities to enter both
feelingly and mindfully into the experiences of perception and thought that
literary works uniquely make possible. Many students have limited if any
exposure to literature and language as a medium of thought, and reading to
memorize information often dominates their educational experience. The English
department remains one of the few places where students read real books rather
than textbooks.
Our programs commit a large share of their resources, and
faculty members devote much of their time and effort, to developing students’
writing abilities. We offer students ways to write not only in the academy but
in the world at large. We help them develop the writing skills they need to
complete college and to go on to succeed in a variety of work settings, whether
legal, business, scientific, technical, or academic.
Study in English has been important in students’ moral
education. The study of literature has offered opportunities for exploration of
identity, of values, of manners and morals, whether these be conventionally or
unconventionally defined.
Study in English conveys positive knowledge. When someone
studies literary history, literary forms, literary theory, and the wide variety
of vocabularies and practices we use to consider them, they really are
acquiring knowledge available nowhere else in the university. Whatever our
disagreements and controversies, it is important to remember that studying them
involves knowledge, even if it also involves many unknowns and uncertainties
and little if anything that the community as a whole would approve as the
indisputable truth.
Study in English contributes to students’ aesthetic
education. We teach students how to have the experiences that literary and
cultural works make possible for readers who know how to read them in the ways
that produce these experiences.[2]
English Department B.A.
programs, as currently designed, fulfill the vision set forth by J. Paul Hunter
in his important 1993 presidential address to the South Atlantic MLA, “The
Future of the Past”: the department has never in ten tight-budget years lost
sight of its mission of meeting students where they are in the present,
sustaining requirements that bring students to engage the fullest confluence of
literary traditions carrying into the future, from the earliest literary works
to works that cross cultures and expand the inclusiveness of students’
understanding (4).
2. Evolution of the
program (B.A.): Overview of new program design
See the description of
semester conversion under Department of English: Program Quality for an
overview.
Explanation
of Program Redesign
1.
General English Major (40 credits minimum)
In
order to represent English Studies to students most fundamentally, planners of
the new program considered that “coverage” of the whole field has shifted in
its nature and has professionalized. An education in the field serves students best
by teaching frameworks of interpretation through which to approach the textual
world so expansively available to students in the present era. The interpretive
frameworks chosen for emphasis include methods of imagining the historical and
cultural contexts into which literary works are integrated, of understanding
the world of a single author’s point of view, of applying theoretical systems
such as linguistics and critical theory, and of analyzing works in literary
terms: the genre forms that mediate perception and significance, poetics,
aesthetics.
2.
Literature Major (45 cr.)
This
curriculum guides students interested in attending graduate school to prepare
themselves for advanced literary and cultural studies in English by
demonstrating extensive coverage of literary history from antiquity to the
present day, and by familiarizing themselves with the skills in linguistics and
critical theory that they will need in order to participate effectively in the
profession. Enrollment has grown from a handful in 1998 to 23 as of 2002.
3.
Literature and Writing Major (39)
The
Literature and Writing emphasis allows students to explore interrelationships
between literary studies and expository and creative writing theory and
technique. While the Literature and Rhetorical and Applied Writing emphases
provide specialized focus, the Literature and Writing emphasis provides balance
by requiring guided choices of four writing and four literature courses. The
emphasis has grown from seven majors in 1999 to 29 in 2002, demonstrating that
students with an interest in studying both literature and the theory and
practice of writing have found a home here.
4.
Creative Writing Major (36 cr.)
Students
often express surprise that the Creative Writing Minor requires more creative
writing courses than the Creative Writing Major itself. Assessment of
graduating seniors shows, however, that many recognize the value of engaging
the context of literary precedent, and of finding one’s own place and voice in
relation to the achievements of others. One senior wrote his final term paper in
defense of the current design for the major, in order to preempt any thought of
changing it. (See also B.A. Assessment )
5.
Linguistics Major (35 cr.)
This
major predominantly serves students as a vehicle for gaining an ESL license.
These undergraduates take the BS minor in ESL and the Secondary Education
Sequence, and the Linguistics BA provides a major with high overlap with the BS
minor in ESL, making it possible to complete the program in under 128 credits.
For
the few students who do take the major for its own sake, the program is very
much a Linguistics-within-English major. Given the proper resources, this
program would have the potential to professionalize students for greater
specialization in the field of linguistics, since the 7 tenure-line faculty
able to teach linguistics (Davis, Kim, Koffi, Robinson, Ross, Rundquist,
Teutsch-Dwyer) represent coverage of the fields of sociolinguistics, applied
and theoretical linguistics, psycholinguistics, and philology, and could
provide a more complete array of professionalizing courses. For the present, the
need to meet the demand for ESL teachers nationwide and in
[See
Bachelor of Science: Teaching of English as a Second Language for a full
report]
6.
Rhetorical and Applied Writing Major (36 cr.)
The Rhetorical and Applied
Writing major and minor are designed to prepare students for writing in a
variety of situations: as technical writers, editors, or nonfiction writers—in
business, industry, government, or at home. (See Rhetorical and Applied Writing
program self-study, below, for full account)
Minor programs - Students seek minors in English in large numbers in
order to complement their primary subjects, whether business, communication
studies, history, or information media. The General English Minor signals to
future employers the students’ enhanced communication skills in writing and
cultural literacy and their acquaintance with a humanistic knowledge base. The
enormously popular Creative Writing Minor offers students an opportunity to
develop a strong, expressive voice of their own, and the Applied Writing Minor
offers students a solid collection of writing courses topped off with an
additional applied course, whether an internship, Computers and English, a
practicum in teaching writing, or a specialized course in writing for the
professions.
Department as Consortium
In order to meet students’
needs, English Department faculty also group themselves by field of study and
meet formally and informally in order to plan the department’s future
directions and carry out ongoing work of advising and administrative business.
The department functions as a consortium of current disciplinary categories:
English Education, ESL, Creative Writing, Rhetoric and Composition, Literature.
Most faculty consider themselves members of more than one field, and planning
functions constantly overlap. Since the department moved away more than a
decade ago from a two-tiered system in which composition teaching was relegated
entirely to lower-ranking, untenured, or temporary faculty, to the current aim
of assigning composition instruction to all faculty as 1/3 of normal teaching
“load” (except in the case of reassignment duties), faculty do hold a common
stake in the teaching of writing. Assessment data suggest that the SCSU English
Department’s explicit emphasis on turning its students into strong writers of
argument and analysis is borne out in practice.
Report from the Creative Writing Program
By Bill Meissner, Creative Writing Director
A) Creative Writing Program Quality
The SCSU creative program has
more than doubled in the past five years with the addition of the English
major/creative writing emphasis. The
SCSU web page lists 70 creative writing minors—numbers which far exceed any
other minor focus within the department—and 53 creative writing majors. The program has provided quality courses for
students in the creative writing minor and the English major, creative writing
emphasis. The offerings include
beginning level courses in fiction writing, poetry, creative non-fiction, and
play writing. Advanced level courses can
be taken in each genre. Elective courses
include English 445/545, the summer Mississippi River Creative Writing
Workshop, which has been averaging over 40 students per class, and a new
practicum-style course for literary magazine editing and specialized projects,
English 447. Our courses have been in
high demand during the past five years, and the courses are always fully
enrolled (many of them with waiting lists).
The creative writing faculty/staff continues
to publish work in their respective creative fields, including Caesarea
Abartis’ forthcoming book of short stories, Nice Girls and Other Stories. See vitas for Abartis, Crow, Klepetar,
Meissner, and Ross. Adjunct creative
writing faculty member Shannon Olson has published a best-selling novel, Welcome
to My Planet, Where English is Sometimes Spoken (Viking Publishers). Jack Wang, a fixed-term faculty member from
1998-2002, won a Central Minnesota Arts Board fellowship for sections from his
novel-in-progress.
B) Creative Writing: Program Need
Due to retirements and reassignments during the past
years, this fast-growing program has not been given the teaching resources it
has required. Temporary faculty (and sometimes less qualified/published
creative writing instructors) have taught creative writing classes due to
shortages in staff. The play writing
course is currently being taught through a continuing education program by a
member of the theater department.
Using temporary faculty has its limitations since they
do not assist with advising major/minor students or creative writing committee
work.
In addition, despite the support of the Department of
English Chairperson, the Director of Creative Writing’s reassigned time has
been denied the past three years (a 1/9 reassigned time was granted under the
quarter system). As a result, the
director has had less time for activities, visiting writers, and advising. This lack of administrative support has been
a serious and ongoing problem for the director and the program in general. The administration has chosen to support
other directors of programs within the English department, but not the Creative
Writing Director.
During the past two semesters, fewer beginning-level
creative writing classes have been offered.
This reduction in offerings has created over-subscriptions and stress on
the enrollment ceilings of the sections which are offered.
Another problem was the last-minute searches to hire
adjuncts to fill fiction/nonfiction/advanced fiction classes. This additional administrative duty of
researching and contacting qualified adjuncts became the responsibility of the
Director of Creative Writing.
C) Creative Writing: Contribution of the Program
The program has contributed significantly to student
development through the professional writers who have visited campus to present
readings and student/faculty workshops.
During the past 5 years, the Director of Creative Writing was awarded
four grants from the Cultural Diversity Committee in order to bring
multicultural writers to campus, including American Indian authors Heid
Erdrich, Diane Glancy, and Mark Turcotte and Black American novelist Alexs
Pate, author of the Amistad novel which was the basis for Steven
Spielberg’s screenplay. Another grant
supported nationally-acclaimed multicultural poet Naomi Shihab Nye. A Summer Session Special Project Grant
supported the visit of Pamela Hill Nettleton, editor of
Harvest, the
SCSU literary/arts magazine, continues to be an excellent vehicle for student
writings, photography, and artwork.
Other students have been published in the recently-resurrected Kaliedoscope,
a multicultural journal.
Harvest
holds student readings/events each year.
Current and former students have met had success in
publishing and editing, including:
--poetry book publication by David Feela
--publication of poems by: Anna
Martignacco (several poems in literary journals), Jill Richter, Laura
Martin-Volk, Kelli Hallsten, Chuck Thielman, and Sara Wainscott. Student Val Snobeck is currently editing and
producing a local literary journal, No Cause, and several SCSU students’
writings are included in the summer, 2002 issue.
--1998
poetry book (and Ashland Poetry Prize) to former student Claire Rossini (Winter
Morning With Crow).
--former
student Deborah Quaal has won a Loft-McKnight Fellowship for fiction and her
work has appeared in Minnesota Monthly.
Donna
Longnecker won a 1998 Individual Artist Fellowship form Chautauqua County, New
York Arts Fund and a Western N.Y. Writer in Residence Award.
Eric
Rhinerson (1998) established and edited The Burning Cloud Quarterly, a
regional literary magazine. He’s had 17
poems published in a variety of journals since 1996.
Mick
Hatten’s poem was selected for What Have You Lost, an anthology edited
by Naomi Nye and published in 1999 by William Morrow Publishers.
The
Missing Word—a community writer’s group made up of former students—met for
several years at various locations around
In
addition, several students have been accepted in MFA/Creative Writing programs.
D) Creative Writing: Future Directions
--As of fall,
2003, we will be hiring a full-time, tenure-track position in
fiction/nonfiction, which will strengthen our program. We’re not certain yet if we’ll be able to hire
a specialist with significant publication in both genres, however.
--The
creative writing committee will, in the future, study the possibility of
incorporating screen writing in the curriculum.
--A future
hire with a specialty/publications in beginning and advanced nonfiction writing
a may be necessary in the years to come.
--A budget
for annual visiting writers would be welcomed.
This would allow us to hire visiting writers without going through the
process of applying for grants, which are both time-consuming and unpredictable
in their outcome.
--The
creative writing program is in the process of changing some of its courses from
3 credit to 4 credit classes, and this will change the curriculum and credit
requirements of the creative writing minor and the English major-creative
writing emphasis.
Report from the Literary Studies Program
By Judy Dorn
A) Literary Studies: Program Quality
Instead of literature, the
department now can be said to teach “literatures”--such is the recognition of a
common mission to bring about students’ capacity to assimilate a broad range of
textual traditions, from the historical pasts of the Americas in British,
indigenous, and world literatures, to the many modes of literary art full of
meaning to students in the present. The department brings students to become
aware of their own making of meaning and to participate socially with that
crucial awareness of their situation in relation to traditions.
It is striking to notice the
dedication of literary faculty to teaching writing through teaching literature.
An informal survey of faculty teaching literature courses, receiving 15
responses, reveals that only two instructors assign a single paper in a
literature course. Literature courses assign, at maximum, 15 papers in a
course, but most in the 3-5 paper range, to a total of about 15 pages per
course. In addition, instructors, with almost no exceptions, report requiring
extensive informal writing, whether journals, first drafts, online debates,
critiques, or reading responses, so that English majors are highly likely to
encounter literature courses that would qualify as writing-intensive by
national standards.
B) Literary Studies: Program Need
In an important regional
keynote address to the profession, J. Paul Hunter has stated clearly the
importance of textual study that places the imaginations of students in
cultural and historical contexts:
[N]o
person and no culture really understands itself unless it knows its own past,
where it has come from, how habits have been formed, why patterns have developed,
how past decisions may condition or even dictate future ones quite apart from
any conscious and rational decisions we may wish to make…. [W]e all have much
to learn about ourselves and others by attending carefully to what has already
happened in the world, a world that includes texts. I take it that much of the
justification in teaching texts at all is to know what others have done so that
we can sort and interpret, imitate or evade repetition, study the conflicts of
customs and what they come to, discover the outcomes of patterns of behavior
and decision-making and know what others, as well as we ourselves, have been
like…. Not all nations in all places have understood the importance of knowing
history, and they have paid…in not taking advantage of the present… (4)
Locally, one graduating
senior reflected, “More than any others, Literature courses tend to develop the
much-touted ‘critical thinking skills’ expected of someone with a college
degree. At St Cloud State, I find this to be represented by the writing
assignments in the literature courses, as much as, or more than, the actual
literature being discussed” (Program Reflections, Supplementary Materials).
Another, majoring in
Literature, agreed: “I can say with confidence that my time at
The Minnesota Board of
Teaching Subject Matter Standard for teachers of Communication Arts and
Literature requires (B.(6) knowledge, skills, and ability to teach literature including:
(a) a repertoire of literary texts, including fiction and nonfiction, classic
and contemporary works, and works written for preadolescents and adolescents by
a diversity of authors.
Literature courses make such
a repertoire possible.
C) Literary Studies: Specific Program Contributions
Literature faculty serve the
department adroitly, all called upon to extend their teaching range beyond
their primary fields of research to cover composition (expected to be 1/3 of
teaching assignment), general education courses, Honors courses, and a variety
of fields within the major, whether covering for colleagues on leave or
responding to department need for special topics. The faculty members who teach
literary studies, a group that includes a number of faculty whose primary
assignments involve rhetoric and linguistics, commonly teach as many as 9
distinctly different courses on a regular, rotating basis. Many department
faculty have in consequence developed, on their own time, multiple areas of
expertise in addition to their primary fields of study.
D) Literary Studies: Future Directions
Resource pressure on the
English Department as a whole, which constantly meets ongoing demands to serve
the entire university community, has made it incumbent upon the Department to
argue strenuously to maintain positions for faculty trained in literary
studies. The department was successful in hiring a medievalist to fill an
English Literature Before 1500 position that had remained unadvertised for
several years. Faculty currently stretch themselves thinly to cover the range
of period and topics courses normal to English programs nationwide. There is
strong department support for maintaining a roster of faculty able to teach
courses fully representative of the profession’s designated periods and fields
of literary study. Nevertheless, faculty with tenure-line positions in literary
fields now number only 12, or about 1/3 of the department. Hiring of fixed-term
faculty with doctorates in literature and culture to teach first-year writing
does provide important synergy across the department’s fields and infuses the
department with current thinking, but cannot provide the long-term programmatic
support necessary to forward academic projects important to student
development.
The department has already
begun collaborating with other departments in the
Future hiring needs: Modern British literature (to replace colleague
hired away to Purdue last year); Drama.
The Department could consider
heeding one admonition voiced in the 2002 ADE Bulletin: The recognition that
the 20th century is fast becoming a period of the sort the 19th
century represented to our generation ought to bring departments to take stock
of their priorities; what does it mean to “represent” a period encompassing the
High Moderns, post-World War II, the postcolonial period, the 21st
century? (Laurence 16-17).
There is room for individual
faculty to take initiative and provide leadership to promote literary studies
in the department. The major problem remains lack of time, especially for writing
grant applications to bring speakers to campus and for creating other
programming, to say nothing of researching and publishing. The proposed new
Humanities major does present an opportunity to tap into resources. The
directorship of that program would carry with it fundraising potential, and
English faculty who serve as directors would perhaps find opportunities to use
Humanities programming to benefit literary studies as well.
Faculty could also expand
their use of the Internship opportunity offered within the graduate program to
involve graduate students in teaching their literature courses and reading
student papers.
Report from the Rhetorical and Applied Writing Program
By Donna
Gorrell
The Rhetorical and Applied Writing major and minor are
designed to prepare students for writing in a variety of situations: as
technical writers, editors, or nonfiction writers—in business, industry,
government, or at home. We expect this major to work most effectively when
paired with another major or minor, such as speech communication, mass
communication, computer science, or a program in business.
Courses.
The program has seven courses and an internship that focus specifically on
rhetorical and applied writing. The first five are required of all majors.
331
Advanced Expository Writing. Attention is given to reading and writing a
variety of expository styles for the purpose of expanding students’
comprehension of the possibilities available to them.
332 Writing
in the Professions. Students study and practice the writing of business,
industry, and government, including but not limited to proposals, resumes,
technical reports, and letters and memos. The intent is to increase awareness
of the exigences and constraints of a professional writing style.
333 Advanced
Rhetorical Writing. The focus is on the rhetoric of writing, including
classical and contemporary principles. The course provides practice in
rhetorical analysis to give students the ability to read critically the writing
of others and themselves.
431 The
Rhetoric of Style. Attention focuses on the study of style in principle and
practice for the purpose that students may improve their own writing style.
433
Theories of Rhetoric and Writing. This course differs from 333 in that it
concentrates on the history and theory of rhetoric at a higher level. Writing
assignments reflect understanding of theories and applications.
403
Computers in English. Students acquire experience in the varieties and
capabilities of electronic communication.
432 Specialized
Professional Writing. Study and practice
goes beyond the introduction to professional writing in 332. The course may
focus on selected areas.
497
Internship. As an elective, students can take 3-4 credits as the equivalent of
one course or 7-8 credits for two courses by working in a department approved
and directed field experience.
A) Rhetorical
and Applied Writing: Program Quality. The quality of the program is attested to by the
commitment of the department to staff it with a number of highly qualified
faculty. Of the 31 faculty on regular lines, 13 have some educational
background in the teaching of rhetoric and writing. Eight have terminal degrees
in rhetoric, two more have written composition as part of their English
education preparation, and one more has postdoctoral study in rhetoric. These
faculty likewise are active in producing scholarly work in terms of publication
in nationally recognized journals, presentations at national conferences,
reviews of published works in rhetoric, and publication of textbooks with major
publishers. This degree of commitment is rarely found in masters-granting
institutions.
Quality is also noted in responses from our students.
Reflecting on the quality of their coursework, students in English 490 Senior
Seminar comment that the Rhetorical and Applied Writing program has affected
their writing and understanding of writing in positive ways and prepared them
for work as writers. “An invaluable learning experience,” one says; “I have
grown as a writer.” Students agree that their writing has improved. Regarding
their own writing, some cite the “challenge to [their] writing abilities” and
the need “to confront both positive and negative components of [their]
writing.” Says another, “I am able to see rhetoric being used in different
types of writing, and I am able to use rhetoric myself, in my own writing. It
may be extremely useful knowledge if I continue on with a career in business
writing or in writing/marketing.” Another student cites the improvement in
computer skills, in particular the creation of a web document.
B) Rhetorical
and Applied Writing: Program Need/ Contributions. The fact
that this major/minor program is serving our students by preparing them for
their present and future needs as writers attests to a need for its
continuation. More than that, however, the program serves the needs of students
enrolled in other English programs–most notably English Education–and in other
departments and programs in the university. In Fall 2002 we are offering 10
sections of 331, 332, and 333. All the
courses have full enrollment, or roughly 21 students per section. Of these
approximately 210 enrollees, only 35 are English majors. One or another of
these courses is required for several programs outside the English department,
among them Teacher Development, Mass Communications, Aviation, and
Communication Studies.
Service
courses for departments across campus.
We are gratified to see that other programs recognize the quality of our
courses for improving the writing of their students; however, our resources are
always strained in trying to meet the need. In Spring 2003 we will undoubtedly
have another 10 sections of the 330-level writing courses, as we do most
semesters, and again we will be serving needs of students other than those we
are most directly committed to. With the university moving to a required
upper-division writing requirement, we are hopeful that the future will bring
stronger support for courses we offer.
C) Rhetorical
and Applied Writing: Future directions. The heart
of the Rhetorical and Applied Writing program will continue to be 331, 332, and
333, and we will continue to offer multiple sections of each. With leaves,
retirements, and some of our faculty working in other institutional areas, we
need to consider hiring at least one new person in rhetoric in order to meet
these needs in addition to covering our other courses—403, 431, 432, 433, and
the internship.
We will also consider modifying or adding course
offerings to the major/minor. One proposal is to increase the number of credits
in some of the courses from three to four. A few faculty have, on an
experimental basis, added an optional credit for additional reading. This
add-on seemed to improve students’ understanding of the material covered in the
course. With respect to additional course offerings, another course in the area
of technical writing and a composition theory course are viable options.
We want to increase the number of students in this
major by promoting its quality and practical applications. The present number
of twelve does not fairly represent our abilities to serve students.
Bachelor of Arts: Program Need,
Appropriateness
and Contribution of the Program
Program Need, Appropriateness
and Contribution, and Future Directions for the Bachelor of Arts in English are
one and the same with those of the Department as a whole, because all
department faculty teach courses that belong in the B.A., and because the B.A.
includes all of the subject areas of English: linguistics, creative writing,
literature and literary history, rhetoric and writing.
Several points are worth
reinforcing here, however:
1. Numerous career guides for
English majors point out that the training accompanying this degree creates job
candidates who are highly adaptable and poised for career success on account of
their advanced problem-solving, interpretive, critical thinking, and
communication skills. (Works Cited)
2. Confirmation of the value
of English studies as a discipline has come from metadisciplinary research in
the field of Education. The book Learning
to Think, which compiles instructional research conducted in 7 disciplines,
observes the particular challenges of acquiring disciplinary training in
English: “we must know not just what the words we read and write mean but
determine their status as forces that enter our minds” (Donald 242, adapting
Donoghue).
- Students need to be helped to find patterns, to
look for evidence within complexity from which to draw conclusions, and at
the same time to examine their assumptions or preconceptions and broaden
their approach to a text; teaching this is labor-intensive (Donald 269).
- “In English literature courses, the process of
inquiry extends from identifying a
context to judging the validity
of an interpretation. The processes needed to succeed in this discipline
go beyond hermeneutics and critical thinking to a fuller and more detailed
set of thinking processes” (Donald 269).
These practices of applying
diverse models and testing their validity place educational emphasis on
learning the skills of argument (Donald 254).
Students observe considerable
coherence and mutual reinforcement and complementarity in coursework taken
across the department. (Online Assessment Project)
Bachelor
of Arts: Future Directions
Faculty need to each take a
propitious moment in every class and simply tell the students explicitly what
the value there is in their English education and of a liberal arts education.
Students may otherwise lack the concepts and language for evaluating public policy
decisions that affect the future education of their own children.
The B.A. English degree will
always remain relevant, no matter the changes in society, as long as the
faculty as a whole maintain the conversation about the life of writing and the
mind in the present. Departments such as
this one need to make use of small ways of creating occasions for such
conversations to take place, whether through curricular discussion or
occasional social events, or even department colloquia, should those be increased.
Increased budget would restore the time for scholarly creativity and for collaboration among faculty that would enhance students’ sense of the possibilities open for lives of both thought and action.