SCHOOL OF ENGLISH
MODULE DESCRIPTIONS, 2005-2006
Stage 3Semester 1
110ENL305 / Sociolinguistics
110ENL306 / Language Culture and Politics
110ENG301 / Critical History: Reading the Classics of Literary
Criticism
110ENG315 / Directed Study in Medieval Literature and Culture
110ENG353 / Creative Writing (Prose)
110ENG354 / Creative Writing (Poetry)
110ENG356 / The Fairy Tale in Nineteenth-Century Culture
110ENG357 / Literature and the Politics of Modernity
110ENG358 / The Irish Literary Revival 1880-1930
110ENG369 / Televising the Victorians
110ENG371 / Traditions of Ulster-Scots Poetry
110ENG372 / Irish Women’s Writing 1690-1899
110ENG374 / Chaucer
110ENG375 / Romanticism and the Orient
110ENG380 / Reading Shakespeare Historically
110ENG391 / 1603 and All That: Theatre, Text and Politics
Semester 2
210ENL303 / The Phonetics of English
210ENL308 / Stylistics: Bringing Language and Literature Together
210ENG309 / The Bible and Biblical Literature in English: The
Middle Ages
210ENG312 / Discovering the Earliest Writings in English
210ENG314 / Literature, Art and Culture of the Anglo-Saxons;
Constructions of Community and Identity
210ENG316 / English Literature and Society in the Later Middle
Ages: Writings on Society, Piety and Dissent
210ENG320 / Eighteenth-Century Women’s Writing
210ENG330 / Irish Prose of the Revival Period
210ENG339 / Critical Fictions
210ENG359 / Reading Contemporary Irish Poetry
210ENG367 / American Noir
210ENG368 / Modern Indian Fiction in English
210ENG373 / Politeness and Pleasure in Eighteenth-Century
Culture
210ENG376 / Creative Writing (Drama)
210ENG377 / Twentieth-Century US Poetry
210ENG388 / Milton and the Classical Tradition
210ENG389 / Renaissance, Revenge, Tragedy
Module Title: / Sociolinguistics
Module Number: / 110ENL305
Teaching Method and Timetable: / Weekly two-hour seminar
(Wed. 10-12)
Module Teacher: / Dr Cathy Finlay
Prerequisites: This module is available only to Stage 3 students on English Pathways who have completed 110ENL201 or 210ENL202 or ENL204.
Co-requisites: None.
Module Content: This module focuses on three main aspects of the study of language and society. First it examines the methods that sociolinguists use to collect and analyse data. It pays particular attention to the problems of observing language in natural contexts without being observed (the observer’s paradox). Secondly it looks at the patterns that sociolinguists find involving language and class, language and social network, language and gender, language and age, language and style. Thirdly it highlights some of the ways in which sociolinguistics can be applied, for example, in the study of language in the classroom.
Module Objectives: To develop students’ knowledge of the methods, theories and applications of sociolinguistics. To develop skills in collecting and analysing linguistic data. To enhance oral communication skills and written skills.
Learning Outcomes: Knowledge of the methods, theories and applications of sociolinguistics. Skills in collecting and analysing linguistic data. Enhanced oral communication skills. Enhanced essay writing and report writing skills.
Method of Assessment: A plural assessment mechanism is used to measure the objectives set out above. Assessment consists of:
- One summatively assessed fieldwork exercise (25%).
- This tests students’ understanding of sociolinguistic methodology. It also tests their own skills in collecting and analysing data. They are required to conduct a piece of fieldwork: the aim is to collect and analyse speech data that is socially marked at some level. Collecting the data involves interviewing and develops and tests oral communication skills. The data is written up in the form of a scientific report: this task develops report writing skills.
- One summatively assessed essay (75%)
The essay tests students’ knowledge on a range of topics in sociolinguistics.
Set Texts: Mesthrie, R., Swann, J., Deumert, A. and Leap, W. (2000) Introducing Sociolinguistics. Edinburgh University Press.
Cost of Module Text: £16.99
Preparatory Reading: Andersson, L-G and Trudgill, P. (1990) Bad Language. Penguin.
Stockwell, P. (2002) Sociolinguistics. Routledge.
It may be possible to cater for those students who have difficulties in using computers due to a medical condition. Please consult the Disability Advisor or Module Convenor in advance.
Module Title: Language, Culture and Politics
Module Number: 110ENL306
Teaching Method and Timetable: Twice weekly one-hour seminars Tues 2, Thurs 10
Module Teacher: Dr. John Kirk
Prerequisites: This module is available to students on English pathways who have completed twelve modules.
Module Content: The content of the module will deal with:
· Irish English in general, and to Northern Irish English in particular, with its sub-varieties of Hiberno-English (that variety of English heavily influenced by Irish Gaelic), Ulster Scots (which arrived during the 17th century plantations, and in which there has recently been considerable political and legislative support) and Ulster English (the dialect speech from different regions of England which also arrived during the 17th century plantations)
· ethno-linguistic variation in Northern Ireland (specifically whether Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland can be distinguished on grounds of language alone)
· cultural and ethnic theory and to their illumination of linguistic diversity and use in present-day Northern Ireland
· language situations and contexts in Europe with which the situation in Northern Ireland may be compared, particularly situations of conflict where language development has formed part of the solution
· the spread of English as the European language of choice
· the growing tensions arising from the promotion and development of minority languages through legislation and political development and the voluntary and seemingly unstoppable spread of English
Module Objectives: The aim of this module is to introduce you to the linguistic situation of present-day Northern Ireland which includes official recognition for Irish and Ulster-Scots as minority languages, to comparable minority language situations in Europe, and a comparison of the local situation of linguistic diversity within its wider European context. To this end, the module will also introduce you to theories of culture, identity and ethnicity, and to aspects of linguistic description.
Module Outcomes: By the end of this module, you will have acquired the ability to write a critical and evaluative synthesis of the linguistic situation in (Northern) Ireland within a European context by relating aspects of status and structure to questions of culture, identity and ethnicity on the one hand and to other minority language contexts and to the dominance of English on the other.
Assessment: 100% Essay
Set texts: £31.20
Claire Kramsch, Language and Culture (OUP, 1998) £8.30
James Fenton The Hamely Tongue Second Edition (Ullans Press, 2000), £10.00
Robert Phillipson, English-only Europe? Challenging Language Policy (Routledge, 2003) £12.99
Coursepack - to include the following volumes edited by John M. Kirk and Dónall P. Ó Baoill:
· Language and Politics: Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and Scotland (2000)
· Linguistic Politics: Language Policies for Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and Scotland (2001)
· Language Planning and Education: Linguistic Issues in for Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and Scotland (2002)
· Towards our Goals in Broadcasting, the Press, the Performing Arts and the Economy: Minority Languages in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and Scotland, (2003)
Recommended texts:
Kevin McCafferty, Ethnicity and Language Change (John Benjamins, 2000),
Olive Sharkey Ways of Old: Traditional Life in Ireland Revised Edition (O’Brien Press, 2000)
It may be possible to cater for those students who have difficulties in using computers due to a medical condition. Please consult the Disability Advisor or Module Convenor in advance.
Module Title: Critical History: Reading the Classics of Literary
Criticism
Module Number: 110ENG301
Teaching Method and Timetable: Weekly seminar, Wednesday, 10-12
Module Teacher: Professor Brian Caraher
Prerequisites: This module is available to Stage 3 students, who have completed twelve modules, including 110ENG101, 210ENG102 and at least one of 110ENG240, 110ENG262 or 210ENG270. It is also available to third-year students in Classics, Philosophy and Scholastic Philosophy.
Module Content: The module contains a selection of classical literary texts in translation, including works by Plato, Aristotle, Horace, Plutarch and 'Longinus.' A selection of Enlightenment writers who make significant linkages between classical critical formulations and modern critical and theoretical issues may also be considered (e.g., Hume, Burke, Kant or Hegel). Alternatively, if students would prefer to read a selection of modern literary critical texts which reform and remake classical critical formulations in relation to distinctly post-classical constructions of literary form, taste, ideology and social psychology, then the seminar may opt to study major critical statements by Wordsworth, Coleridge, P B Shelley, M Arnold, H Morley, T S Eliot, V Woolf, M Bakhtin, K Burke, N Frye, A Rich, E Showalter, and J Derrida. Students are encouraged to drop by and discuss with the tutor which of these pedagogical pathways they would prefer the seminar to adopt. (Students have much preferred to do the earlier classical material.)
Module Objectives: To examine and discuss some of the earliest and most influential statements on the nature, structure and effects of literary art, taste and judgement. To be able to recognise and discuss in comparative historical and conceptual ways developments, articulations and deformations of theories and practical critiques of the social functions, speech genres, linguistic features, rhetorical forms and ideological constructions of a largely Greco-Roman and Eurocentric tradition and revision of critical history.
Learning Outcomes: Successful completion of this module will enhance and facilitate a student's ability to recognise classical and foundational critical problems within the field of literary studies and a refined awareness of the fundamental terminology of literary criticism and the recurrent issues of critical history. Moreover, development and refinement of critical reading skills, argumentative and rhetorical abilities and oral presentational skills are also integral features of successful completion of this module.
Method of Assessment: Students are expected to prepare and present a segment of a week's seminar. The effort and quality involved in the seminar presentation make up a 10% oral presentational mark. An assessed essay on one of seven set topics (see model papers) will require the student to display familiarity and knowledge concerning one of the major segments of critical history studied on the module.
Set Texts: Classical Literary Criticism (Oxford, 1989); David Hume, Selected Essays (Oxford, 1993); Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry (Oxford, 1990); Immanuel Kant, Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime (California, 1991). Alternatively, if students wish to adopt the second option with regard to content mentioned above, then the set text would be Charles Kaplan and William Anderson's Criticism: Major Statements, 4th edition (St Martin's/Palgrave).
Cost of Module Texts: £20 to £28
It may be possible to cater for those students who have difficulties in using computers due to a medical condition. Please consult the Disability Advisor or Module Convenor in advance.
Module Title: Directed Study in Medieval Literature and Culture
Module Number: 110ENG315
Teaching Method and Timetable: One five-week writing skills workshop (Th 1) and weekly one-to-one supervisions (tba)
Module Convenor: Professor John Thompson
Prerequisites: 110ENG240 (Late Medieval Literature) for students on English pathways. All students intending to enrol for the module must have sufficient information to complete a School Topic Proposal Form before the end of week 1, which is available in the School of English office. Their topic must be approved by the module convenor before enrolment for the module is confirmed.
Module Content: Directed Study is designed to broaden and deepen your understanding of medieval literature and culture. Its content is largely determined by the nature of the research topic in medieval literature and culture that you nominate and have approved by the module convenor. For the first five weeks of the semester you will also participate with the other students on the module in an advanced writing skills workshop. This will enable you to focus on issues related to working independently at this level, such as testing the suitability of your topic (and changing or refining it as necessary), developing good research strategies and planning, and using your previous experience to devise effective research techniques.
Module Objectives: You will be encouraged to broaden and deepen your understanding of medieval literature and culture through a programme of directed study that will include independent study, workshop participation, and one-to-one supervision. You will be given opportunities to develop oral and written presentational skills.
Learning Outcomes: Having completed the module, you will have had an opportunity to develop the research skills in reading and writing that will enable you to work independently at an advanced level in this area of English studies.
Method of Assessment: The module will normally be examined by an assessed essay (maximum 5,000 words). Depending upon the precise nature and demands of the topic being undertaken, there is also scope for submitting a final assessment in some other form, such as a project report or a video or electronic recording, provided that all such submissions for final assessment are accompanied by a written project summary (minimum 1500 words) and bibliography.
Set Texts: Once the Topic Proposal form has been completed the set texts will be determined in consultation with the module convenor.
Cost of Module Texts: This will vary. Support material for the Writing Skills workshop will be made available to students taking the module for downloading and printing at no extra charge.
Preparatory Reading: Over the summer you will want to think carefully about the nature of the topic in medieval literature and culture that you propose to work on for this module. You may well find it helpful to consult the Medieval Studies pages on the School of English web page and the links you will find there to related medieval sites:
http://www.qub.ac.uk/en/med/Medieval_Studies-Home.htm
It may be possible to cater for those students who have difficulties in using computers due to a medical condition. Please consult the Disability Advisor or Module Convenor in advance.
Module Title: / Creative Writing (Prose)Module Number: / 110ENG353
Teaching Method and Timetable: / Weekly seminar (Tuesday 10-12)
Module Teacher: / Glenn Patterson
Prerequisites: This module is available to students on English pathways who have completed twelve modules and who can demonstrate (by means of work submitted in advance) an existing interest in writing fiction.
Co-requisites: None.
Module Content: The module, being a writing module, will be structured around the students’ own written work. Two or three pieces of work will be submitted each week for detailed discussion in seminar. (Students should note that they will be required to read their work aloud.) Extracts from other, published texts will be provided to amplify more general points arising from the group discussion. In this way, in the course of the semester, students will look in depth at practical aspects of fiction writing – characterisation, plot construction – and at the evolution of the main prose forms and genres.