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- UCAS course code
- RQ13
- UCAS institution code
- M20
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Course unit details:
Theory and Text
| Unit code | ENGL10062 |
|---|---|
| Credit rating | 20 |
| Unit level | Level 1 |
| Teaching period(s) | Semester 2 |
| Offered by | English and American Studies |
| Available as a free choice unit? | No |
Overview
This course introduces first year students to literary and critical theory. This will be done by looking at key issues to do with interpretation, textuality and authority. We will explore the concepts of reader, text and author using a mixture of literary, filmic, and theoretical texts
Aims
- To help students reflect on their position as culturally and historically situated readers;
- To challenge contemporary 'common sense ' approaches to reading;
- To rigorously examine how thinkers from different historical periods have examined the problems of textuality, power and value;
- To help students learn how to examine, discuss, and defend a theoretical position;
- To examine the category of 'the literary';
- To encourage and facilitate reflection on the relevance of theory in relation to a large variety of texts and genres;
- To encourage students to reflect on habits of reading, and on how gender, ethnicity and sexuality play crucial roles in discussions of authorship and readership;
- To familiarise students with key critical notions which will help their criticism in future years.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
- Demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of key theoretical issues such as: narration, intentionality, authority, cultural value, genre, ideology, habits of reading.
- Show an ability to close read and analyse both primary texts and relevant theoretical interventions.
- Demonstrate an ability to develop an independent critical position in relation to these.
- Evidence an ability to enter literary and non-literary texts into a dialogue with theoretical texts.
- Show an ability to rigorously argue and defend one’s own critical position through textual evidence.
- Demonstrate an ability to write with a degree of self-reflectivity (i.e. to reflect on one’s own critical language and approach).
- Demonstrate an ability to see the connection between self-reflective thinking in relation to literary, cinematic, and theoretical texts, and our day-to-day critical practices.
- Show an ability to transfer the analytical and self-reflective skills acquired on this course to non-academic environments.
Employability skills
- Analytical skills
- Students taking this unit will be able to analyse and evaluate arguments and texts. Above all, committed students will emerge from this course unit with an advanced capacity to think critically, i.e. knowledgeably, rigorously, confidently and independently.
- Group/team working
- Students taking this unit will be able to work courteously and constructively as part of a larger group.
- Innovation/creativity
- On this unit students are encouraged to respond imaginatively and independently to the questions and ideas raised by texts and other media.
- Leadership
- Students on this unit must take responsibility for their learning and are encouraged not only to participate in group discussions but to do so actively and even to lead those discussions.
- Project management
- Students taking this unit will be able to work towards deadlines and to manage their time effectively.
- Oral communication
- Students taking this unit will be able to show fluency, clarity and persuasiveness in spoken communication.
- Research
- Students on this unit will be required to digest, summarise and present large amounts of information. They are encouraged to enrich their responses and arguments with a wide range of further reading.
- Written communication
- Students on this unit will develop their ability to write in a way that is lucid, precise and compelling.
Assessment methods
| coursework essay | 40% |
| Coursework essay | 60% |
Feedback methods
Written and face-to-face (upon arrangement)
Study hours
| Independent study hours | |
|---|---|
| Independent study | 167 |
Teaching staff
| Staff member | Role |
|---|---|
| Daniela Caselli | Unit coordinator |